“Church camps are essential”

Posted Aug 10, 2016 in Family

Nicole Callen is a long-time Uniting Church SA member who currently works in family ministry at Unity Hill Uniting Church and as a pastoral care support worker at a primary school.

Nicole reflected on her experiences of church camps for the August/September print edition of New Times. The fantastic stories she shared were too lengthy to be included in their entirety in print; New Times online will be publishing the full reflections in three parts.

Part One: Why do you think church camps are important in the life of the Uniting Church?

Church camps are essential for all ages in the life of the Uniting Church. Church camps can be “mountain top faith experiences”, opportunities for intergenerational interaction, pastoral zones, and spaces for community building.

As both a child and an adult, I have been part of my own local church congregation family camps.

As a child, these camps provided me with opportunities to play and develop friendships with children from families of faith. I developed relationships with the parents and grandparents of these kids – relationships that have lasted long into my adulthood.

A much-touted theory at the moment in children’s ministry is the idea of having five strategic people of influence in your child’s life. These are people who speak and reinforce the teachings, values and faith of the child’s parents. Looking back on my own childhood, this was what was encouraged at church camps. We did intergenerational small groups, played games all together and ate meals together. Relationships were formed and influence received.

As an adult, I have watched church communities bond over camps. It is a time where people who are normally insanely busy are able to stop and enjoy each others’ company. They are able to learn through Bible studies, understand the diversity of God’s family in a much deeper way, and spend time living their faith with intentionality.

Whole Uniting Church camps like KCO, SAYCO, as well as Easter camps and Scripture Union’s Beach Mission camps, are things I am deeply passionate about.

These larger camps provide opportunities for kids to be surrounded by the gospel in a way that our increasingly secular world can not and will not provide. They are able to see that there are many kids/youth who are journeying in faith. They can question and think about their own faith in a supported environment. They can get excited about God’s promises and sacrifices. These experiences can be of indescribable importance to a child/youth’s faith journey.

Parts 2 and 3 of Nicole Callen’s reflections on church camps will be available online in the coming weeks. Links will be inserted here once they have been published.

An edited, shorter version of Nicole’s reflections is available in “More than campfire tales” (pages 12-13) in the August/September 2016 print edition.

Do you have a story to share? Why do you think church camps are important in the life of the Uniting Church? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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