Chapter 27

Camping

William D. Gwinn and Lloyd O. Cory

CALLING TIME-OUT

NOW AS IN BIBLICAL TIMES man has needed to call time out, so that he can evaluate his walk with God, gain a renewed perspective for his life, and be refreshed physically and spiritually. A change of pace and a change of place are periodic necessities for every person. Christian camping has become one of the most effective ways to provide for this need. In unsurpassed natural settings of all kinds, people of all ages are choosing to come aside from the normal routine and distraction of life, even as our Lord often did. Seasonal and year-round camp ministries have sprung up at an incredible rate. The unthreatening atmosphere of love, acceptance, discovery, and simulated family life, characteristic of most camps, has made them special places for personal evaluation, affirmation, and decision.

BRIEF HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN CAMPS AND CONFERENCES

   No one knows for sure when the first Christian camp convened. But there are a few published facts about early Christian camps and conferences in America.

   The founding Pilgrim fathers wrote about their first meeting in the new land: "It was decided on the morrow that a small party would go ashore and select a campsite. . . . A campsite was selected on a high ground."¹ This too was rugged survival camping.

   Some trace the ancestry of Christian conferences back to the old-time camp meetings. These gatherings, which consisted largely of meetings and meals, may have begun just prior to 1800. Through them many people became Christians and grew spiritually.

1. L. B. SHARP, "The Role of Camping in Our American Heritage," Camping, February 1942, p. 33.

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WILLIAM D. GWINN, M. Div., is Executive Director, Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center, Mount Hermon California.

LLOYD O. CORY, A. B., is Vice-President, Editorial Department, Scripture Press Publications, Wheaton, Illinois.

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   The first youth camps in America may have started during the Civil War. Frederick Gunn, dubbed "father of the American camping movement," was headmaster of the Gunnery School for Boys in Washington, Connecticut. Often he let his lads sleep outside so they would feel more like soldiers. In 1861 Mr. Gunn led his troops to nearby Milford-on-the-Sound, where they camped out for two weeks. His program consisted of a combination of military training, hiking, boating, and fishing. He operated this first school camp each summer until 1879.

   In 1880 Rev. George Hinkley took seven boys from his church out camping. According to existing records this encampment on Gardener Island, Wakefield, Rhode Island, was the first church-sponsored camp. Pastor Hinkley figured correctly that the informal living in God's great outdoors would help break down barriers so that he could get closer to his boys and win them to the Lord. His campers had Bible teaching, educational and sports activities, and evening services.

   The YMCA, which started out strong evangelistically, originated organizational camping in 1885. The Y's Camp Dudley, on New York's Lake Champlain, is the oldest boys' camp still operating.

   About this time D. L. Moody started a Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts. The Winona Lake (Indiana) Bible Conference and the Mountain Retreat Association (later Montreat, near Ashville, N. C.) began in the 1890s. Bible conferences tried to provide a relaxing atmosphere, but their primary task was Bible study. Their founders started them because they were convinced that many churches were not doing an adequate job of teaching the deeper truths of the Word.

   In the 1920s and 1930s, Bible conferences generally switched from tents to permanent buildings. Many conferences began to sponsor boys' and girls' camps on the outskirts of their properties.

   Church-sponsored camping programs started taking hold after World War I. This movement has been growing ever since, except during World War II, when male leaders were scarce.

   The American Camping Association soon began to provide as one facet of its program a loosely knit fellowship of church-related camps. Three or four sectional affiliations of evangelical camps and conferences sprung up across the United States, and some of their members were linked also on an annual basis through a camping section of the National Sunday School Association. Because of the rapid growth of the camps and conferences, the need was felt for an international affiliation of evangelical camps and conferences. In 1963 leaders from across the United States and Canada met together to form the Christian Camp and Conference Association International, later to be identified by the simpler label of Christian

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Camping International. CCI is an interdenominational organization with a strong evangelical statement of faith. It sponsors a magazine, sectional/regional/divisional (national) / and international conventions, and field consultations. Its headquarters in Illinois services over four thousand members in more than fifty nations.² Standards of excellence are set which encourage camps to establish quality facilities and programs and provide for their camps' health and safety needs. Many Christian Camping International members also retain their membership in the American Camping Association, which has pioneered the call for high standards.

DEFINITION OF CAMPS AND CONFERENCES

   Drawing lines of demarcation among the many different kinds of camps and conferences is difficult. However, certain patterns emerge. The term conference generally is applied to a meeting-centered, speaker-centered approach, though many ingredients of a camp may be present. The term camp generally is applied to an activity-centered, counselor-centered approach, though speakers often are still employed. "Camps" fall into two classifications — facility and outdoors.

