“It left a lasting impression”

Posted 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 Two: What kind of experiences did you have at church camps growing up? How has this affected your faith and life as an adult?

I previously described some of my experiences of local church congregation camps (in part one here) – they are such warm memories. I do have another story I’d like to share here:

As a young adult I was a part of a church congregational camp. I was floored when I was asked to be a small group leader of a group that contained people my age, as well as people younger and older than I was.

I ran that group in the same way I had seen countless other being run at the many church camps I had previously participated in. We had the normal small group rules: “This is a safe space”, “No statement or question is too silly or unimportant”, “Everything that is said in small group stays in small group”, etc.

A friend of mine who had been coming to church ever since I had known him was a part of my group. He told me afterwards that he had never been to a camp before, and had never been a situation where he felt safe to share and explore his faith. For him, it was a “mountain top” faith experience.

I also have many stories of my own participation in camps as a young person.

I attended KCO from an extremely young age. My mum and dad went for many years as camp mum and dad for our church and I just tagged along. I loved KCO as a youngster and then as an official camper.

I loved the big stage, the music, the musical, the fireworks, and the camping environment with my church.

I loved my small groups, the crafts and the immensity of the experience.

I loved key leaders who lead from the front – in my day it was Auntie Jan (Dempster), Uncle Ken (Anderson), Sue Oliver, and of course, KUCA himself (or “herself”, I could never remember which!).

I remember my small group leaders from my church, who must have been from our youth group, although they seemed like grown-ups to me.

There’s one KCO experience that really stuck with me. I’m not sure what year it was – I suspect I was about 10 years old – and Sue Oliver spoke about something that she was going to do in her life. There was a call from the front for financial support for the work she was going to do, and I remember being convicted that I wanted to help. I asked my small group leader if I could go to the admin tent and donate what was in my money box – a grand total of about 25 cents. On my way to give the donation, I gave my life to Christ.

This wasn't something I ever told anyone. I don't think I even realised what had happened. But now, aged 40, I still remember where I was, what I could see and the emotion in my heart. I had a long way to go before I could call my journey an adult one, but that moment was when I think I felt God on a personal level for the first time.

Camps like KCO and SAYCO are so important. They’re not just babysitting and a fun weekend. They provide a time to minister, disciple and mentor our children. They are those “mountain top faith experiences” that God is able to use to touch the hearts of our kids.

Finally, I’d like to share some stories of my involvement in Easter camps.

When I was 13, I was asked if I wanted to go on an Easter camp. Easter camps, in my day, had a reputation for a few things – apparently you would come back with a boyfriend, and you would cry uncontrollably on Saturday night. Why? Because that’s what (reportedly) always happened.

My first Easter camp was at Adare. Despite what others had said prior to the camp, I did not come back with a boyfriend. However, I certainly did have a good cry on Saturday night!

The Easter camp at Adare was threw together a bunch of hormone-driven teenagers to experience the sacrifice of Easter at a very intense level. We participated in electives and activities, and shared in worship with a great band. We had free time, where we interacted with other teenage Christians.

At Easter camps, the shaping that occurred within small groups, and through the words of the main speakers, was always powerful. Consequently, when the altar call came each Saturday night, there were many people who were touched by the Spirit and made commitments to the Lord.

Yes, the tears were catching, and yes, perhaps we egged each other on. But those nights were powerful times of faith building.

After one of these Saturday night sessions, I remember walking, sobbing, across the main grass area. One of the leaders tapped me on the shoulder and said, “It gets easier mate”.

I am sure that moment is long forgotten by the leader, but that small interaction, to a shy and unconfident teenager, left a lasting impression on me.

In that moment, I knew there were people who saw me and my journey.

I knew that “this faith thing” was something that people would, could and did experience as part of their lives everyday, forever.

I knew that people were willing to create and lead these camps for me because they wanted me to know the love of God like they did.


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