What is Camp? Part IV: Partner in Ministry

Christian camping is about ministry. Previous posts in this series have emphasized that camp is much more than fun and games. Camps are centers of faith formation. The ministry at camp focuses on meeting participants where they are in their faith journey and accompanying them through unique experiences.

But the ministry at camp does not stand on its own. Camping ministers have widely acknowledged this because of the nature of camping ministry as temporary. The fact that the experience has a set beginning and end heightens the awareness that participants have left something behind to which they will eventually have to return. It is this temporary nature that allows camping ministers to understand that they are partners in ministry, particularly with families, colleges, and congregations.

Partnership is an important concept in ministry. Congregations are sometimes seen as the centers of faith life, with other ministries subservient. This relationship is not a partnership. A partnership does not necessarily entail an equal relationship, but it does imply a mutual dependence. Congregations are not stand-alone ministries, and ministry professionals are increasingly acknowledging this. There is widespread recognition that the home is the epicenter of faith formation and that congregations are partners in ministry with the home. Camps should be seen as another partnership ministry that shares a mutual dependence with the ministry of the home, the ministry of the congregation, and other related ministries (among them, campus ministries). Camps are not expendable. Congregations and families depend on them as ministry partners.

The initial survey of the Outdoor Ministry Research Project shows that there is widespread recognition in Mainline Protestant camping that camp is a ministry partner. It is interesting to note that there is also evidence that the partnership is strained in some cases.

Intergenerational camp worship, with ELCA bishop (right)

78% of camp directors “moderately agree” or “strongly agree” with the statement, “Camp worship/programs are designed to get campers more excited about and engaged in their home congregation.” This item shows that there is intentionality in the camp programming with regard to partnering with congregations.

Directors were also asked to indicate the importance that their camp places on the items “Strengthen/support congregations” and “Strengthen/support families.” 74% indicated that “Strengthen/support families” is “very” or “extremely important,” and 58% indicated the same for “Strengthen/support congregations.” These numbers indicate that there is widespread recognition that camp serves an important role with respect to strengthening families. The comparatively lower number for congregations deserves closer attention.

The importance placed on “strengthen/support congregations” is sharply divided along denominational lines. On the high end, 78% of Lutheran (ELCA) camps indicate that this item is “very” or “extremely important.” However, less than half of both the Episcopal and Presbyterian (PC-USA) camps say the same (43% and 48%, respectively). Methodist (UMC) camps come in at the average (59%). These numbers raise serious concerns about how camping ministry is seen in certain faith traditions.

Clergy involvement also varies among denominational traditions. Significantly higher percentages of ELCA and UMC camps report “Many congregational leaders/clergy are heavily involved in the ministries of the camp” compared with the other traditions. Significantly fewer PCUSA camps report high clergy involvement than non-PCUSA camps.

The difference is also reflected in the camps’ evaluation techniques. Consistently across the denominations, about 50% of camps say that they survey parents “asking them to evaluate the experience of their children.” However, camps were also asked if they “survey clergy or other congregational leaders asking them to evaluate the programs.” While 54% of ELCA camps indicated that they survey clergy, only 25% of Episcopal, 22% of UMC, and 19% of Presbyterian camps indicated the same.

Taken together, these numbers suggest that there is a widespread recognition in the ELCA that camp is an important ministry partner with both congregations and families. The recognition of the partnership with congregations is in doubt in other traditions, most notably in the PC-USA.

These mixed results reflect a developing crisis in Christian camping ministry (see previous post). A deterioration of partnerships reflects problems in the ministry ecology of a faith tradition. If camping ministry is devalued, clergy and congregational leaders pull away from the ministry, and camping leaders may respond by also pulling away.

