Where Faith Still Thrives! Summer Camps and the Future of the Church

by Wayne Meisel from Huffington Post

What was the most significant institution in my faith development? The obvious answer would be Sunday School and church youth group, or perhaps, my college chaplain's office. You might think it surely had to be the venerable Princeton Theological Seminary. Nope. The answer: Camp Dudley, a YMCA camp located on the banks of Lake Champlain in the Adirondack Mountains baring the slogan, "The other fellow first."

There were no testimonials, conversions, or baptisms. But every morning began with a prayer and a chapel talk. Every night ended with an evening reflection that we called Vespers. The highlight was and still is a Sunday night hymn sing where hundreds of young kids yelled their hearts out. Christian community was synonymous with everyday living at camp. I didn't have to sit still, dress up, listen to organ music, or sing in youth choir. Instead, I lived in a community with others where:

• The Golden rule made sense -- if you were going to live inches away from a dozen other campers, you'd better figure out a way to get along
• If I got out of line there was someone there to walk me through it and help me learn from my mistakes
• Bullying was dismantled, cliques didn't exist, and I found myself in fellowship with friends from the time I walked on to the camp grounds until the time my parents picked me up on the last day

The beginning of the migration from college to camp

This week thousands of college students who have moved out of their residence halls are headed to camp cabins or tents to serve as camp counselors. Some of these individuals have not been to church during the school year but will soon be working for the church, (albeit camp), for the next twelve weeks. And, those who complained about how hard they had to work at school can't wait to arrive at camp where they will work twenty-four/seven week after week with hardly a break.

These college students, soon to be camp counselors, who may have felt lost and without a purpose in college, will now step into leadership roles where their every move is watched and every action means something to an impressionable camper. There is a powerful, unique, and, I dare say sacred, bond that grows between the twenty year-old camp counselors and thirteen year-old campers. It was as true for me as my first year at camp as it was for my son Zac who attended camp last summer.

Camp as the new church

At camp, you:

• Experience God in new and powerful ways, through friendships, through nature, and through self-awareness
• Interact daily with fellow campers who turn into lifelong friends that stand by you when no one else does
• Feel loved and adored by a community that is not your own family
• Are accepted both in spite of who you are and because of who you are
• Get to dance around and sing out of key rather than sit in a pew and get scolded by a choir master
• Fall in love
• Live simply and people pay attention to you
• Have fun, and act silly, and try new things

I always wondered why I felt so spiritual during the summer, but so uninspired and disconnected when I came back home to church. If a local church advertised and could deliver on the same things that camps do, the place would be packed on Sunday mornings and vibrant, relevant, and powerful every day of the week.

Summer Camps: The Minor Leagues of the Church

Summer camp is the most significant institution in making the church relevant to the lives of young people and for identifying leadership for the church. It is the minor leagues for church membership and leadership. Anyone with even a vague understanding of baseball knows that championships are won and dynasties built through the farm systems and the minor league infrastructure. Summer camps serve a similar function by inspiring, identifying, and training future leadership for the church. In a day when the church is struggling to find relevance and a foothold in the lives of young people, it is missing its greatest strength: summer camp.

Brian Frick, from the Camp and Conference Ministries of the Presbyterian Church notes, "This year alone, 15,000 young adults will work at or attend programs at Presbyterian camps. We know that their time spent at camp will be both fun and transformative. In a recent survey, nearly 200 Presbyterian pastors point to camp as the single most impactful faith experience. Camps are the catalysts for a new future of faithful Christians."

Summer camps, as much as any other church activity, inspire, seek out, identify, and bring along individuals who can play significant leadership roles in the church. At a time when the church is being criticized for failing to attract and retain strong leadership, it would behoove those who care about the future of the church to think back on where they spent their summers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wayne-meisel/where-faith-still-thrives_b_5379846.html

5 ways camp changes the world

by Matt Wilkinson

In one way or another, it seems since birth I have been connected to summer camps. My first birthday at Muskoka Woods with dad as the director. I was a camper at Camp Mini-Yo-We, Ontario Pioneer Camp and Teen Ranch, and then went on to do LIT and then serving on summer staff as a cabin leader, LIT leader and part of the LIT teaching team. Then, back in November I accepted the role as acting Executive Director for Camp Kwasind, which has brought me all the way back around into the camp community.

It seems that camp is in my blood. Why give my life to being part of the camp community?

1. Camp is a place where you make lasting friendships that shape your future. It is no surprise that in a place where you are sharing living quarters, eating together, creating memories every day, getting into God’s Word with others asking the same questions, and laughing a whole lot that you naturally create strong bonds of friendship.

2. Very few places in this world give a young person the high level of responsibility you get when you serve at camp. Taking on such significant roles at camp taught me leadership, responsibility, servanthood, budgeting, listening, decision-making and problem solving. When I look around for some of the greatest ministry leaders in our country, so many of them have a camp background. It is getting leadership opportunities early that gives you a head start on life opportunities.

3. I could never afford to have my own sail boat, get enough friends together to regularly play Ultimate Frisbee, have such adventures that we have me running through the woods looking for a flag, go down a huge zipline, explore the bottom of a lake, learn how to canoe, go on an overnight where I had to cook for myself, or have someone a little older than me that I can talk with and relate to, who really cares about me. Camp is a time where you get to experience things you might never get to experience otherwise.

4. Life gets so busy that we miss out taking a time to reflect on how amazing life is. Camp is a chance to unplug, to appreciate a world created that isn’t all made of concrete, to see stars at night, to leap into lake water, see wildlife and chase frogs. Camps have great programs but they are a nice break from the routine of life to both appreciate what you have back home but also getting to appreciation for all creation in this amazing world.

5. Camp is a place that changes lives. I have seen young people gain confidence when they accomplish something new, friendship formed with campers who felt alone, a smile appear on a hurting kids face when they are cheered for, a kid give a hug because someone older than them listened to their story, a teen choose to follow Jesus because they had a leader who lived out the love and grace of Jesus to him.

I give my life to camp because it might just be the best way to change the world!