BIBLE CONFERENCES

   A Bible conference is a rather formal organization designed to accommodate whole families. Families may live together in cottages or larger lodging units, and often children's and youth activities are provided. Most Bible conferences have at least one large auditorium, big enough to hold a normal quota of temporary residents plus a "drive-in crowd." Outstanding Bible teachers, evangelists, missionary speakers, and musicians provide the spiritual input in formal meetings. Bible conferences also provide facilities for dining, recreation, and fellowship. Increasingly, electives, seminars, and small groups are being employed as a supplement to the major platform hours. While the revelational aspects of truth remain primary, the relational implications of truth are being stressed more and more. The unity and togetherness of the family is being stressed and encouraged in conference programming.

FACILITY CAMPS

   Most church camps fall into this category. Permanent buildings are provided, even though the outdoors may be utilized considerably. Programming philosophy ranges widely from large groups of up to five hundred

2. Christian Camping International, Box 400, Somonauk, Illinois, 60552. Executive Director, Ed Oulund.

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to small camps of thirty-five to fifty; from more heavily programmed formal instruction times, much like a "conference," to a minimum of formal instruction with much elective opportunity and time for relational involvement and individual counseling. In almost all cases, however, the small cabin group with a counselor remains the key, and Christ-centered biblical teaching is the indispensable basis of each entire day.

OUTDOOR CAMPS

   Outdoor camps range from primitive camping on one site to wilderness experiences which employ equipment but use no permanent facilities, other than possibly a base camp for equipment storage, orientation, and debriefing. The key words here are stress, adventure, and wilderness, where the outdoor setting is employed to the fullest as an unsurpassed laboratory setting. The counselor is responsible for activity, instruction, supervision, Bible teaching, and spiritual counseling; and often he serves also a nurse, cook, and more. His qualifications and training are unusually critical, due to the more hazardous and decentralized nature of this type of camping. Specialty programs involving bicycles, canoes, or whatever, are another expression of nonfacility camping. The greatest growth in camping today is in the area of wilderness camping. In it life-changing results have been unusually impressive, especially with troubled and spiritually "fed-up" youth.

CENTRALIZED AND DECENTRALIZED CAMP PROGRAMS

   The two kinds of program approaches are centralized and decentralized. In a centralized program the director and his aides map out mass activities for the whole camp.

   A decentralized program, which is more complex, allow small groups (as cabin units) a degree of choice in activities. The decentralized program puts more emphasis on the informal, personal contacts between counselor and campers than does the centralized program's carefully planned large-group activities. Good decentralized camping calls for a crew of godly, well-trained counselors and a director who always keeps track of what each small group is doing.

   As one would expect, the programs of outdoor adventuring camps are usually more decentralized than those of conference-type camps. Most evangelical church-camp programs have been basically centralized, with a few decentralized hours sprinkled into a week's activities. The trend of recent years, however, has been toward stronger counselor teams and more decentralization.

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CLASSIFICATION OF CAMPS BY DURATION AND LOCATION

DAY CAMPING

   Day camping is conducted on a daytime basis, with campers going home to sleep. Especially popular with preteens, day camping has several advantages over resident camping. For one thing the cost of operating a day camp is nominal. The basic requirements are a creative director, a bus, and some recreational equipment. Another advantage of day camping is the absence of the emotional tension caused when younger campers are separated from their parents for a week or so. Parents see that day campers get to the church or other starting point daily, at perhaps 9:00 A.M. Campers usually bring bag launches; the director furnishes the beverage. They bus to a park, forest preserve, lakefront, or other spot. The program may consist of hiking, handcraft, Bible stories, nature study, attending a pro ball game, or visiting a museum. Campers are returned to the starting point between 3:00 and 5:00 P.M. Once a week there may be a campfire, to which parents are invited. Day camping is proving to be an excellent way to reach children and subsequently their non-Christian parents for the Lord.  

OVERNIGHT CAMPING

   Overnight camping calls for the campers sleeping out, but spending their days at home, work, or school. While day camping appeals to the eight to eleven age-group, overnight camping has more attraction for older campers. Though generally conducted for only one night, overnight camping is sometimes repeated several times in a week or month. (Another kind of overnight camping takes place within the framework of a resident camp. This occurs when a group of resident campers and their counselor leave the main campsite for a camp-out.) 

