Christian camps have come a long way in recent years. There is a history to them, and here, we’ll touch on the developmental milestones associated with these camps.
In the Beginning
The first organized youth camp was cited around 1861 when Fredreick William Gunn operated a small school for boys in Connecticut. He took them out to Long Island for a few weeks of outdoor camping. The goal that Gunn had was to give students a modified education, athletic chances, environmental awareness, and even some moral values. The boys would live as soldiers, and they’d eat and sleep outside.
From this, other organized forms of camping started to show up. Some common ones were Camp Chocorua, which was located in New Hampshire. They offered many children a chance to accompany one’s parents to different resorts within the summer. Many episcopal founders of the Chocorua also helped to reinforce the virtues of a spirit amongst these boys, who were privileged. At this same time, there were many children who weren’t as fortunate, and they were brought to the fresh Air Camps, which had religious motives. One popular one was the 1892 Jewish Working Girls Vacation Society, which incorporated many underfed and overworked women from New York out to these different summer vacation homes. There are many different descendants who found solace in revival and renewal within a religious community.
The salvation Army Camps
The salvation army also had a chance for many urban children and their families to get out to others. They wanted to “redeem the lives of the poor” which was their primary motive. They also established the first official type of fresh air camp, where tent tents were pitched out in Fairmount Park, located in Kansas city in 1897.
There are other Salvation Army Camps that also have been held, including the McKinley which still operates in Camp Lake, Wisconsin. The Salvation army is credited as well for the first band camp as well, which happened in North Long Beach, New Jersey in 1920./
Bible Camps and the YMCA
There are also the modern bible camps, which come from this.
The Young Women’s Bible Training Movement was one of the first. It started in 1898 and was located within Hudson Valley. It later was named Camp Pinnacle
Camps continued to operate for well over a century, and they combined enrichment on a spiritual level with better respite from city lives.
The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the YMCA also followed with this, and many of these camps had a very religious focus to them, with a concern with the character transformations, ministering to each person individually.
Some also had more evangelistic zeal to them, including the YMCA, and this diminished over time. However, there was concern for the entire person.
Any of these first camps started with the idea of putting together a means to fill those three month periods of vacation, and also attempt to provide one with a chance to bring the classroom out to the world around them.
They also worked with learning of experiential, child-centered, and democratic means.
The theory of John Dewey was followed, and they created an education that brought enrichment to the learner, creating a central focus for this.
Camp Meetings and Assemblies
Of course, with the Christian religious camp, they also had camp meetings and assemblies, outdoor gatherings that got others involved, providing an outreach to one another.
During this part of the meeting, they’d also live in tents and wagons, and eat meals over the fire.
The goal was conversion. We still see this today but this is a brief history of Christian camping.
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