Hurray for Camp!

Last week I wrote about attending conferences and the tremendous high that can be for adults in terms of personal growth and renewal. For our kids and youth, summer camp is a close equivalent – an amazing opportunity to experience independence, gain skills, spend focused time in a faith-based environment, meet peers and older role models and create Christian community. It is often the highlight of a child’s summer.

When I do supply preaching in July and August, I often ask the kids about what they have been doing. Often camp or day camp or VBS comes up, and I’m saddened that frequently others in the congregation don’t know about it. First, this indicates that camp has a low profile if it has one at all, and second, that the kids are not well known and their investment in a faith-based opportunity is not celebrated. Particularly if they are attending a denominational camp that the congregation indirectly sponsors this is really too bad.

Not only should we be actively encouraging our kids to get away from electronics and get outdoors, but we should also be supporting choices that grow their faith exponentially and allow them to experience Christian community at a level that feeds their souls deeply. The ministry of a congregation and the ministry of a camp should be mutually supportive, doing the same things but in very different ways that help to build a child’s sense of identity and beliefs.

Many of the suggestions below of how better to partner with and support camps are fairly common sense, but they need intentionality to make them happen each year. Consider the following:

1. Assign camping ministry to a committee or team of your church to make sure that it doesn’t fall through the cracks. Have this group look into and post information about camps that you endorse. Look at the opportunities available to different age groups (i.e. LIT programs and adult retreats as well as kids’ camps) and promote them regularly. Consider inviting some of the staff of a nearby camp to come and lead worship or some activities with your kids to help them feel more comfortable about camp. You may also commit to praying for the staff and campers of one or more camps you care about, particularly during the summer, but also throughout the year as preparation is happening.

2. Consider hosting one or more creative fundraisers to build a campership fund for those who can’t afford to attend camp. Set up guidelines for how much sponsorship money can be allotted to each camper/family and who qualifies. Our Synod camp has its own campership fund with the understanding that they will contribute 1/3 of the registration fee if the congregation partners to pay 1/3 and the family pays the remaining amount.

3. Have a contact from the camp oversight committee/team track which children and youth are attending camp. If any young people are on staff for the summer at a camp, commission them during worship before they go to make the congregation aware and to solicit prayer support for them. This also reminds the young people that they are being sent to do this ministry and others are cheering them on. For kids attending, check in with parents about travel arrangements and, if necessary, assist with carpools to get them there and lending of any needed equipment such as sleeping bags.

4. Check if parents are alright with their child’s participation at camp being mentioned in worship. If yes, campers can be prayed for before they go or, at very least, acknowledged by the minister or worship leader. The congregation is then cued to ask them about how their time at camp went when they return.

5. Celebrate with campers what they experienced and learned. This can be anything from informal questions at children’s time to inviting them to share as part of a worship service to having all who attended camp create a banner or poster about it. You can probably think of other creative ideas. Be sensitive to those who may not have had the best camp experience for a variety of reasons. Be sure to also acknowledge those who attend a camp that is not one that you specifically endorse. They still have had an experience of God that was potentially life-changing and will want to talk about it.

Summer is such a rich time for soaking in God’s goodness – swimming in the lake, hiking, enjoying warm sunshine and playing games outside, making new friends: Camp offers all of these in spades. And your regular children’s and youth ministry programs will benefit directly from the enthusiasm of your campers. Listen to them, support them before and after they go, and thank God for all those who provide these experiences for your kids.