TRIP CAMPING

   As its name implies, trip campers do not settle in one location. They keep on the move, pitching camp in different spots. Trail campers travel on foot, burro, or horseback, often in remote wilderness areas offering isolation, ruggedness, and beauty. Other trip campers slice through the water in canoes or boats. And bicycle camps are becoming increasingly popular. Still others cover greater distances in mechanized caravans, using cars, trailers, and "campers" that perch atop pickup trucks. 

RESIDENT CAMPING

   The most widespread form of Christian camping is resident camping, conducted on a twenty-four-hour day-and-night basis. There are three

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primary kinds of resident camping; long term (two or four weeks), short-term (four to seven days), and weekend.

VARIOUS TYPES OF CAMPS

   Though the following varieties of camps may be conducted on day camp, overnight camp, or trip camp basis, the large majority operate as resident camps. Some are centralized in their programs, whereas others are decentralized.

BOYS', GIRLS' AND COED CAMPS

   Most Christian camping is resident camping. And most Christian resident campers are between the ages of eight and seventeen. As already pointed out, camps range from platform to wilderness, from centralized to decentralized. Some children's camps are more refined with paved trails, intercom systems, big classrooms, and floodlighted ball fields. Others are rugged, back-to-nature, weatherbeaten, pup-tented camps, with primitive outside facilities. Judging from apparent spiritual results over the years, there are various valid ways to run camps. When it comes to lasting results, what matters most are the camp's men and women leaders, not the facilities or the method used. Clearly the Lord is not limited by or tied to man-made methods. When God works in campers' lives, He works through dedicated, radiant staff members who believe, live by, and teach God's Word. This does not mean that camping know-how is unimportant. It does not mean that staff commitment — a Spirit-driven desire to win, challenge, and train campers for Christ — is more basic than the camp's facilities and its leaders' knowledge of camp operations or nature lore.

FAMILY CAMPS

   In today's hectic world, families have become so fragmented, even in departmentalized church programs, that family togetherness has become one of the most needed and effective goals in all Christian camping. It has become apparent that the camp setting is uniquely suited to refresh and nurture families.

   Family members spend much time together in family groups — sleeping, eating, playing, praying, studying, and interacting together. Opportunities are also provided for peers to be together periodically at the various age levels, but the unity of the family is protected in most programming. Sleep-outs under the stars, cookouts, projects, creative competitiveness in recreational events, campfires, and numerous other activities are utilized to help estranged families become comfortable with one another and open to biblical teaching. Family camping also strengthens families already accustomed to being together. Family campers have time to be taught, to  

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dig into God's Word for themselves, to meditate and apply biblical truth, and to evaluate the goals, values, and priorities of their homes and individual lives.

   Some family camping is done in smaller groupings in state and national parks, and of course many families go camping by themselves. All forms of family camping provide opportunity for "vacation with a double value" — a good time of relaxation coupled with solid spiritual nurture.

OTHER RESIDENT CAMPS

   In addition to boy's camps, coed camps, and family camps, many specialized forms of camping are being carried on by evangelicals. And every year new ways to utilize camping to further the gospel are being developed. Here are some of these specialties:

1. Leadership training (camps geared for in-depth discipleship)

2. Work camps (usually service-oriented, for high schoolers)

3. Athletic and music or writers' camps (special appeal, need strong resource teams)

4. Collegiate camps (to reach and train college students)

5. Conferences for single career adults

6. Men's and women's retreats (to meet marriage, family, and vocational needs)

7. Married couples conferences and marriage workshops

8. Camps for elderly

9. Camps for handicapped (provide fresh incentives for many)

10. Camps for mentally challenged (happiness fosters progress)

11. Camps for underprivileged

12. Camps for delinquents

CHRISTIAN CAMPING GOALS

   Some camp directors operate with vague goals and indefinite objectives. They can be compared to an archer who hopes to score a bull's-eye but does not bother to take careful aim. His chances of hitting the mark are remote.

   Fortunately, the majority of Christian camp directors keep the most important goals, evangelism and Christian nurture, uppermost. Many, however, seem to forget that their campers' main goal is something different — to have fun. In a successful camp all three of these goals are met.

   Nearly all sin starts out as fun. Camp is an excellent place to teach that a lot of fun can be had without indulging in iniquity. Camp counteracts the prevalent idea among many young people that Christianity is dull, old-fashioned, blah.    