The issue is not survival. This is not a "Join or Die" scenario. Congregations were around long before camping ministry became widespread in Mainline traditions in the 1940s and 50s. Congregations are not going away if camps die. Likewise, camps find ways to survive without congregational support. Comparing the camps in the survey that showed evidence of strong ties to their denominational traditions/teachings with those that showed weak ties, there is no significant difference in their 2014 camper enrollment capacity or enrollment trends. There is no evidence that strong congregational ties save camps from financial ruin. On the contrary, some camps may shy away from tying themselves to the sinking ship of their denomination. If both camps and congregations die, the Holy Spirit will enliven another expression of church. It is not a survival issue.

It is a ministry issue. We are stronger together, and we can minister more effectively with young people and families if we recognize the importance of partnership. Congregations do not need camps, and camps do not need congregations. But the Church needs both. God is at work in both. Isn’t that reason enough to strengthen our partnerships?

What is Camp? Part III: Center of Faith Formation

The American Camp Association published the Directions study in 2005 (click for the report), which gave empirical evidence that summer campers show significant gains in 10 positive development constructs, and most of these gains continue over time. One of these developmental outcomes was “spirituality,” and the study noted that campers attending religiously affiliated camps show the most gains in this outcome. This is a significant finding, and yet “spirituality” is a slippery concept. It was used in the Directions study in a way that could apply to all types of camps, not just religious camps. Christian camping ministry is a particular model of camp that goes beyond general notions of “spirituality” to Christian education, faith formation, and discipleship.

Some have expressed skepticism of camp’s commitment to faith formation, suggesting that camp is mostly a secular venture lightly seasoned with Christian rhetoric. In one of the precious few scholarly articles on Christian camping, Karen-Marie Yust studies a variety of Christian camps in Indiana, concluding that they do not look much different from secular camps.[1] She notes that Christian camps make claims of life-changing moments and “mountain top experiences” that are not backed up by much more than end-of-week surveys and anecdotal accounts. She suggests that camps are not the “idyllic” worlds they are made out to be, and she calls for more research.

The research project currently underway began in the fall with a survey of camps across the country in several Mainline Protestant traditions. Data is based on responses from 332 camps in all 50 states, and it represents Christian camping in the Mainline tradition.

More than 92% of camp directors “moderately agree” or “strongly agree” with the statement: 

Faith formation/practices should be incorporated into all aspects of camp life. 

Only one other item had as much agreement on the survey (see previous post).

Faith formation (not some generalized “spirituality”) is clearly a high priority in Christian camping. Rather than compartmentalizing faith activities from the fun and games of camp, these camps prioritize the incorporation of faith into all that they do. In fact, they rate faith formation higher than fun in terms of camp priorities. Both “individual faith formation” and “facilitating participants’ experiences of or encounters with God” were rated higher priorities than “fun for all participants” (see previous post).

The centrality of faith in camp is also evident in the schedule of activities. Camp directors were asked to give the expected frequency of various camp practices that all or the majority of their summer campers would engage in (from “rarely or never” to “many times per day”). There were five practices that stood out in terms of frequency, with an average at or near daily. They are, in order:

1)            Group prayer (98% report at least daily)

2)            Group singing (96% report at least daily)

3)            Worship (86% report at least daily)

4)            Group Bible study (90% report at least daily)

5)            Large group games/“all camp” (70.4% report at least daily)

There are several things to notice here in terms of faith formation. First of all, the faith practices of corporate prayer, worship, and Bible study all happen more frequently at our camps than large group games. Second, these are daily practices at camp. Even the young people most active in their home congregations seldom worship or participate in Bible study more than once a week, and the vast majority participate in these practices much less frequently. Third, remember that these camps prioritize incorporating faith practices into all aspects of camp life. That means that the songs they are singing together are Christian songs, and even the large group games are often related to faith.

These camps are not compartmentalizing faith experiences. Faith practices are at the very center of the camp programs. Campers at our Christian camps are embedded in what is unmistakably intentional Christian community. They live together, eat together, and play together. They also worship, pray, and study scriptures together. There are few places where young people can engage in this depth of Christian community for an extended period of time while “unplugged” from mobile devices and unhealthy social environments. Camp is a unique place of Christian encounter (with God and Christian community) that is indispensible to the Church.

