Camp is a mountaintop experience, a spiritual marker in the lives of many who attend.
Here’s what group leaders and campers have to say about the impact of camp:
- “During my week of camp, my leader taught me how to trust in the Lord and stay faithful.”
- “At camp, I got to paint houses with my friends and got closer to God.”
- “God has shown me the importance of service and putting feet to my faith.”
- “God showed me it’s OK to be who I am.”
I worked five summers of FUGE Camps and went on to devote my career for 23 years to this ministry. I am passionate about camp ministry and what the Lord does in the lives of campers when they get out of their comfort zones and turn their attention to Him.
Benefits
Here are five reasons parents should send their children to camp and why kids and teenagers should want to be part of this experience.
- Encounter God in a personal way
Summer camp can often be a spiritually life-changing event for kids and teenagers. They experience God either for the first time or in new and different ways through Bible study, worship and many other activities. This encounter becomes a spiritual marker in their lives. A change of routine, being away from home and distractions, and having unfamiliar, godly people speak into their lives creates a unique opportunity for campers to learn and grow in their faith.
- Build relationships
While students are at camp, away from their norm, they have the opportunity to get to know each other and their leaders better as well as to make new friends from other church groups. They may even make friends for life. They also interact with staffers who are positive role models, speaking truth into their lives and ministering to them through intentional conversations. These God-centered relationships can have a lasting impact on a child’s faith. Perhaps most importantly, kids and students build on their relationship with God at camp.
- Be physically active and have fun
Camp schedules are usually packed with fun activities. Campers have activities to do and places to go from breakfast to bedtime. There is no chance for boredom. Camp gives them alternatives to technology and pushes them to be physically active doing activities they enjoy.
- Develop lifelong skills
The camp setting provides a safe opportunity for children and teens to test the waters of new experiences with a lessened fear of failure or rejection. They participate in new and diverse learning experiences that help them discover new talents. Camp is irreplaceable when it comes to learning and developing social skills, as well.
- Grow more independent
Many students are away from mom and dad for the very first time when they go to camp. While under the close care and supervision of trusted adults, they begin to learn responsibility. They become more resourceful and must navigate situations independently. This aids in their growing up and maturation.
Next steps
Summer camps foster spiritual growth, personal growth and relationships in ways that are unlike any other traditional setting tailored for students. Now that you see the incredible benefits of camp, here are some next steps:
- Work with your children and student pastors or leaders to approve the trip to camp.
- As a church, provide financial support by making it part of the budget and having sponsor fundraisers.
- Encourage parents to support the decision to go to camp by sending their children.
- Clear any barriers that may try to prevent your groups from going to camp.
By Kyle Cravens
Lifeway Christian Resources
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by Lifeway Christian Resources.
If we are more excited about reformed theology than the gospel, more excited about church discipline, more passionate about gender roles, more angered by perceived insubordination to abusive leaders than the abuse they do, more moved by the things God gives than who God is, or speaking in tongues, healings, large numbers … than we are the gospel, we may not actually love the Jesus of the gospel.
Amber Bowman
Missionary to Mexico via Facebook
There is no problem in the Southern Baptist Convention that fidelity to the Scriptures, integrity and humility cannot solve. The challenge is in our culture those three traits are in short supply. May they become abundant again in the SBC!
Chuck Register
Clayton, N.C.
via Facebook
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Elizabeth Elliot
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“One of the ways I like to encourage people is to tell them to do what you do for the glory of God, and do it strategically for the mission of God,” said Todd Unzicker, executive director of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
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“My experience with missions was that when you’re called, it’s for life,” said Jeri Whitfield, an IMB missionary in Thailand.
Thoughts from the-Scroll.com
Are you constantly worrying about the next task? Does work consume all you think of and do? Shift your thoughts to Christ and you will find rest.
During your rest, use the time to study God’s work, to pray and to worship Him. There is peace only found in the presence of Christ because He is the only true resting place.
Selah Vetter
“Rhythms of rest”
While we’re in this broken world, we can hold on to the truth of God’s word and the hope of perfect peace and love we will one day experience in heaven.
Amy Hacker
“Visions of heaven”
God made us all unique in our gifts, talents and joys. But we all serve a common goal — to know God and make Him known. How can you fit into that calling in a way that both glorifies God and fills your soul?
Jessica Ingram
“What makes your soul sing?”
When we spend the majority of our day around lost people but never speak the name of Jesus to them, we are making an excuse. So often we focus on the daily busyness of life by neglecting His Word and prayer and fellowship, but Jesus is inviting us to feast rather than starve.
James Hammack
“God gives His invitation to the undeserving”
I don’t know why I feel a need to hold on to everything myself, but it’s something I have to remind myself of hourly, it seems like. I don’t have to. He tells us to give everything to Him.
Hannah Muñoz
“Lay it all at His feet”
From the Twitterverse
@haines_matt
The Holy Spirit doesn’t produce mean and grumpy Christians. Pride and self-sufficiency do. Where the Spirit resides, the fruit of the Spirit will blossom.
@DanielRitchie
A baby in the womb with a disability or deformity is not a prime candidate for an abortion.
A baby in the womb with a disability or deformity is a prime candidate to show what God can do with a life that the world sees as weak and less than.
@johnmarkclifton
A former youth pastor, KSTATE Coach Tang said recently, “My faith is extremely important to me. That’s what I live my life by. I believe that God put me on this earth to be a servant leader, and I just want to be of service in any way I can.”
@DianeLangberg
There is great hope in knowing God is not calling us to bigger, better or extraordinary. He wants to take the small, hidden, little and seemingly unimportant things in our lives and inject them with eternal glory. We can rest in our commonness, our ordinariness and our smallness.
@claysmith79
The longevity of a leader has a lot to do with the physical health of a leader. It’s not everything, of course, but it means a lot. And it is often neglected by many.
@JCRyle
Doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse than useless; it does positive harm. Something of the ‘image of Christ’ must be seen and observed in our private life and habits and character and doings.
@davideprince
The NT Gospels make clear our Lord’s attitude toward the OT Scripture: He revered them, read them, knew them, obeyed them, fulfilled them, and — in a word — He loved them.
@MichaelCatt
Prayers to pray for older saints:
Don’t let my body outlive my mind.
Don’t let me be a worthless worker in a world of work.
Don’t let me stumble on the last turn.
Don’t let me drown in shallow water.
@shane_pruitt78
A lot of people today want to be like the Jesus who flipped over tables in the temple, but they don’t want to be like the Jesus who sacrificially loves and serves the church.
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