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   The main aim of evangelical camping is that the Holy Spirit will lead campers without Christ into a personal relationship with Him as Saviour and Lord. Counselors pray and teach and exemplify the truths of God's Word, seeking to establish friendly beachheads in campers' heads and hearts, to help win them to Christ. Many non-Christian Sunday school students, plus many unchurched campers, receive the Saviour at camp. Camp is the strong right arm of evangelism for many churches. It is often the place of harvest for seed sown long before by a faithful parent, pastor, youth worker, or friend.

   Because of the concentrated period of time involved, and the laboratory nature of the experience, Christian campers often grow more rapidly in a camp week than in any setting other than a Christ-centered home.

DEVELOPMENT OF CAMPERS

   Spiritually. Camp should not be a relatively unimportant, tacked-on activity — merely a good opportunity for parents to get rid of their offspring for a week or so. For a good camp is a veritable proving ground for Christianity. Leaders show Christian campers how to develop a solid faith that keeps working, remove the "knocks" from their speech, iron wrinkles out of their behavior, and align their lives with God's Word. In general terms, camp leaders seek to lead every camper's total life toward maturity in Christ, taking him further up the inclined plane of Christian growth than he was when he arrived at camp.

   Mentally. In a properly programmed camp, campers have much more time to be alone, to think than they have in other parts of their church's program. Counselors should encourage them to spend part of this alonetime with God's Word and its author, tucking away Bible knowledge, memorizing Scriptures that can help them all their lives.

   Campers also stretch their mental muscles as they learn firsthand about flora and fauna, first aid, and perhaps work on the camp's news sheet.

   Physically. Camp is one place in Christian education where adventure abounds. With no TV sets around, "spectatoritis" is at a minimum. Campers get lots of exercise, both on land and in the water. They have plenty of time and opportunity to expend pent-up energies. This greatly enhances the receptivity of campers to the gospel and Christ's claims on their lives.

   Socially. Camp is a great leveling place. For instance, neither wealth nor family prestige stand an uncooperative camper in good stead. His peers work hard at chipping off his personality's rough edges. "Iron sharpens iron, so one man [camper] sharpens the face of another" (Prov 27:17, Berkeley).

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   Thanks to the living-together setup at camp, cabin groups as a rule are soon welded together. Campers learn to appreciate others whose abilities, temperaments, race, and views are different from their own. Many camp-formed friendships endure through the years. In coed camps a significant percentage of campers manage to meet their future life partners.

   Emotionally. Campers gain a new perspective on life by being away from home. Most of them make progress in emotional independence from their parents.

   Camp should be a glad and happy time for campers, a time when they have fun and also really get to know Christ, the true source of inner peace and joy. Their camping experiences should help them develop a strong confidence in God and what He can do through them. Many parents and Sunday school teachers find camp to be a turning point; their young people come home knowing "the strength of the Spirit's inner re-inforcement" (Eph 3:16, Phillips), and are better prepared to face life's problems. An amazing high percentage of Christians and Christian leaders verify that the most significant decisions of their lives were made at camp.

TRAINING OF LEADERS

   Training counselors. One reason counselor training is important is quantitative: It is a significant ministry in and of itself to literally thousands of students. The other reason counselor training is vital is qualitative: The counselor of a small group wields great influence over his campers. He or she is the key! Humanly speaking, the camp's effectiveness will rise or fall with the counselor. He not only tells but models what Christ means to him. Unlike a leader at Sunday school, children's church, Sunday evening youth group, weekday club, or vacation Bible school, a camp counselor cannot leave his charges after an hour or three. There is no place for a counselor to hide till the next day or week. He is vulnerably on display both day and night. Since campers tend to pattern their actions after their counselors, an untrained or spiritually weak counselor can wreck a camp program. As the specialists in waterfront and cooking need training for their tasks, the counselor needs training as a specialist in spiritual matters. He also must be able to manage small-group activities, unaided.

   Prospective counselors should know their camp's standards for counselors, which should be based on that camp's philosophy. Here is one list of counselor qualifications:³

3. Adapted from Joy Mackay, "The Counselor Training Program for the Established Summer Camp" (M.A. thesis, Wheaton College, 1962), pp. 35-37.   

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1. Know Jesus Christ as Saviour and maintain a vital, growing relationship to Him as Lord.

2. Have a love for the age-group involved.

3. Be able to lead a camper to Christ.

4. Radiate Christ, being a mature staff member who is worthy of emulation.

5. Understand the philosophy and aims of the camp and seek to carry them out.

6. Be loyal to the camp, its director, and its policies.

7. Be able to work well with other leaders.

8. Assume responsibility cheerfully and be conscientious in performing duties.

9. See extra work to be done and do it without being told; be willing to do tasks not required in your job analysis.

10. Be familiar with the out-of-doors; feel at home there and be able to help campers feel at home too; know your way with map and compass; recognize night sounds of the woods; understand what to do when it rains on an overnight.

