If you grew up in church, you may have been to many church camps over the years with it being a very popular yearly exercise for church communities. Many churches have been questioning if church camps are still worth the investment of time, money and stress in organisation to continue. Which leaves us asking, are church camps a thing of the past?
You are reading on a website that is all about camping, so you could make the assumption that our answer to the above question is going to be no. Well surprise, you are correct! We believe that church camps can profoundly impact the church community spiritually and relationally in a way that progresses the vision for the church and connects people to the mission.
Work commitments, family, friends and all other areas of life, for many, have become this juggling act that leaves little time free and many people becoming burnt out. For many Christians who are serving regularly in church, there is often little time to connect with people and be spiritually fed personally. With increased technology and social media, our societies should be more connected than ever, but many people in our community are feeling lonely and disconnected to those around them. Church Camp is a great way to get the church members together, to connect with each other, deepen relationships, align with the vision and support each other.
Below are some reasons why putting on a church camp may be great for your Church.
- Time to get away from the distractions of life.
Daily life can be filled up to the brim leaving minimal room for us to take time to connect with God, each other and reflect on where we are currently at. Church Camp can be a time to re-centre or catapult you into the next step forward in your life. Church Camps give your congregation an allotted few days set aside, with time away from the normal surrounding which can help to reflect, reset and focus on God without the day to day distractions. This is also helpful at a church camp when there are no meals you have to cook or wash up, no need to come up with ideas to entertain the kids or house to tidy! It’s a win-win!
- Time for families to be together
Sometimes as a family when you are going about the schools runs, work, meals, sport and more it can be hard to connect. Church Camp gives families time together to connect through meals, fun family games, and corporate worship as a family. It also enables adults and children to be spiritually fed separately through adult and children’s programs and then to come back together and share as a family what they have be learning.
- Time to align as a congregation to one vision
Sometimes as a church, it can be very hard to get the whole congregation working towards the one vision just from a Sunday morning service. With members attending irregularly and short amount of time to hold listeners attention, this can make it difficult for the church leadership to communicate to the church where they see the church-going for the future and giving the congregation time to align with that. Church Camp gives you the opportunity to have multiple sessions that everyone is present for and take the congregation on a journey to give the opportunity to catch hold of the vision and take personal ownership of it.
These are just a few reasons why church camps can be beneficial to your church community. Overall it enables your church members both new and long-standing to connect deeper, grow in relationships, experience worship together and then have the chance to share over meals about what God is speaking with them about. It enables multiple generations to share wisdom and spend time together as both young and old grow closer to God and connect to the Church.