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[1] Karen-Marie Yust, “Creating an Idyllic World for Children’s Spiritual Formation,” International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 11 (2006), 177-188.

What is Camp? Part II: A Place to Unplug

The Outdoor Ministry Research Project questionnaire was distributed last fall, and more than 300 camps responded. One section of the questionnaire asked camp directors to assess their camp’s overall philosophy with respect to 13 statements on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). There was widespread agreement on several of the statements, but two were far and away the ones with the most consensus. These two statements are:

Camp is a place to unplug from technology (no cell phones, computers)

Faith formation/practices should be incorporated into all aspects of camp life.

The second of these two will be taken up in a subsequent post. For now, let’s focus on camp as a place to unplug. This statement had the most consensus of all the philosophy statements on the questionnaire. Fully 93% of directors say that their camp’s philosophy “moderately agrees” or “strongly agrees” with this statement, and there is no significant variation across denominational or geographic lines. That is to say, nearly every mainline Protestant camp in every corner of the United States has a philosophy that says camp is a place to unplug from technology.

But what does it mean to unplug? Those of us in the camping world know that debates rage about how to incorporate technology into camp programs and atmosphere. Some camps pride themselves at being primitive camps, but we can’t even agree on what that means. It might mean no running water, no electricity, no engines, and meals cooked over the open fire, but it might simply indicate that the cabins don’t have AC. In fact, many of the Christian camps in the United States do have AC in the cabins, and they might use an LCD projector to display song lyrics or show videos during instructional times. These camps all agree with the philosophy of camp is a place to unplug. The debate about primitive camps and resort camps is nothing new in the camping world. Even the earliest camp directors in the 1880s lambasted each other for running camps that were too resort-like.

Of those camps that “strongly agree” that camp is a place to unplug from technology, more than 1/4 report that their typical campers “use or see multi-media/technology” at least daily (just over 1/3 say “rarely or never”). 1/3 of them do not even have outdoor cooking on a weekly basis. The purists among us are ready to cry, “Foul!” What does it mean to be unplugged if it does not mean separation from technology and multi-media devices?

Clearly, most of our camp directors do not consider unplugging from technology to mean the absence of electronics. On the contrary, some use electronic gadgets to enhance their ministry (like showing end-of-week videos or projecting song lyrics). Some even use electronics to enhance the experience of the outdoors (like using a night sky app to stargaze or an electronic field guide to identify plants). How do we ask our campers to unplug from all electronic devices when their Bibles are electronic?

Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods describes the epidemic of nature-deficit disorder. Louv identifies tremendous consequences of our young people losing connection to the natural world. I deeply resonate with his concerns, and I passionately believe that we need to get people outside. That is part of the camp philosophy of unplugging, but there is even more at stake than connection with nature. The ability to unplug at camp allows space for face-to-face relationships that are becoming increasingly rare in youth culture.

To unplug at camp means much more than casting aside technology in favor of a more primitive lifestyle. It means unplugging from routines in order to envision a radically new way of living. Camp intentionally takes people out of their home environments and brings them together in Christian community. More and more, young people in our society live in routines that involve constant screen time. Their very relationships and ways of interacting with other human beings are mediated by electronic devices.

Unplugging means showing our own faces – not the polished profiles we use in our online personalities, but our true faces, complete with our imperfections and frailties. Camp means encountering the other and being forced to reckon with their humanity. When a dispute arises at camp, we teach forgiveness and reconciliation as opposed to posting disparaging comments or unfriending. Face-to-face interaction means showing a depth of self beyond emoticons. Unplugging at camp means giving young people a chance to explore their identity and faith in a safe place away from home, giving them a chance to own their faith and live into their identity as child of God.