11. Be able to teach some camp skill.

12. Like campers and enjoy being with them, since campers quickly distinguish a counselor who really enjoys their company from one who patronizes them.

13. Understand campers, as a group and as individuals; take time to listen to each one.

14. Possess good health and vitality.

15. Know your own capabilities and limitations.

16. Be flexible and resourceful, adjusting easily to new situations.

17. Be neat in appearance and keep your belongings in good order.

18. Be at least nineteen years of age, having had two years of college or its equivalent.⁴ (This last qualification is reduced to one year of college in many camps, usually because of leadership shortage. Most states now require by law that counselors be at least eighteen.)

   A counselor training schedule will vary according to the proportion of new counselors, whether counselors are volunteers or summer-long, the length of the camp, the availability of the site, the distance the staff must travel to camp, and the extent to which the director believes in such training. Some phases of training can be covered by mail and, in the case of camps with local staffs, by meetings in town. But a large part of the instruction, to be fully effective, must take place at the campsite.

4. "Standards Report of Camping Practices—Resident Camps" (Martinsville, Ind.: Amer. Camping Assn.), p.2.

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Here is an outline of a fairly complete plan for training counselors:⁵

COUNSELOR TRAINING PLAN

5. Adapted from Joy Mackay, Creative Camping (Wheaton Ill.: Victor, 1977), pp. 162-63.

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Method	Time	Content
4. In-service training (while camp is in session)	Thirty-minute counselors' meeting each day; also interviews and evaluations	Discuss music in camps. Hold divisional meetings. Enlarge on the aims and philosophy of the camp's program. Allow time for counselors to prepare; get cabins ready. Pray together. Plan how to deal with specific problems and weak points. Give help when difficulties arise. Schedule regular interviews and evaluations with counselors. (Note: Give a spiritual challenge with every contact.)

   Training campers to be leaders. Camp is becoming known as a prime place to develop latent leadership abilities. Most young people in good Christian camps develop spiritually, mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally. Changes frequently come in campers' lives with ease and rapidity, partly because of the continuity of experience in a controlled environment.

   Camp is perhaps the most logical place in the church program to develop the four Cs of leadership:

   Confidence, in self and in God, is fostered by the campers' countless opportunities for learning by doing. Wise counselors let their charges help plan hikes, choose teams, lead song services, build a simple outdoor chapel, which help to discover their gifts and develop a sense of self-worth.

   Curiosity runs high, as young people come to camp expectantly, with their learning readiness at a high peak. Many seek adventure in the woods, in lakes and rivers, and some in exploring God's Word.

   Conscience is exercised and developed as the Holy Spirit speaks to individuals. He keeps a camper wrestling with his own conscience and helps him develop a sense of right and wrong based on Scriptures.

   Communication of God's message is stimulated in Bible hours, casual contacts, and cabin discussions. Campers have lots of time to practice expressing the gospel clearly.

   Probably most future camp leaders are now campers. There is no better place than camp for training tomorrow's staff members. Counselor training

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programs in various forms are spreading from camp to camp. It is hoped that a camp can "grow its own" future counselors as well as prepare young people for other leadership roles for Christ.

   Trainees are older campers who work as assistants to counselors. They generally live with a cabin group, take special classes in Bible and/or camping skills, practice leadership skills, often work a few hours a day at a camp maintenance job, and sometimes take the counselor's place so that he/she may have free or study time. Like all staff members, trainees should be sent a job description before camp, receive supervision during camp, and be evaluated at the close of the training period.

   Many campers become counselor trainees, then counselors, later interns in a camp, and finally full-time staff members.

WIDENING OF EVERYONE'S HORIZON

   Camp spells adventure, new skills, and exploration to young people who are a bit restless in their often-plastic cities and suburbs. Counselors should make sure the camp does not disappoint them. Eunice Russell advises:

Your example. . . is pivotal here. You can make simple hikes and stunts adventuresome just by contagious enthusiasm. Your own curiosity at a tadpole squirming in the shallow edge of the lake, or a milkweed pod ready to burst — your interest in learning to paddle a canoe or hit the archery target — may stimulate an interest in a new field or skill. If you succeed in carrying over the same spirit of adventure into exploration of the Bible, you will help to break down the "compartmentalization" that may exist in some minds: "This is fun," and "this is spiritual" (with the implication that the latter is dull).⁶

   Compass-orienteering, ax-wielding, fire-building, horsemanship, riflery, sailing, archery, swim instruction, skin- and scuba-diving, conservation, and outdoor cooking are a few of the many skills campers may develop. There are unlimited possibilities common to various sites, and each camp must creatively discover these. Wise directors reserve certain privileges (as overnights) for junior highs, others (as canoe trips) for high schoolers. Such a progression program (which includes degrees of attainment in waterfront, archery, riflery, and other skills) helps get campers back year after year.

