Five Values of Christian
Camping
Christian camping demands the
investment of time, energy, and physical resources. Is it
worth it? What benefits do participants — children
and adults — receive from the experience? Why are so
many groups — churches, missions agencies, youth
organizations, schools, colleges, social agencies —
involved in Christian camping? Because it's where five
significant values are realized.
- Genuine community is
experienced;
- Ministry to the whole
person takes place;
- Relationships are
built with God and with others;
- Memories and major
life commitments are made;
- Tomorrow's leaders
are developed today.
These values drive the
Christian camping movement as a vital instrument of
change for individuals and groups.
1. Genuine
Community
Because we live in a
secularized culture, most campers have not experienced
genuine Christian community [including, often, at home].
Camp contrasts with the familiar. Labels, expectations of
others, mindless daily routines, influences of parents,
teachers, peers, colleagues, media, and friends are all
left behind in favor of a special temporary community
with focused purpose: presenting Christ and nurturing
those in the faith toward maturity and Christian
leadership. It uses the entire camp community of people
and environment to accomplish this purpose.
Physically separated from
the powerful influences of the permanent community,
campers are immersed in a contrasting Christ-centered,
loving community free to embrace the values and lifestyle
of that community. A Christian camp can be a clear model
demonstrating how Christians should live.
Camp is a place to try new
things, meet new people, and have new adventures. The
"newism" works wonders in that it opens campers
to change in many ways and, most significantly,
spiritually. Freed from the negative and constraining
power often existing in the permanent community, caught
up with the expectation of trying new things, campers are
excited about personal change and growth.
Jesus knew this when he
called His disciples from their permanent communities
where they were known as mere fishermen, tax collectors,
carpenters, and so forth, to a temporary community
experience where they would be more free to change. Jesus
taught His disciples as He walked with them "in the
way" and traveled beyond their homes. He withdrew
from His home town where He had little power to minister
because of their long-held expectations of Him (see Luke
13:52-56).
One of the longest camps
in recorded history was the Hebrews' 40-year trek through
the wilderness. God used what was meant to be a temporary
camp experience to free His chosen people from the
physical and spiritual slavery of Egypt.
Separation from home
removes the familiar physical and social supports that
provide [often misplaced] comfort and security. Campers
are forced to transfer trust to others or depend on
someone more secure and mature. Some camps remove more of
this familiarity by introducing wilderness travel,
adventure activities, or diversity in social or ethnic
grouping.
2. Whole-Person
Ministry
While many institutions
focus on a certain dimension of the person, camp is
designed to minister to the whole person. A church
ministers spiritually, a school educates mentally, the
home and peers influence socially, and athletic programs
develop physically. Jesus grew in all ways — in
wisdom (mentally), stature (physically), and favor with
God (spiritually) and men (socially) (see Luke 2:52).
When He entered our existence, Jesus experienced human
development and grew in all dimensions.
Jesus is the Creator of
the universe, and He pronounced it good. Through His
incarnation, He confirmed the goodness of the physical
world and life as it was created. Jesus traveled with His
disciples and physically ate, slept, blessed little
children, turned water into wine, boated on a lake,
encouraged fishermen by showing them where to fish,
cooked for His disciples, rode on a donkey, restored the
sick to wellness . . . . He gave many talks using nature
to demonstrate eternal truths.
So also the physical
elements of camp are "good." The Lord has given
this world for us to enjoy (1 Cor. 10:26). He takes
pleasure when we enjoy His creation and praise Him for it.
His creation is a source of continuous study and
investigation. We can never uncover all of its mysteries.
It is here for us to behold and recognize the infinite
wisdom behind each element He has created. God's creation
reveals His existence and eternal power by which we will
be judged if we do not respond to this knowledge. Camp
immerses us in His creation.
The activities at camp
also provide many opportunities to teach spiritual truths.
When we are engaged in games — in skills such as
archery, swimming, canoeing, and crafts — we have
the opportunity to learn how to treat others fairly, to
exercise control over our bodies, to create, to play. And
through such activities, while showing respect for the
bodies God has created, we grow physically strong,
skilled, and healthy.
Camp engages the mind. The
stimulation of a new environment, unfamiliar people,
different activities, changed schedule, all facilitate
mental growth. Camp powerfully communicates spiritual
truths and spurs spiritual growth among campers — in
the midst of God's creation, participating in Bible
studies, experiencing teachable moments, worship,
relaxation, and reflection times . . . .
3. Relationship
Building
The activities of daily
camp life teach social skills. Camp is foremost a highly
relational experience. At camp, spiritual mentors are
always present. They are visual examples of how to live
when tired, how to be kind when others are unkind, how to
control anger, how to discipline with love, how to ask
for forgiveness, how to grow spiritually, how to deal
with temptation, and how to live in community. Among all
of these relationships, Christ is held as the most
significant relationship to cultivate, and the
relationship that brings meaning and healing to all other
relationships.
