Only 12 Campers??

He was not quite in a panic, but there was clear concern in his voice when my brother called on Sunday afternoon. He had just dropped off my niece for her first week ever of summer camp at Bethel Horizons near Madison, WI. He had met the director and had a nice conversation, during which he learned that his daughter was one of only 12 campers going to camp that week. What should he do? He had envisioned a large group of energetic young people gathered around the campfire singing songs. 12 simply was not critical mass. He wanted his daughter to have a great experience, and he was worried that such a small number of campers would be disappointing for her. He did not want her to have a lousy first ever week of camp. She might never want to go again. Should he pick her up and bring her home?

My brother is not alone in thinking that a positive camp experience is dependent, in part, on the excitement and energy generated by large numbers of people. I spoke with a pastoral colleague (and passionate camp supporter) later in the week and told him about the low camper number. “What do you do with 12 campers?” he wondered.

My response was the same to both of them. I told them that the week had the potential to be a singularly amazing experience. I have long been convinced that the power of the camp experience is found in personal relationships formed as part of a small-group experience (see previous post). The small number of campers could facilitate personal encounters among all of the campers and summer staff members in ways not possible when there were over 100 campers present and the staff was stretched thin.

In the case of Bethel Horizons, my conviction that my niece would have a positive experience was not simply theoretical. I have led staff training sessions and college classes on their site. More importantly, I know their staff, and I think they are top-notch. I was confident that they had hired good summer staff members. I started imagining some of the possibilities that excellent summer staff members might come up with for a small group of campers. I smiled. It was going to be a good week, I assured my brother.

He sent me a text on Friday: “FYI just picked her up after her camp week. She had so much fun she wants to go back for another week this summer.”

Those of you who have picked up a child after camp know how those conversations go. My niece spoke on and on about how much fun she had. She made a great new friend, and they had exchanged contact information. She loved her counselor and the staff. She got to do tons of hiking, the high ropes course, and rappelling off a cliff. She sang songs about God and learned new table graces.

The summer camp experience is not about big numbers or epic large-group games. It is about people and relationships. My niece formed positive relationships with other campers and adult mentors. She did this in a loving environment framed with Christian faith practices. As an uncle, I am thankful for another great camp experience! I am thankful for the people of Bethel Horizons. Their numbers may be down, but they remain one of our great summer camps. Learn more about them HERE!

There is still room. Have you signed up your child for summer camp???

Creating Safe Spaces

Summer camp began this week at thousands of camps across the country on the same day as the worst mass-shooting in American history. It is a great testament to the enduring strength of camp that parents of millions of young people still feel comfortable sending them away to camp for a week or more. We constantly hear about the dangers in this world. The massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on June 12 only compounds these feelings of insecurity. That nightclub was supposed to be a safe space for a group of people that faces consistent hostility and prejudice. Even our safe spaces are under attack. Why, then, should parents send their children away from their watchful gaze?

Summer camp can teach us a great deal about the value of safe spaces and how to effectively create them. The Effective Camp Research Project has uncovered 5 fundamental characteristics of Christian summer camp (see previous post), and one of them is camp is a safe space. Physical safety is the most obvious form of safety, especially in light of the terrible crime in Orlando and other acts of violence in our society. However, emotional and spiritual safety are equally important in the camp environment. Here is how a few campers described the camp experience in focus groups last summer:

“I feel like no one will judge you because of what you believe here.” (Male camper, Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Camp, WI)

“Back at home it’s different. Here, you don’t have to be someone else.” (Male camper, Camp Lutherlyn, PA)

 “My friends at camp are so much nicer than my friends at school. They let me be myself.” (Female camper, Sugar Creek Bible Camp, WI)

“I feel really safe here. Like, I would go outside of what I normally do, and I feel safe doing it here.” (Male camper, Camp All Saints, TX)

These words highlight the deep longings of young people across the nation. Many feel that they are constantly on trial, as if they are being judged by everyone around them. They feel pressure to conform to some ideal that seems false to them, so they end up feeling like they have to hide their true selves at school, home, or even church. Young people consistently describe camp as a place where they can be themselves, a place where they will be accepted without fear of judgment. These feelings of safety allow them to explore their identity and give them confidence to step outside of their comfort zones. Camps do not become safe spaces by accident.

The set-apart nature of camps (often in beautiful outdoor settings) contributes to the feeling of security. It is a physical space that is intentionally different from home environments, so campers have the chance to consider their identity and place in the world separate from the expectations and pressures of their everyday lives. They are embedded in an intentional Christian community, which is the primary facilitator of the safe space. The camp community builds trust. Campers across the country described their camp groups in terms of family and camp itself as a second home. They genuinely cared for one another. This happens because everyone works at it. They eat, sleep, pray, play, and worship together. They work through disagreements and conflicts, forgive one another, and they have highly participatory experiences together.

I have heard some people critique camp for ignoring the messy realities of the world. This is a serious charge. It is true that camps often serve as enclaves of safety where participants can have a respite from the hostility they experience or hear about away from camp. But camp is not a place where people bury their heads in the sand. Campers come from broken homes and abusive homes. They come from places of ridicule and exclusion. Others come from places of great privilege. They do not forget these things when they come to camp. Rather, they bring them along. Camp is sometimes the first place where a young person feels safe to talk about an abusive home situation, doubts they have about their own faith, or questions they have about their sexual identity. Camp does not ignore the messy realities of the world but rather provides a safe space to encounter them.

One of the most important roles of Christian camps in our society is to provide a place of genuine encounter with those who are different. Campers are gathered into groups that would almost never choose to be together in a school or peer setting. Sometimes the diversity is limited to different social circles, but it more often includes differences of race, culture, economic class, sexual orientation, and religious tradition. As one boy from Lutherdale Bible Camp in WI put it, “You’re strangers. You don’t even know each other. And then, at the end of the week, you’re friends.” Friendships are powerful. They allow young people to look past labels and stereotypes in order to see the person in front of them as a beloved child of God. Camp is a safe place for young people to be themselves in the midst of a group of people that is very different from them, yet accepts them as part of God’s beautifully diverse creation.

I accept that our society needs places where specific sub-groups of people can gather and feel safe together. We need to ensure that places like the Pulse nightclub can remain places of safety. I firmly believe that one of the ways we can accomplish this is by providing safe spaces for genuine encounter with otherness. Summer camp can teach us a lot about these places. Camps must ensure that they are places of safety and inclusion for all people. I have seen it happen countless times, and it is happening right now at camps across the country. The transgender child and the one questioning her sexual identity gather around the campfire with the economically privileged child, the gifted athlete who is the most popular in the school, the child from an emotionally abusive home, and the child with cerebral palsy or aspergers syndrome. They get to know each other. They together mourn the tragedy in Orlando. They ask for forgiveness of their sins and are assured of God’s unwavering love for them. They go home more confident of who they are and more open to the blessed diversity of the humanity that is created in the image of God.

Send your child to camp. Seek places of genuine encounter. Open your eyes to see the humanity of the one who is different from you. Above all, show love for one another, as Christ has loved us.