   For many years Christian camps disregarded skill activities in camp as a valid use of time and money. At best they were treated as means only to another end. Though everything that happens in camp is aimed at cultivating a twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week awareness of Christ's

6. Eunice Russell, How to Be a Camp Counselor (Wheaton Ill.: Scripture Press Found, 1959), p. 5.  

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lordship, camp activities can also be ends in themselves, developing a sense of accomplishment. In such an atmosphere, young hearts open wide to the God who declares each person important to Him. A further by-product of a strong activity program in camp is the natural life-on-life opportunity which the instructor has with each camper. This can be a great reinforcement to the ministry of the camper's cabin counselor, and might even be the most important relationship of the week to a given camper, who may respond less enthusiastically to his particular counselor.

   Most campers come from cities or suburbs and are accustomed to the urban setting. They are more familiar with street lights than the lights of the heavens. At camp, in the blackness of night, as they peer up toward God's sky, the world's pull is weaker, God's pull stronger (Psalm 19:1).

   With the strong emphasis today on protection of the environment, it is heartening to know that camps have long been pioneers in the field. It is important to develop a regard for enjoying, maintaining, and enhancing the beautiful natural features common to a particular site. What an added privilege to do so in the context of becoming more closely related on a personal basis with the Creator of it all!

   Eventful camp days never die. Long after a camper is harnessed with adulthood's weighty problems, he occasionally relives golden days spent at camp. He recalls the loving care of his counselor, paddling across the still lake at sunrise, sneaking a cold frog into his buddy's bunk, and the last night in camp — the presence of God that felt warmer than the campfire — and his determination to live more obediently under Christ's lordship.

CAMP ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

   In simple terms, organization is planning one's work; administration is working one's plan. Sad to say, camp organization and administration are sometimes viewed as necessary evils attached to Christian camping.

   Increasingly, camp overseers are realizing that a businesslike operation is essential to effective witness. A camp's Christian testimony is bolstered by businesslike contacts with forest rangers, deliverymen, salesmen, health and welfare inspectors, camp staff, and the camper's parents.

   The field of camp organization and administration is broad. There are at least as many ways to organize and administrate camps as there are different types and kinds of camps. A given camp's organization setup and administrative activities will depend on whether it is a day camp, a resident camp, a wilderness camp, or decentralized; and the training and backgrounds of the people in charge.  

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   Doubtless all competent camp directors would occur that good camps result from good planning. Here is a checklist of a director's planning and performance duties which applies to many camps:⁷

BEFORE CAMP

1. Determine responsibility. A committee or board should stand behind every camp, meet regularly, keep records, report to its superior organization, appoint the camp director.

2. Decide camp location. Choose rented or self-owned site. Let "master planning" be the key word in all steps of progress.

3. Determine objectives. See "Christian Camping Goals" earlier in this chapter.

4. Set up organizational framework. Depict the personnel structure on a chart; select people carefully, based on qualifications; delegate jobs in an orderly manner. Develop job descriptions.

5. Decide camp fees. Factors include amounts of subsidization and donated food, labor, upkeep, improvements. Fees should be set to cover all operating costs and all Campership Funds developed to subsidize those with financial needs.

6. Be sure you're insured. No camp should operate without medical and hospital coverage, vehicle, fire, and liability insurance.

7. Mark age and sexual divisions. Decide on age groupings, whether camp will be coed or separated by gender in some aspects, whether two or more age-groups will operate on the grounds simultaneously with separate programs.

8. Get the word out. Camp promotion includes posters, letters, brochures, or folders, rallies, camp banks or stamp books, contests with campership as prizes, church bulletin new release, photos on bulletin boards, slide or movie presentations.

9. Line up staff. Sign up counselors, cooks, athletic director, waterfront personnel, dishwashers, nurse, and others.

10. Plan daily schedule. Base this on the goals for your campers' lives. Beware of overscheduling.

11. Take care of last-minute details. Check the staff, campgrounds, pre-registration progress, mess hall, and canteen supplies. Bible study materials and visual aids, physical exams, health cards, transportation.

12. Train the counselors. See suggestions under "Training counselors" earlier in this chapter.

7. Condensed from Camp Director's Handbook (Wheaton Ill.: Scripture Press Found, 1959), pp. 4-22.     

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DURING CAMP

1. Make opening day smooth. Be efficient and friendly in housing and orienting campers, making them feel at home. Provide a camp bank.

2. Keep praying; be enthusiastic. These two go hand in hand.

3. Insist on good records. Over the long pull, records do much to make or break a camp. File registration information, food, and equipment transactions.

4. Play fair with campers. Outline rules (as few as possible), orally and in writing, to campers. But don't expect fifteen-year-olds to act like thirty-five-year-olds. Give each discipline case a full hearing, with love and forbearance. Lower the boom only when necessary. Be consistent. Take the long-range view.

5. Hold daily staff meetings. See in-service training suggestions earlier in this chapter.

6. Take problems in stride. Delegate tasks; anticipate troubles.

7. Keep a spiritual accent. Athletics, fun times, and the like should not become "king of the hill," but should contribute toward the development of Christlike character.

8. Give farewell counsel to campers. Allow ample opportunity for those who have put off spiritual decisions to talk with their counselors. Warn campers about the emotional letdown they may face when they get home. Encourage them to become involved in a Bible-believing church. Brief them on how to witness to school classmates, parents, and others. Encourage counselors to brief parents at pickup time.  

AFTER CAMP

1. Let churches know what happened. Using camper evaluation forms, let the camper's Sunday school teacher (or a church visitation worker if the camper does not attend) know about his apparent spiritual, athletic, and social progress.

2. Write some letters. Right after camp write a form letter to parents, telling how the camp worked to build Christian character in their son or daughter; suggest that they write, if they have suggestions for improving camp. Also send personal thank-you notes to all staff members. Urge counselors to maintain contact with campers, especially those with special needs.

3. Evaluate. How effective were the Bible classes, age divisions, outdoor activities, the approach to non-Christians? Ask the campers on closing day to fill out an unsigned questionnaire, giving their opinions of camp's different activities. 

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4. Lay groundwork for next year. Report to the board or committee what transpired. Determine the dates of next year's camp. See that next year's director is selected before Christmas and that essential information is placed in his hands.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF CAMPING TO THE LOCAL CHURCH

   Christian camping has become an integral part of almost all growing churches and denominations, as well as a major tool in most missionary work across the world.

   Because of the extended amount of time provided for instruction, and the laboratory nature of the entire experience, churches have found camping to be an indispensable supplement to the ministry in the local church, second only to the Christian home as a place to impart and demonstrate Christian education in a total fashion. Many think of their camps as an extension of their own church plant. Rather than being in competition with the local church program, camping has become another expression of that program, either for purposes of evangelism or nurture or both. Many pastors attend retreats or week-long conferences with students or families from their churches, often taking their own family along. The deepened relationships, the opportunity for a pastor to be a person with his people, and the relaxed opportunity to delve more deeply into biblical truth are among the many values received.

   Increasing care is being taken by all camps to work cooperatively with pastors, youth ministries, and camp coordinators. Since follow-up must and should be left largely to the churches, every effort is made to inform the churches of what transpired at camp, so that the progress experienced at camp can be considered in future ministry to that camper.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CAMP COORDINATOR

   A logical first step, in integrating camping into a church's overall program is to appoint a camp coordinator to the board of Christian education. The camp coordinator may have these responsibilities:

1. He learns the present "camp score" in his church by taking a survey to find out how many, and who, are going to private secular camps, Y camps, agency Bible camps, sports camps, and the camp (if any) that his church sponsors or recommends.

2. He keeps abreast of camping trends; he finds out if a nearby Christian camp may serve his church.

3. He keeps the Christian education board and various other church agencies informed about this camp, its schedule, and its program.

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4. If nearby Christian resident camps are crowded (or nonexistent), he investigates the possibilities of getting together with other churches and starting a day camp or resident camp. Or he may initiate camping in his own church on a small scale by organizing a weekend church family camp, snow camp, or youth retreat.

5. He encourages competent collegians and young adults in the church to serve as counselors at the camp their young people will attend, if the camp does not provide the staff.