Youth campers often return
home talking about their counselors and what they did
with their new friends. Counselors are their heroes,
models, friends. The 24-hour living relationship with
campers allows counselors in a typical week of camp to
have more time to minister to campers than youth pastors
have in a year, and as much quality time as parents have
in six months. The bonding that occurs by living, playing,
worshiping, struggling, and learning together
internalizes values taught and translates experience into
character formation. Whereas parents are seen as a
generation removed, counselors are seen as contemporaries
who understand their needs. Youth and adults aspire to be
like those slightly older who model success to them. When
these models take an interest in them and share their
lives, their behaviors are emulated. Parents wonder at
changes that occur in behavior and appearance of their
children upon their return from camp, only to recognize
those same features when they meet their kids' counselors.
The influence for change is great at camp, where
relationships are valued. Jesus is our model for ministry,
and He discipled His 12 by living and traveling with them
in a relational ministry.
4. Memory Making
Temporariness makes camp a
unique experience and a memory-making opportunity.
Because camp is a contrast to everyday life, and because
this contrast causes the camper's senses to be heightened,
time takes on new meaning. Campers live more in the
psychological present. Events at camp become more
engaging, alive, vivid; they are filled with energy and
totally absorb campers. Because most camp experiences are
beyond the traditional and familiar, they also provide
moments that render campers ready for learning.
Struggling with new games,
adventure activities, wilderness trips, difficult peers,
wetness, cold, heat, darkness, disappointments, camp
duties, and separation from home and friends, all add to
the variety and intensity of these experiences. These
teachable moments open doors of opportunity where
spiritual truth can be presented.
Spiritual truth comes from
many sources — modeling by counselors and other
staff or campers; recall of past truths learned; songs
heard; intentional reflection on the experience led by
counselors or other staff; regular spiritual input at
Bible studies, chapel, and so forth. A sensitivity to the
Holy Spirit's prompting and a heart to see campers learn
through each special experience are key to intentionally
using these ideal moments to teach.
Jesus taught in this
manner. He used special events and situations that
prepared His disciples for learning — the hungry 5,000,
the storm on Galilee, the demon-possessed man, those in
need of healing, the barren fig tree, a vista of
Jerusalem, the 10 lepers, the death of a friend, a beggar,
and so forth. His messages usually flowed out of the life
experiences and accompanying felt needs of His students,
and then He carefully addressed deeper needs.
The product of heightened
senses, total engagement, and readiness to learn —
combined with spiritual truths attached to these memory-making
experiences — equals life-shaping memories. God used
this process with the Old Testament Hebrews. They never
forgot the crossing of the Red Sea, the water from the
rock, the military battles won and lost, and the
spiritual truths presented on these and other occasions.
Their memories were assisted through yearly feasts or
ceremonies, tassels sewn in garments, stones of
remembrance, and so forth. Similarly, Jesus used this
process with His disciples. They never forgot the
miraculous experiences He shared with them, nor the
truths He attached to such experiences so often related
through parables.
Camp is a distinct and
intense experience that will forever stand out from other
life experiences in one's memory. It offers the
opportunity to attach spiritual truths to memory-making
experiences. After they have long since returned home,
when memories of camp return, campers also remember the
spiritual truths and are moved to respond to those truths.
5. Leadership
Development
A camp counselor is a
leader in the making. Camps are ideal nurturing
environments for developing leaders for church and
society. Where else are young people given the
opportunity for leadership development? To build
leadership skills, people must be given responsibility
for others and be mentored in the process of ministering
and leading. Very few opportunities exist for young
people to be given significant responsibility for others,
especially responsibility to minister to others. If
structured properly, with focused training present, a
camp can provide that ideal opportunity.
A camp cabin unit of six-to-10
campers provides an ideal group through which the cabin
leader/counselor can learn leadership skills. But the
cabin leader/counselor must be given the opportunity to
lead — to make decisions, and to succeed or fail in
those decisions. Cabin leaders/counselors need to be
given as much responsibility as they can handle to
stretch them and provide a chance for them to try out
their leadership styles. They also need support when they
fail, and continuous feedback from peers and mentors to
learn from their mistakes.
Emerging leaders need to
discover three proofs — proof of self, proof of
learning, and proof of God. Camp can provide an ideal
crucible to test one's capabilities and expose weaknesses,
to sort out and prove what learnings are consistent with
reality and actually work. It's a chance to discover God
in a deeper way, and to see His faithfulness to His
promises realized in tough situations. Jesus' three-year
"travel camp" experience with His disciples did
just that.
A survey commissioned by
Christian Camping International/USA noted that more than
half the people in full-time Christian ministry today had
made life-changing decisions at camp. Many not only gave
their lives to Jesus Christ at camp, but learned their
leadership/ministry skills there as well. Is that
investment worthwhile?
Camp is a powerful tool
for ministry and leadership development because it
closely follows a pattern of ministry used by our Lord
and embraces these five closely held values consistent
with His ministry.
The Values of
Christian Camping: In the United States
Ask about the values of
Christian camping, and you'll get a host of responses.
The following are just a sampling of responses received
from campers, parents, pastors, and Christian camping
leaders from across the United States:
Dr. Dick Turner,
coordinator of a camp outdoor education program:
