Church Summer Camps – Where We’ll Find the Church’s Next Leaders
It’s summer, and depending on where you live in our region, you may be inside trying to avoid the sweltering heat, or you’re enjoying your time outside because this weather is made for outdoor adventures.
Wherever you land on that spectrum, there is one thing that is likely consistent with each of our summers — Church Youth Camp. This article is not a report of how our Heartland camps went at Camp Judson or Swan Lake. This article will remind us of what camp is all about and will share lessons I received while at camp this year with students of our church.
Reminder #1: The Secret Sauce of Camp Still Works
I would imagine that if I were to take a poll, most readers would say that God used a youth camp mightily in their life as a teenager. It’s been a staple for many years. Camp was never meant to be the pinnacle or the culmination of spiritual growth, but the beginning or a refresh in a young person’s life with Christ.
So, one might ask, why are students so responsive to God while at camp? Some might say, “Well, it's an emotional response to fog machines, lights, loud worship bands, and manipulative sermons”. While others might point to the peer pressure factor, students respond like their friends.
While some of that may be true for some campers, I would push back and say that responsiveness is tied to another huge factor: the secret sauce of camp. What is that secret sauce? It has three key factors:
Consistency in the Word: reading it, thinking about it, and hearing it preached.
Frequent opportunities to respond in worship: singing together, quiet times, cabin discussion, and bonfires.
Concentrated community: young and mature believers looking to invest in them.
Now here’s a question for us: How can we, as their church, help them tap into this secret sauce for the other 51 weeks of the year? How do we fulfill our responsibility to disciple these young believers?
Reminder #2: God’s Word Never Fails
“My soul waits on the LORD and in His word I hope, more than the watchman my soul waits for the LORD,” the Psalmist writes as he cries out to God. Many years later, Paul wrote to the church in Galatia: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Don’t give up. Keep waiting on the Lord, run to the watchtower, keep sowing seeds of good ministry work, for in due season reaping will come.
Camp can be part of that weary work— hot weather, long drives, bad mattresses, cruddy coffee, teenage drama, late nights with little sleep. Did I mention the mattresses? Camp can also be the season God has designed for reaping. Camp was that season for us this year.
My son, Caleb, brought two of his friends to camp. These are two guys for whom we’ve been praying for years. And at camp this summer, both these young men cried out in faith for God to save them and be the Lord of their lives. Praise God for his goodness and faithfulness. Lord willing, they will be baptized in August!
Wait, watch, pray, God is faithful — our spirits are willing, but our flesh is weak. Lord, help us to wait on your faithful word.
Reminder #3: This Generation Is Worth Investing In
We’ve seen the memes disparaging Gen Z. We’ve read and heard about the concerns with Gen Z in the workplace. But let me assure you, all is not lost. God is at work in our next generation of leaders.
This summer, I was reminded that they are passionate, bold, savvy, collaborative, and genuine. All this is driven by a desire for meaningful purpose. Who else can give them a meaning and purpose than Christ?
Camp is a place where they can break away from screens and be encountered by the living God who will, through his word and the Holy Spirit, call them into the meaning and purpose of following him all their days. Camp is a place where we invest in the next church leaders, pastors, church planters, and missionaries. Camp is where that purpose and meaning can be found or refreshed.