6. He helps line up workers for readying and improving camp.

7. He tries to correlate (not duplicate) the camp program with his church's year-round program. He makes sure that his church is not in one corner, the camp in another, without either knowing what the other is doing. He sees the need for continuity through the year in Bible teaching, so his campers do not study Samuel, for example, in Sunday school, vacation Bible school, weekday clubs, and camp.

8. He promotes camp attendance by brochures, posters, audiovisuals, a saving plan, announcements, precamp rallies. He sees that camp is not pigeonholed till summer, but is talked about most of the year.

9. He gives the Christian education board an itemized estimate of camp-related expenses as part of the church's total Christian education budget. (This may include camperships for needy young people.)

10. He counsels with those who will soon attend camp, to help them make the most of their coming experiences.

11. After camp, he provides public opportunities for campers to share the benefits of their experiences and their enthusiasm, perhaps in a "camp echo" testimony service.

12. He helps campers fit camp learning experiences into their more mundane lives at home and school.

13. He gets ex-campers active in church agencies and perhaps Youth For Christ, Young Life, Campus Crusade, Inter-varsity, Christian Fellowship, The Navigators, and similar organizations that can help them continue to grow spiritually.

14. He checks to see that the pastor and the campers' Sunday school teachers read the camper evaluation forms filled out by counselors and sent to the church. (If he receives some unchurched campers' evaluation forms, he contacts the young people for his church.)

15. He finds outlet opportunities for those whose camp experiences have helped qualify them for service.

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SUMMARY

   Christian camping presents exciting, only partially explored opportunities for winning, challenging, and training people for Christ. May hundreds of additional God-directed leaders start new Christian camps and may the existing camps have the faith to expand as God guides. May they know what God wants them to do, and check often to see how well they are measuring up to their goals of decisions for Christ, development of campers, training of leaders, and the widening of everyone's horizon. As they do this, results will show up in local churches, families, neighborhoods, campuses, places of work — and around the world.

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FOR FURTHER READING

Bibliography for Camp Leaders. Chicago: National S. S. Association Camp Commission, 1962.

Camp Director's Handbook. Wheaton Ill.: Scripture Press Foundation, 1959.

Cory, Lloyd O. The Pastor and Camping. Christian Education Monographs: Pastor Series, no. 3 Glen Ellyn, Ill.: Scripture Press Foundation, 1966.

Ensign, John, and Ensign, Ruth. Camping Together as Christians. Richmond, Va.: Knox Press, 1958.

Evangelical Camp Resources. Chicago: National S. S. Association Camp Commission, 1962.

Genne, Elizabeth, and Genne, William. Church Family Camps and Conferences. Philadelphia: Christian Educ. Press, 1962.

Goodrich, Lois. Decentralized Camping. New York: Assn. Press, 1959.

Hammett, Catherine, and Musselman, Virginia. The Camp Program Book. New York: Natl. Recreational Assn., 1951.

How to Be a Camp Counselor. Wheaton Ill.: Scripture Press Found, 1959.

Journal of Christian Camping. Somonauk, Ill. Christian Camping International. Published quarterly.

Lynn, Gordon. Camping and Camp Crafts. New York; Golden, 1959.

Mackay, Joy. Creative Camping. Wheaton Ill.: Victor, 1973.

——. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Tent. Wheaton Ill.: Victor, 1973.

Mattson, Lloyd. Camping Guideposts. (Christian Camp Counselor's Handbook). Chicago: Moody, 1962.

——. Way to Grow. Wheaton Ill.: Victor, 1973.

Nelson, Virgil, and Nelson, Lynn. Retreat Handbook. Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson, 1976.

Reimann, Lewis. The Successful Camp. Ann Arbor, Mich.: U. of Michigan Press, 1958.

Saunders, John. Nature Crafts. New York; Golden, 1958.

Tinning, Graham, ed. Yearbook of Christian Camping. Van Nuys, Calif.: Christian Camp and Conferences Assn., 1965.

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Todd, Floyd and Todd, Pauline. Camping for Christian Youth. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.

Wright, H. Norman. Help! I'm a Camp Counselor. Glendale, Calif.; Regal, 1968.

Filmstrips

"Christian Camping." Burbank, Calif.: Cathedral Films. Color, four filmstrips, and two 33 1/3 rpm records.

Additional resources

   Helpful information is available from the "Tinning Resource Library," Christian Camping International Headquarters, Somonauk, Illinois; includes cassettes, magazines, books.

   Counselor manuals from camps with existing counselor training programs are excellent resource material, as are colleges with camping course libraries. Also, most camps maintain a library of some of the best literature in the field of camping and related support subjects.

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