Editor’s Note: In September 2007, Joel Winchip became the first executive director of the Presbyterian Camp and Conference Center Association. He recently sat down to talk with Outlook editor Jack Haberer about the state of Christian camping and about Joel’s new role.
JH: What is the current state of Presbyterian camp and conference ministry?
JW: It’s going to be a big year for camp and conference centers in our denomination. We’ll be celebrating 100 years of Presbyterian camp and conference ministry, so it’s a great time to look back on how this ministry has touched our lives through the history of the Presbyterian Church.
JH: What DID happen 100 years ago that actually launched it?
JW: Camp Kosciusko opened.
JH: So this is the 100th anniversary of all this.
JW: While we lost our great patriarch in ministry, Don Hostetter, back in April of 2007, a legacy has been created in his memory that eventually will fund the Presbyterian camp and conference ministries association, our consultants’ network, and will endow an office of camp and conference ministry in Louisville.
On top of that the PCCCA ministry hired its first staff person, and that’s why you and I are talking here today.
JH: Tell me a little more about that. What were you doing before?
JW: I was for seven years serving as executive director for Bethelwoods Camp and Conference Center in York, S.C.
JH: What are some misconceptions out there about camp and conference center ministry?
JW: There are really two major misconceptions. The first one is that retreats don’t need to be a priority for congregations. In an age of shrinking budgets, some churches believe that the annual church retreat can be easily cut, and I think people forget what happens to congregations when you move them away from everyday life to the bonds that are formed by being in nature together and by being on an overnight retreat or even just a day event. I think this is what brings people in the pews together and that’s how even new members become a part of the church family. The second one that exists is that there seems to be a rumor among Presbyterian leaders that camps and conference centers across the country are closing left and right. That is simply not true.
JH: That’s not true?
JW: It’s not. We may have lost two or three over the past five years, but they were ones that had been hurting for a while. There (are) plenty of sites around that are under increasing pressure due to budgetary constraints. Most judicatories, I think, realize that camp and conference centers are an important part of their ministries, and they are seeking help from associations like PCCCA, and are finding ways to reinvent their ministries by changing programs or staff or even the facilities.
JH: I do get word from where I am that some of those camp and conference centers really are thriving right now.
JW: Yes. We have many camps … adding staff, many camps that are having banner years with their summer camp programs, many camps that are adding additional facilities, a lot of those adult-friendly buildings, many just trying to put themselves where they need to be to serve the church of today and tomorrow.
JH: What’s the purpose of the PCCCA?
JW: PCCCA is a grassroots operation. It’s an association that supports the staff, the committees, the boards and judicatories of the 140 Presbyterian camp and conference centers across the country. It does that by providing resources on the Web site www.pccca.net and PCCCA has a consultants network that helps camp and conference centers at times of transition. It also offers special programs for program staff, maintenance staff, for board members involved in fund raising, and they have a big annual conference each November that brings together representatives from most all of the camps and conference centers. This year that gathering will take place at Zephyr Point on Lake Tahoe, and it will be a joint program with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
JH: On the side, I imagine that’s like a busman’s holiday: all the retreat center directors get to go to a retreat center.
JW: Those that host that event say its equivalent to having a hundred and fifty in-laws at your house for a week.
JH: Oh, my! I can just imagine. In addition to the leadership you are giving to PCCCA, you also are a professor at Presbyterian College and at Columbia Theological Seminary. Tell me about the course you are presenting in those schools.
JW: I’m really excited about what’s going at both of those schools. Due to requests from students, they’re both offering a course in camp and conference center program and administration. Neither institution has any history in offering a class like that. So I’m hoping this will be just the beginning. Camp and conference ministry is so important, and I am hoping that one or more of our Presbyterian colleges and seminaries will step forward to become the signature institutions to train the Presbyterian camp and conference centers’ staff for today and tomorrow.
JH: What’s your hope for the future for all of this?
JW: In this big year … we’re going to have, that we don’t forget how we got here. We can just look back on the results of that last Presbyterian Panel survey that said that, I believe, 90% of our pastors recall one particular learning or spiritual growth experience that had great significance in shaping their Christian life, and the majority of these pastors named camps, retreats, and conferences as the setting for that one spiritual growth experience. I would imagine that this it true for most of your readers. It’s important for us to remember the power of the ministry. I would encourage the folks out there to go to https://www.pccca.net and look up their Presbyterian camp and conference center, the ones that have touched their lives over the years. It would be wonderful if they would reconnect with those sites, because it’s vital that we share our stories, our experiences at conference centers, and to support these special places that have an important ministry in the life of the PC(USA).
