Fun - Fishing - Fellowship

[khaaxma]

I have been thinking about setting up a full day event somtime next summer with the primary goal building a better communication bridge between the adults and youth group in our church. When you put one adult and one youth in a boat you pretty much have to begin to communicate. Although I am in the very early stages of planning, I would welcome suggestions from any of you about how to make this a truly wonderful event. I think it will be important to make the pairings (adult & youth) random so that new relationships can be fostered. I also think the adult can be either male or female and the youth could be either a boy or girl. The key is that the adult will need to have the fishing skills and equipment needed for a successful fishing outing. In our geographic area, we have many types of water to fish . . . ponds, lakes (including Lake Huron), rivers, channels, etc. I personally would want to wait until I knew who I was paired with before deciding where to fish. The schedule I have rolling around in my mind would include an early breakfast at the church with a time for a brief devotion and drawing the names for the pairings. The teams would then decide where to fish and head out for fishing. The teams would return to the church for lunch and then names could be drawn again for several other competitive activities (to be determined). The day could be finished up with an evening picnic that could even include a pig roast. A question I haven't resolved is whether to limit this activitiy to only members of our church or to make it more of an evangilistic event? Any help would be appreciated!

[prehnite44]

Sounds like it could be a good idea. As to whether to keep the event withing the church versus going outside of the church, you might consider going outside of the church and making it an evangelistic event. Fostering inter-church relationships is important, but an outreach could have really good potential to reach youths. If you have enough avid adult fishermen in your church, you might think about inviting a local youth home or something where youths don't get a chance to get out in nature very often. I think something like that could mean a lot for both the adults and youths and it could really be a blast. As for location, I would pick a medium sized lake that everyone can enjoy, and then everyone could fish without crowding, yet everyone is still enjoying the same place. Hope these suggestions help.

[JKneibel]

I belong to a sportspersons group at a church in Grand Rapids.  Its called kellogsville sportspersons club.  Every summer we used to go up to a lake and have a family fishing weekend.  The club is open to anyone who wishes to attend.  There was always a guy there (passed on now) who was a foster parent.  He would always bring several of the foster kids up for the weekend, and I know those kids had more fun than anyone because they never got a chance to go on a fishing outing.  I might suggest reserving a camping area on a lake and have your adult/child event there. 

[khaaxma]

Sounds like it could be a good idea. As to whether to keep the event withing the church versus going outside of the church, you might consider going outside of the church and making it an evangelistic event. Fostering inter-church relationships is important, but an outreach could have really good potential to reach youths. If you have enough avid adult fishermen in your church, you might think about inviting a local youth home or something where youths don't get a chance to get out in nature very often. I think something like that could mean a lot for both the adults and youths and it could really be a blast. As for location, I would pick a medium sized lake that everyone can enjoy, and then everyone could fish without crowding, yet everyone is still enjoying the same place. Hope these suggestions help.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a bit of a hard time choosing a specific location to fish since I personally would want to make that choice after I know the age range and fishing experience of whoever I get paired with. For example, if I had an older youth with fishing skills I would probably choose Lake Huron for walleyes. If I had a younger novice, I would probably choose the Fletcher Floodwater where the kid could catch a 100 panfish in a very short period of time. I am extimating that we have at least 50 adults with boats that would particpate and others in the church could handle the meals and other games in the afternoon. There are also the concerns of safety and liability to consider.

[prehnite44]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a bit of a hard time choosing a specific location to fish since I personally would want to make that choice after I know the age range and fishing experience of whoever I get paired with. For example, if I had an older youth with fishing skills I would probably choose Lake Huron for walleyes. If I had a younger novice, I would probably choose the Fletcher Floodwater where the kid could catch a 100 panfish in a very short period of time. I am extimating that we have at least 50 adults with boats that would particpate and others in the church could handle the meals and other games in the afternoon. There are also the concerns of safety and liability to consider.

I guess it depends if the focus is on good fishing or companionship. I think even an older youth could have a lot of fun catching panfish every once in a while too, or even go after bass or pike in the same lake. A medium sized lake would be safer for liability and if someone got in trouble, there would be 49 boats within easy distance. The group would also be together, so it would be a little more cohesive to relationships. Different groups could even compete with each other for fun too.

[JKneibel]

Id say P44 hit it on the nose.  When we had group outings, it created a lot more fellowship.  Everyone seemed to work together more, and it was more fun overall.  Some people in the group were definitely better fishermen, and they helped everyone with where to go, what to use, etc.  Plus, around the campfire is a perfect place for devotionals, in my opinion.  Just something bout a fire that makes it perfect.