Weekends away are something of staple in UK churches. No doubt there are good things to be gained from having them. But in the 12 years I have been pastor at Oldham Bethel Church, we have never done one. These are some of the reasons why.

Cost

Ultimately, the main issue is cost. We are a small church in a deprived community made up of not especially wealthy people. Our people aren’t generally in a position to bear the cost and the church isn’t in a position to fund the entire thing. When those among our number struggle with finding the money to pay their regular bills, it doesn’t seem kind or prudent to ask them to spend a significant amount of money to have a church weekend away.

Practicalities

As a small church in a deprived place, this comes with certain practical limitations. For example, whilst there are times this goes up and down depending on the congregation, we have never been replete with people with cars. An awful lot of our members simply can’t afford to run them and don’t own a car. Getting to a weekend away would be incredibly difficult without us hiring a coach for everyone, which (per above) ups the cost further. The difficulties in getting everyone there cuts into the benefits gained from going.

The issue of cost has other implications. For example, if individuals are unable to go, does the church underwrite the cost? If the church can’t underwrite the cost for the majority who may not be able to afford it, what do we do for those who cannot come? Do we leave them without anywhere to go? Do we send them to other churches that weekend? Do we have a skeleton church service for them whilst the monied go away? There don’t seem to be any good solutions to these practical issues that do not carry at least a whiff of some of the issues present in the Corinthian church.

Local witness

There is something significant about your church being open every week. There is something significant about that when you are the only church within the local community. There is something even more significant about that when your local community is majority Muslim. Whilst lots of our immediate community may not come in on a Sunday, we do know they take note about whether we are there. It would not help our witness locally for us to close the church for a weekend and do something elsewhere.

Emphasising the ordinary and routine

I am not of the view that weekends away are wrong or sinful. As I said at the top, I am sure there are great things to be gained from them. They are certainly no more wrong than annual conferences like Keswick. These things can be a blessing to those who attend and I am not here to suggest otherwise. Nevertheless, I do think there is something particularly important about emphasising the ordinary and routine.

The fact is, the weekend away, the big conference, the so-called mountaintop experience is not typical of the Christian life. That’s not to say they’re wrong; just not typical. What is typical is the ordinary stuff of small church life. Most people attend small churches, whose services are not particularly swish and whose ordinary weekly works are not especially impressive. This is normal. The weekly, ordinary routine is normal. There is some credit (I think) to maintaining this, emphasising the normal and weekly over the exceptional and periodic. Rather than providing exceptional experiences for our people, encouraging them in the ordinary, dare I say sometimes trudging, normality of weekly worship and service seems useful in its own way.

I don’t want this to read as though I am saying weekends away are wrong. I think I have said that enough to not be misread. I don’t even want this to be read as saying they are somehow sub-Christian, unbiblical, less than godly, not the best or any of those kind of things either. They are a perfectly legitimate, no doubt helpful in many ways, thing to do. If you and your church are in a position to do one, this is not intended as me pouring cold water over it.

But the things I have said here are specific considerations that have generally stopped us from doing one. I think some of these things are worth considering, even if you are not in a deprived community, because I think some of them may hold and be significant. It may be that you still consider the benefits of going with those who are able far outweigh the problems that might prevent others. You may well be right. But I think it is worth thinking about nonetheless.