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Holy Week resources and reflections

The changing face of camp & conference ministry

Camp and conference centers in the PC(USA) continue to play a vital and expanding role in the denomination. They provide and support Christian education, disciple-making, young adult leadership, congregational support, retreats of all varieties, evangelism and outreach. 

Begun as the intentional center of summer Christian education for PC(USA) congregations in which churches would send their children and youth each summer, the face of our ministry is adapting. Gone are the days of blind allegiance to any ministry solely based on denominational affiliation. Our society and our denomination have changed and no ministry can count on allegiance solely based on denominational alignment. That change fosters an abundance of opportunity to minister in new ways while staying true to the mission focuses of our centers.

Responding to a repeated cry from young adults for opportunities to worship and engage in their Christian faith, Calvin Center in Hampton, Ga., began the Common Soul/Sole internship. Program Director Paul Humphreys shares, “CS2 takes the powerful medium of experience and applies that to the lives of young adults, not just in camp and conference ministry, but in the churches they serve. However, it’s more than that; it moves through every facet of their life and faith in Jesus Christ, grounded in Christian community.”

Watching summer numbers decline as many churches in the San Joaquin Valley were losing families with children and other churches were leaving the PC(USA), Tony Biasell, executive director of Calvin Crest in Oakhurst, Calif., felt the Lord leading the camp in a new direction. “‘If they won’t come, hit the highways and hedges and invite those who have never been invited to come … ’ was the clear word heard one night in prayer,” Biasell said. “We didn’t have to look far, because we started getting phone calls from community groups who work with kids who may have never been out of their neighborhoods and seen giant sequoias, a massive night sky with stars, waterfalls and quiet. Our new ministry statement is: ‘Utilizing the resources and environment at 5,000 feet, we partner with churches to train disciples of Jesus Christ, with schools to teach outdoor education and with community groups to bring people to health and wholeness’.”

Watching the success of Living Waters for the World, a ministry of the Synod of Living Waters housed at Camp Hopewell in Oxford, Miss., Ferncliff in Little Rock, Ark., began visioning a similar mission training center housed at the camp. Solar Under the Sun was begun as an ecumenical ministry partner of the Synod of the Sun. In one and one-half years, Solar Under the Sun has graduated 117 students and installed 18 solar arrays in other countries. Director Chris McRae shares, “Jesus Christ said we should go out into the world and let our light shine so that all the people of the world should see it. We think your solar light should shine as well.”

After experiencing years of successful partnership with their storage and call centers at Ferncliff, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) reached out to the Office of Camp and Conference Ministry to see how we could expand the partnership nationally. New partnerships are under development in which PDA will train and equip volunteer action teams from five strategically located regional camp and conference centers. “It just makes sense for us to locate equipment but also to train volunteer teams in more than one way,” states Rick Turner, hospitality associate for PDA. “This partnership will help us be ready more quickly when disaster strikes and camp and conference centers provide a perfect partner.” New PDA partner sites will be in Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Washington. “We are happy to support this national effort in any way we can and know our centers will be able to provide the hosting and support PDA needs,” Betty Angelini, executive director of Crestfield outside Pittsburgh shares.

Camps have been a wonderful venue for allowing young adults to worship in community every summer. Responding to a need for diverse worshipping communities and Bible study groups, Westminster Woods in Occidental, Calif., launched “in • spire,” a monthly Taizé-inspired prayer service intended to provide contemplative space within a Christ-centered community. Sheila Denton, executive director of Westminster Woods, shares, “Summer camp will always be at the heart of what the Woods is. However, young people are exploring and expressing their faith in new and exciting ways. It’s a natural fit for Westminster Woods to host a monthly ministry such as in • spire.”

So jump in the water! Great things are happening throughout the church, and camp and conferences are enthusiastically continuing to develop and adapt to be relevant and effective vehicles for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

BRIAN FRICK is associate for camp and conference ministries in the General Assembly Mission Council staff, PC(USA).

 

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