Church & Camp Cooperation
By Bob McKemey

A pastor once told me that his young people experience more spiritual growth during a few days at camp than they do in a whole year of attendance at Sunday School.ﾊ Others have made similar comments in my hearing.ﾊ Please donﾕt misunderstand, I am not speaking against the value of the Sunday School.ﾊ But few people would question the effectiveness of the camping ministry for evangelism and discipleship.ﾊ Why is this?ﾊ What is it about a camp that brings about such profound, and often quick results?

From my own experience and reading I have been able to identify seven factors that make a camp ministry so effective.ﾊ Before I list these I want to say that this does not mean that other ministries are invalid or should be abandoned in favor of camping. We need to take advantage of all the methods God has made available to us.

I also want to say that I believe Christian camping exists for the church. The Church is central to the purposes of God. Therefore the camp ministry exists to contribute to the growth of the church - both numerically and spiritually.. That is why the OBC mission statement says: The purpose of Okutama Bible Chalet is to glorify God and serve the church through camping programs . . .

Camp is often referred to as a ﾒpara-church organizationﾓ. Personally I do not like that term because ﾒparaﾓ means along side of. As an organization, the camp is not a church. It is not a local body of believers meeting for regular worship, and other church functions.ﾊ We do not baptize people into a membership; we do not elect elders or have pastoral leadership.ﾊﾊ But OBC is a Christian camp ministry. Though organized separately, it is not outside of, but a part of the overall ministry of the church in Japan.ﾊ And because it is a camping ministry, it has several distinctions which make it very effective for evangelism and discipleship.

Concentration: Camping is effective, first, because it is a concentrated ministry of Godﾕs Word.ﾊ Truth is taught, demonstrated, and reinforced over and over in many ways.ﾊ Chapel messages, morning devotions, discussions, counseling sessions, Bible studies, drama, testimonies, and campfires are some of the obvious.ﾊ Add to that the informal witness of staff and Christian campers.ﾊ This has tremendous power.ﾊ No church program can duplicate this concentration.

Time Away: Camping takes people away from the noise, demands, routines, and pressures of daily life. It removes them from the constant onslaught of the worldﾕs influence which come through TV, magazines, family, friends, unsaved teachers, and so on.　Unlike church attendance, camp life is a 24 hour a day experience of living together, over a period of several days.� People have time to absorb truth and think through the implications. Trust relationships are developed.ﾊ People find time to relax, build friendships, and think deeply.

Group Living: At camp the message is not only presented, but modeled.Christianity is not just facts to believe, but a life to live (love, submission, trust, forgiveness).ﾊ Primarily it is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, but it is lived out in relation to people (friends, enemies, family, authorities). A lesson on sharing, for example, is better taught with eight hungry kids around a platter of spaghetti than in a dozen sermons. In this way camping may be the closest we come to emulating Christ's ministry of discipling.

Purpose: The camper is brought into a safe, Christ-centered environment of caring, acceptance, fun, learning, and relaxation. Their meals, recreation, roommates, teaching, and many other factors are all controlled by the staff, and all for one purpose.While we need to be careful never to coerce people into making decisions against their will, used correctly, this control is a good thing.

Staff: Camp is a place where growing Christians can influence others with teaching, listening, playing together, warning, or just showing love and acceptance. The number one priority in camp planning is staff selection. Why? Because example, not just verbal teaching, is at the heart of discipleship.

Nature: Godﾕs creation is often called the second Bible. God speaks through nature and uses it to open hearts. Walk through a forest, sit by a stream, climb to a mountain peak.ﾊ Your heart will become more open to Godﾕs truth. Thoughts of eternity, lifeﾕs meaning, God's greatness flood into our minds. Think of the way Jesus used nature in His teaching. Camping, more than any other ministry, brings people into close contact with nature.

Fun: Fun is not the measure of success at camp. But a camp program cannot be successful without it. This would not be true of a church service or seminar. Camping - by nature, is a fun-filled experience.ﾊ This is why campers come. And there we find a secret of its effectiveness.
People who are genuinely enjoying themselves have open hearts - to those around them, and to their message. The reverse is also true.

Any of the above factors make camp an effective ministry, but taken all together they overlap and reinforce each other resulting in a ministry that is unparalleled in its effectiveness.

Church Cooperation:ﾊ On the other hand, the camping ministry alone, apart from cooperation with the local church, looses its value. If campers are not brought into the life of the church, the decisions they register at camp have little meaning. While we strive to provide some limited follow-up, a camp is unable to provide the weekly nurture and pastoral care that people need. While camp is a temporary community, the church becomes a permanent family. People may attend a camp, but they join a church. Jesus did not say: I will build my campﾓ, but His church.

So it is when the camp and the church cooperate in ministry that the effectiveness of the camp program has value.ﾊ A camp that exists for itﾕs own ministry with no relationship to the church will find its effectiveness short-lived. On the other hand, churches that fail to take advantage of the ministry of camping will not be as effective as those which make full use of this God-given tool.

Is your church taking advantage of this ministry? In addition to church retreats, I would encourage you to also cooperate with the programs provided by Christian camps like OBC and OFI. These programs are carefully planned to meet the needs of a specific age group. They are long enough to make a significant impact that can not be achieved in a short retreat. Staff are gathered from a number of churches. You will find a wide variety of programs for all age groups.

Send us your people as campers, and we will send them back greatly encouraged in their faith. Send us people to serve as staff, and they will grow spiritually in ways you can hardly imagine, and will be better trained for ministry in the church. Plan several retreats for your people throughout the year, and you can expect the impact to be significant. Churches should see the camp, not just as a place for believers to meet for spiritual nourishment, but as an excellent means of evangelism.ﾊ I heard a pastor once define ﾒChristian Campingﾓ as Camping for Christiansﾓ. Frankly, I was shocked at this limited vision. Don't just send the Sunday School children, but encourage them to invite their friends from school. Don't just leave camp flyers on a table at church. Have believers use them to invite people in their neighborhood or extended family. You will be surprised at how many people will be open to this kind of invitation, who would not respond to an invitation to a special meeting at church.

The camp exists for the church.ﾊ And the church that cooperates with the camp ministry will benefit greatly. I look forward to your partnership in the gospel.