I have spoken with many camp directors and counselors who talk about their campers going through a period of detox after arriving at camp. They say that it often takes young people several days to grow accustomed to life without texting their friends or checking their social media accounts every few minutes. Our young people need these times to unplug. They need times of genuine encounter – with the outdoors and, more importantly, with their fellow human beings.

What is Camp? Part I: More than Fun and Games

In the fall of 2014, Christian camps across the country were surveyed to get a first of its kind snapshot of Christian camping ministry. Directors from 332 camps in all 50 states and representing multiple mainline Protestant denominations responded to the survey. In the 4 denominations targeted (Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian), there was a 62% response rate, making this a very reliable sample. In a series of questions, they were asked to rate the importance their camps place on 17 items (from “1 - not important at all” to “5 - extremely important”).

As expected, “Fun for all participants” was rated very highly in terms of importance. Those who direct Christian camps agree that it is very important for camp to be fun. It is significant to note that “fun” was not rated the most important part of camp. In fact, it came in at number 6. If “fun” is used as a benchmark for what everyone agrees that camp should be, then the 5 items that Christian camps across the country rank as more important should be considered the top priorities of Christian camping ministry. These items include, in order of rated importance:

1) Participant safety

2) Fellowship and community building

3) Self esteem and character building

4) Facilitating participants’ experiences of or encounters with God

5) Individual faith formation

6) Fun for all participants

These priorities of Christian camps paint a picture of the ministry that includes but goes far beyond fun and games. It is no surprise that “safety” is ranked number 1, given the tremendous responsibility that camps have in caring for other people’s children. The other items are instructive to those who tend to dismiss camp as glorified babysitting or simply fun and games.

Camps are places of fellowship. People of different generations gather together and form community. In so doing, they have face-to-face encounters with those who are different from them and learn what it is to be in intentional Christian community.

Camps focus on self esteem and character. It is important for each camper to know that he or she is a beloved child of God and that God has a plan for his/her life. It is important for campers to recognize that they have been given spiritual gifts that make them unique individuals and vital members of the Body of Christ.

Camp is a place where experiences of God are taken seriously. God shows up in this world, and camps are liminal spaces where participants have a heightened awareness that God is present and active in this world.

Camps are places of individual faith formation. Camp directors want the young people in their care to grow in their faith, and the programs reflect this priority.

These four priorities – fellowship, self-esteem, encountering God, and faith formation – are contained in an environment that is SAFE and FUN. This is what camp is.

Camp sometimes gets a bad rap. When people ask me about the field I am studying for my doctorate and I say, “Camp,” I get a lot of sniggers and raised eyebrows. No, seriously, what are you studying?

There is something about the word “camp” that makes people laugh or roll their eyes. It’s almost like “camp” is a 4-letter word. Some have suggested (and I have seriously considered) dropping the word because it is difficult to take seriously. There is something more official-sounding about the term “outdoor ministry.” Besides, it encompasses a greater diversity of programs than a word like “camp” (e.g. retreat ministries and adventure trips). It is usually not a positive comment when something is described as “campy.”

But I am not ready to give up on the word. Say it to someone who has been there, and the word transports them to another place, a place of fellowship, acceptance, and the movement of the Spirit. At the word “camp,” I have seen people break into smiles, tear up, and (most frequently) launch into stories. For those who have had a camp experience, the word is loaded with meaning. For those who have not been there, camp people seem a little crazy. Camp seems banal, overdone, and outrageously artificial – in short, campy.

Academics (and many clergy members) stay clear of camp because it is viewed as theologically shallow and of dubious educational value. Camp seems to be not much more than fun and games.

I am not opposed to the fun and games of camp. On the contrary, I think this is one of camp’s greatest strengths and a primary reason to retain a playful word like “camp.” Camp is recreational and experiential. In a world that is increasingly sterilized and standardized, especially for our young people, we need more places like camp. However, it is a mischaracterization to reduce camp to “fun and games” because there are more important priorities that camps focus on. These new data demonstrate that truth.

