by Betty Angelini
“In the PC(USA) we talk a lot about collaboration and partnering. This is just a fantastic example of PC(USA) World Mission partnering with PC(USA) camps and conference centers,” proclaims Del Braaskma, associate for staff education and training at Presbyterian World Mission. What is this partnership that is so fantastic? For the past two years, staffs from two different camps have traveled to Africa and El Salvador to provide a daycamp for the children and youth of mission coworkers.
Partnership is a valuable component of camp ministry. Traveling daycamps are a prime example of this partnership. Many stateside camps offer ministry to churches and communities by bringing a plethora of camp activities such as archery, games, arts and crafts and, of course, Bible study to local congregations. Camp staffs travel with their van loaded full of summer camp fun and learning, then live at the church site for a week. Within that week, relationships are developed between staff and congregation members and daycampers. The Crestfield Camp and Conference Center staff, a part of the Pittsburgh Presbytery’s ministry, began this missional outreach to the churches of the presbytery in 2006 with an abundance of fruit born from these partnerships.
When Crestfield was invited to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, in the spring of 2013, partnership took on a whole new meaning. Annually, a group of PC(USA) mission coworkers from a certain geographical region gather for Sabbath fellowship through community and learning. Because the days can be intense with back-to-back sessions, the mission coworkers yearned for a program to care for their children (ages 4-17) that involve something more than just childcare. At the invitation of Braaksma and Ken White, associate pastor at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and the spiritual director for the 2013 gathering of the African mission coworkers, four Crestfield staff members journeyed to Cape Town with their summer camp supplies in tow. And what connectedness, partnership and relationships developed!
As children of missionaries, these 21 daycampers needed ministry just for them, allowing them the opportunity to Sabbath, have fun, participate in Bible studies and be with others that understand the specialness of their lives. Days were spent together as a big group getting energized in the morning with silly camp songs and in the afternoon completing art projects, like knitting or T-shirt printing. Throughout the day, seven young boys, lovingly known as the “Magnificent Seven” learned to ring chimes, play giants, wizards and dwarves, and hear the Bible story, one of selected parables of Jesus through Godly Play. The older youth ventured to the beach and the top of the mountain, played football and shared the joys and the challenges of having parents who were missionaries. Relationships were formed, relationships were deepened. Just as adults were ministered to in their sessions, their children were fed physically, emotionally and spiritually.
The week culminated with the daycampers leading vespers one evening, sharing that week’s activities in an interactive worship that began with an energizer as the call to worship. The Magnificent Seven provided the music by chiming a song they just learned and the Scripture reading by using the figures of their Godly Play Bible lesson. The youth led the adults in small group discussions of the text that were truly inspired by the Holy Spirit so that rich and deep sharing occurred across the generations. Partnership and connectedness as the body of Christ was demonstrated in such a beautiful and unique way.
Yet, the uniqueness of this partnership was not contained to the continent of Africa. In 2014, Braaksema again invited the Crestfield staff to join in partnership with the mission coworkers of the Caribbean and Latin America. The gathering took place in centrally located El Salvador. However, the partnership was expanded when Crestfield invited staff from Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, to join in this traveling daycamp outreach ministry. After six months of planning via Skype and conference call, three Crestfield staff, led by Becky Little, met up with three Ferncliff staff, coordinated by Joel Gill, as they boarded a plane in Houston for San Salvador. A new partnership continued to develop as the teams literally took off on a new adventure together.
As Gill describes, “Putting on a camp in another country was a new experience. Any new experience, especially one that involves international travel, comes with a little bit of anxiety. Although we thought the logistics might be a challenge, everything worked out great. The age range of the children was quite broad. We had children from age 3 up to 13. Planning programs that would appeal to this broad age range can also be a challenge. We decided to divide and conquer and had the kids 6 and up in one group and 5 and under in another. This worked nicely. Putting on camp programming at a location other than your camp site always takes some adaptation. We were lucky that the facility had two pools, beach access, and plenty of green space for outside activities as well as a nice indoor space to serve as our camp hub.” Outside activities were bird watching adventures, looking with binoculars for hidden paper birds and then learning to identify the bird type, or learning how to use compasses while completing a scavenger hunt. Bible study focused on how God continually makes people new was the center of the day. That precious time began with all the daycampers together hearing the story told through Godly Play. Then, the younger daycampers discovered the story through activities while the older group delved into the text and shared how it applied in their lives.
With this partnership between summer camp staff and mission coworkers comes blessings, more blessings than the number of stars in the sky. As Emily Weinsdorfer, a Ferncliff staff member recalls, “I was blessed through the support and affirmations of everyone attending the conference. The children showed us through their excitement that they enjoyed our presence. Their parents and other conference attendees continually thanked us for being there and affirmed our work as good and important. My friends from Ferncliff and Crestfield supported me and one another through their individual strengths and skills. The atmosphere of encouragement was such a blessing.”
The blessings and the relationships continue even after everyone returned home. Camp participant Robert Turk is now a freshman at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, while his parents, Dan and Elizabeth Turk are PC(USA) mission coworkers in Madagascar. Sending a child off to college is always a huge parental step, particularly when you are sending the child to a different continent. Yet, that huge step seems smaller when friends and family are present on the other side ocean. Robert became a dear friend while spending time together at daycamp in Africa and is now part of the nearby Crestfield family. As he looked for a college, Crestfield was his home base during the traditional preenrollment college tour with his parents. In the summer of 2014, Robert and his family, including his sister, Francis and his maternal grandparents, spent time at Crestfield as they settled him into his dorm room and new way of living. The relationship has deepened as my husband and I have visited with Robert throughout the semester, hosted him at fall break and got him to the airport for the holiday breaks. Picking up his bike and dropping off care packages of snack foods and winter clothing are just a few ways Robert and the my family remain in relationship throughout the semester. As Braaksma observes, “The relationships that mission kids develop are so critical in their lives. How fabulous it is that camp staff have a part of those relationship even when the MKs are in the states.” The webs and the partnerships of ministry take on new and wonderful forms every day. It gives me goose bumps when I stop and think how God has this great plan and interweaves us in each other’s lives.
The blessings abound through this partnership. Aimee Spiccuzza, a Crestfield staff member, was blessed by spending time with the children. “Children are a wonderful reminder of God’s presence in our lives; they are full of joy, love, willingness, excitement and smiles. There were times that were more difficult than others but working with children, I believe, gives us a glimpse into the kingdom of heaven,” says Spiccuzza.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon in all of his wisdom speaks of the benefits of partnership: defense, warmth, community. Outdoor ministry and its summer camps and traveling daycamps are certainly an example of those benefits even when the travel is international. We are part of a connected church, one with partnerships and relationships that extend across the generations and across the oceans and nations. When the Holy Spirit binds us together as a strong three strand cord, we cannot be broken and fabulous partnerships happen. May partnerships with your camp and conference center bear fruit in ministry that is unimaginable and yet made possible by God’s presence. How fabulous partnerships truly are!
BETTY ANGELINI is the executive director of Crestfield Camp & Conference Center.