Camp is a place of fellowship. Camp is a place to build self-esteem. Camp is a place to encounter God. Camp is a place to grow in faith.

And we have fun doing it!

The Tower

My socks were wet. You know the feeling. We were slogging up a soggy trail that wound up a steep wooded hill. The snow was still visible in patches, but most of it had melted in the mild spring weather of the past three days, turning the trails into greasy mud tracks broken by occasional quagmires. Everyone had slid several times, and a few of our party had mud streaks on their knees or backside. We were going to be late for lunch. It felt great to be outside, though. And we were on an adventure.

Stronghold Castle, Friday evening

The three-day confirmation retreat at Stronghold Camp was nearing its end. The 15 youth and 8 adult participants were packed and ready to leave immediately after lunch. Most of the retreat had taken place inside the castle. Yes, it was a castle. It came complete with towers, secret passageways, suits of armor, and a great hall where we had our confirmation lessons. On the first morning, we worshipped the Lord in a secret chapel that was accessible through a swinging doorway behind a bookcase in the library. Most of the retreat was less exciting, though. We sat in a semicircle on mercilessly uncomfortable couches for hours during the lessons about church history, Presbyterian theology, and polity. The great stone fireplace, in which five or six of us could easily huddle together, was covered by a projector screen that displayed a seemingly endless series of important terms and factoids. Many of the participants showed a clear interest in the material being covered, but the presentations were wearing on them. They sank low in the couches, carried glazed-over expressions, or even fell asleep. They described the lessons as “boring,” complained of “too much sitting,” and longed for “more free time.”

The Secret Chapel, Saturday morning

Meanwhile, the sun shone outside, almost mockingly. Time outside in the beautiful weather had been very limited. The exceptions were the short walks from the castle to the dining hall for meals and the brief, though quite intense, games of gaga ball in the muddy gaga pit. Saturday night had been a treat. We had a campfire outside under a lovely canopy of stars. A late-season Orion stood vigil as we sang camp songs and roasted marshmallows for s’mores. It seemed at the same time a celebration of our community, a worship service, and a herald of the arriving spring.

Sunday morning found 3 of the girls talking about an adventure. We had seen a tiny portion of the camp’s more than 300 acres, and they wanted to explore. I also wanted to see some of the camp’s secret spots, the places that drip with meaning for camp participants. Every camp has these spots, and we needed a guide to show us, someone who felt the significance of the rocks, trees, and ridges in their very bones. We had two such people. They were former campers and staff members who were volunteering to help with the confirmation retreat, and they had led numerous activities, including the campfire the night before. They collectively had 8 summers of experience working at Stronghold. They were also married to each other, having met and been engaged at camp. They were the perfect guides for our little group.

By the time we set off, we had barely 40 minutes before lunch. We managed to round up several other youth participants who did not want to participate in a final bout of gaga ball. We first went to the quarry, where the stone had been harvested to build the Strong family’s vacation home (castle!) in the first years of the Great Depression, but our adventurers wanted to go farther from the castle. Our two guides looked at each other, sharing a secret understanding, and we set off for David’s Tower. That sounded like a destination worthy of an adventure, so our party of 8 clasped arms and set off with a step-skip, step skip as we sang, “We’re off to see the Wizard!”

It was a 20-minute hike down a long hill, across a small creek bed on a wooden bridge, around a bend, and up another hill, where the tower stood. I walked with the boy who had fallen asleep during the presentations. He liked to be outside, to hunt and hike. We identified leaves, animal tracks, and scat along the soggy trail, while the mud slowly dampened our socks. The girls seemed unimpressed with the coyote scat when we showed it to them.

Our destination came into view as we crested a hill. It was not much to look at. I thought that the word tower might indicate something grander at a camp that boasted a bona fide castle. David’s “Tower” was constructed of drab concrete blocks. It was perhaps seven feet square and about twelve feet tall. My first impression was of a 2-story outhouse. I could see the disappointment on the youth’s faces: We came all this way for this?

David's Tower, Sunday noon

Then our guides told us the story. David was one of the Strong children, who vacationed at the castle. At the outbreak of World War II, citizens were encouraged to guard the home front from enemy attack, so David decided to build a lookout tower. I could almost picture the teenage David, full of patriotism, helping to defend his nation by building a lookout tower in the middle of Illinois. David’s Tower was only partially completed when he went to war in 1942. He never returned. Our guides pointed to the spot partway up the tower where the drab grey blocks changed from one shade to another, the point where David’s work was interrupted. In 1962, a short time before they sold the property to the Presbyterian Church, David’s family had completed his lookout tower. We climbed the rickety wooden ladder with some reverence and gazed from the platform out over the tree-covered hills of Camp Stronghold.

David’s Tower was also the place where our two guides had been engaged. The adventurers took special note of this tidbit. Of all the places he could have proposed on camp, including castle towers, secret chapels, and gorgeous retreat centers, he chose David’s Tower. We were in a special place, a place dripping with meaning, and they had shared it with us.

We could not linger, though. Lunch started in 5 minutes, and we had a 20-minute hike in front of us. As we slid our way back down the hill, I considered the confirmation retreat. The youth had heard hours of presentations on doctrine, history, and polity, but something told me they would remember our adventure more than the Chalcedonian formula and David Strong more than Jonathan Edwards. I considered David Strong and the loved ones who finished his tower before entrusting it to the church. Would the young people walking beside me continue the work of the church? Would they find meaning in their faith and pass it on to a generation yet unborn?

I remembered the trivia game of the previous day. None of them knew the correct answer for the term that characterizes the Presbyterian understanding of what begins when the worship service ends. Through their experience at the retreat, they played together and prayed together. They cooperated in group activities, stood in collective wonder at the stars in the heavens, helped one another down the muddy slopes on our hike, and encouraged the one who was visibly nervous about climbing the rickety ladder to David’s Tower. They may or may not have learned the term, but they went home with an experience of true worship.

From Cheap Thrills to Discipleship: Valuing Camp

What is the value of camping ministry? Mainline denominations continue their contraction and “restructuring.” Many congregations are thriving, but there are many more that are struggling. The struggle extends to affiliated ministries and entire denominational bodies, and church organizations at every level are facing difficult decisions about the future. When it comes down to dollars and cents, boards, presbyteries, councils, and conferences find themselves deciding what they value most. Tears are shed and hearts are broken over lost staff positions and ministries that lose funding. The camping world is certainly feeling the strain.

Some camps are like Camp Indian Sands, a Lutheran camp in Wisconsin that is quietly closing its ministry after years of struggling with decreased revenue and camper numbers. Other camps are being liquidated to pay down the debt of struggling denominational bodies. Such was the fate of Presbyterian Camps in Michigan, a camping ministry site that was in continuous operation since 1899. Still other camps are closed at the whim of church leaders and officials who choose to focus time and resources on ministries that are more highly valued. Such was the case in the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church, which chose to simultaneously close all four of its camping ministry sites. The American Baptist Church seems to be almost entirely divesting from camping ministry, closing nearly 2/3 of its 150 camps in the past 20 years.

Camp directors and other camp advocates struggle to tell the powerful stories of their camp and make the case for the value of their ministries. They bop around to congregations and donors, finding that they have to explain why their ministries are important. Essentially, camp directors are forced to sell the idea of camp to ministry partners. The justification of camp has to be reduced to marketing slogans or the proverbial elevator speech (here I am, reducing it to a blog post!). When camp directors are forced to do this over and over again just to keep their ministry afloat, ministry partners may get tired of the rhetoric, as if camp directors are just some carnies trying to sell them overpriced experiences of dubious quality.

Some people just don’t get it, and increasingly these people are clergy members and church leaders who have never been to camp. Maybe they see camp as “theologically shallow” or “just fun and games.” Maybe they think that the emotional experience at camp “ruins kids for the church.” I have heard all of these things multiple times, oftentimes phrased the same way as if people are reading from a script. What it comes down to is a lack of understanding the value of camping ministry. Camp directors struggle to get the message across, but pastors may not trust them or see them as ministry partners. Camp leaders promoting camp primarily as a “mountaintop experience” or a “life-changing experience” may not be helping. Somewhere, the message gets garbled, and people who should be our primary ministry partners just hear an excitable carny promising, “It’ll be the ride of your life! Step right up!” while some poor kid who just exited the ride is throwing up in the trash can.

How did our churches and denominational bodies get to a place where such a vital discipleship ministry has been devalued and increasingly relegated to the trash heap?

Churches and denominational bodies that bemoan the alienation of young adults often fail to consider the many thousands of young adults living in intentional Christian community for months at a time while mentoring children at denominational camps across the country. Those who are panicking over the loss of Mainline young people to the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated (our lovable “nones”) evidently do not know that young people who have attended religious camp are over 3 times more likely to remain religiously affiliated into their young adult years than their peers who did not attend camp.[1]

Some kids may have a “mountaintop” encounter with God at camp, but this is no carnival ride. This affects young people long-term as they continue engaging in church and Christian small groups years later.[2] Some become public Christian leaders and clergy members, but it is misleading to think of camps as pastor factories, even if many of our clergy members have experienced camp or received their call to ministry there. Camps are much more than pastor factories.

Camps are centers of discipleship. They are indispensible because of their uniqueness in providing intentional Christian community, a chance for young people to take ownership of their faith, and space for people to live and breathe the faith as active disciples rather than passive recipients. They are not stand-alone ministries, and some of our camp directors may need to be reminded of this. Camps are ministry partners with families, congregations, and communities that make tremendous contributions to faith formation and Christian education in people of all ages. Somewhere, this message has gotten garbled and resulted in a devaluing of a vital ministry.

These vital ministries serve hundreds of thousands of young people at our denominational camps each summer, reaching over half of all Mainline Protestants by their teenage years.[3] Some have life-changing mountaintop experiences, and a small portion have horrible experiences (perhaps including retching into trash cans). The vast majority falls at neither extreme but rather has a special experience of Christian community and living that is incorporated (consciously or unconsciously) into their understanding of who they are in relation to God. And these are only the summer campers! Our camps also offer enriching family camp ministries to thousands of families, often connecting multiple generations in faith forming community in the outdoors. They offer retreat ministries to hundreds of thousands of families, youth, adults, and clergy members who need a chance to “come away to a quiet place and rest a while” in the presence of God, creation, and one another. Camps reach out to the unchurched and the underprivileged in multiple ways. Camps are oftentimes more recognizable as the Church than many of our denominational congregations!

Why are we being forced to justify this idea to our ministry partners? Times are tough. Ministries are shutting down. But camping ministries are not the ones to devalue. These are ministries with the power to revitalize and renew the church, and our congregations can learn a great deal about Christian community and discipleship from our camps. Maybe some day soon our camp professionals can spend less time on the elevator speeches and more on their role as Christian educators. It will take partnership and recognizing ourselves as members of the body of Christ, in which each member is indispensible.

It will take a recognition that camp is not about cheap thrills and expensive rides. It is about discipleship.

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[1] Jacob Sorenson, “The Summer Camp Experience and Faith Formation of Emerging Adults,” The Journal of Youth Ministry 13 (2014), 17-40.

[2] American Camp Association, “Directions: Youth Development Outcomes of the Camp Experience,” http://www.acacamps.org; Sorenson; Kati Niemelä, Does Confirmation Training Really Matter? A Longitudinal Study of the Quality and Effectiveness of Confirmation Training in Finland. Tampere: Church Research Institute, 2008.

[3] Christian Smith, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Live of American Teenagers. (Oxford: University Press, 2005), 39.

Keep the Carne in Christmas!

You’ve all heard people say it. Chances are, you’ve said it, too. After all, it sounds good. It fits on a t-shirt, on a sign, and it’s easy to remember. This Advent season, as people go to the store, some will be irked by employees saying, “Happy Holidays!” They will be further upset when they attend a child’s school music show that is a “Holiday Concert.”

“Keep the ‘Christ’ in Christmas!”

I may have been heard to utter this catchy phrase at one point in my life. Now, it seems to me nothing more than noise or the rallying cry of the self-righteous. It sounds to me like a plea to restore a fabled Christian past that never truly existed. We can inspire and motivate people with short slogans, and they may call themselves Christians, but invoking the name of Christ does not make a person a disciple of the living Lord. And the name is used in vain if it is used to rally people for a cause or religion rather than to the One who has come among us - the one who has come in the flesh (con carne).

They say that they want to reclaim the “Christ” in Christmas, but they do not truly long for the Christ-child, the God made flesh. They long for a past when people could look past minorities and assume that everyone was a good, “Christian” person. By “Christian,” they mean someone predictable and “like me.” The cry sounds to me like the call for a time when it was socially acceptable for Christians to oppress other people. It sounds like the Crusaders’ cry of “Deus vult!” before they charged the heathens (or their Orthodox brothers and sisters).

Amos may have a thing or two to say about our self-righteous celebration of Christmas: “I hate, I reject your festivals; I don’t enjoy your joyous assemblies. Take away the noise of your songs!” (Amos 5:21, 23). Even those pretty Christmas songs, Amos? If we don’t have our festivals and songs, what good is Christmas? Amos continues: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).

The truth is that life would be much easier if everyone just acted the way I wanted them to. Admitting that this is not a “Christian” nation (and never has been!) means admitting that there are other people with real thoughts, feelings, and desires out there in this world and in this country. It means not only making space for these people, but encountering their humanity and even taking risks on their behalf. In short, it means being Christ-like. Jesus Christ, the quintessential place-sharer, went out of his way to encounter the marginalized and oppressed. He encountered the Samaritan woman, the hated tax collectors, the lepers, the woman labeled “unclean” because of her bleeding, and countless others. He sought justice for the poor and oppressed, and he dismantled the religious trappings of his day to uncover what God was really after.

People love to co-opt the name “Christ” (or “God,” if they are politicians) for their own purposes. Even the faithful get confused. John the Baptist himself was utterly bewildered at the actions of the living, flesh-and-blood Lord. You remember what he asked? “Are you the one who is coming (that is, the Christ), or should we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:20). Stop chanting slogans and consider Jesus’ answer: “Go, report to John what you have seen and heard. Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled now walk. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. And good news is preached to the poor.” (Luke 7:22). Real ministry is happening right now, right in front of you. Open your eyes and see Christ at work in the world. Open your ears and hear. Stop chasing after an idea, and reach out in love to your neighbor, the real person in front of you. There, you will find Christmas, Immanuel: the Christ-child come among us.

I don’t want a popular, palatable religion. I don’t want a religion that is socially accepted. I want the Christ-child. I want Immanuel. I want the God whose very name the faithful do not utter for fear of its misuse. This is the God who took on flesh and bone, who walked the wilderness of the world. In taking on flesh and bone, God revealed God’s self to be found in personhood, and that is where we find the living Christ active in the world today. Not in slogans. Not in religious trappings. In flesh. Con carne. That is the meaning of the word incarnation (literally, taking on meat), and that is what we proclaim and celebrate this season.

Keep the kitsch. Keep the disembodied, amorphous, pithy sayings and sensibilities. Give me flesh and bone. Because we don’t need more billboards. We need justice. We need love. We need the living Christ.