Gospel Expedition: Charting a Course for Compassionate Service

One way to engage your campers in christian values and inspire them is through service projects. Service projects inspire compassion in many. They learn to help and serve others, and also meet others who may have different needs than them. The bible teaches us to help others, and practice unconditional love.  Chrisitan values can work well through these compassion projects, and we’ll go over some of the different service projects you can craft to help campers build compassion, no matter the age. 

Food Drives 

Food drives are a good way for campers to help others. 

They learn about those who struggle, who may be going hungry, and provide them with a means to give them what they need. 

Many children can collect cans from others, or even incite others to donate.  This service project not only is good for understanding others, but gives them a sense of community 

Helping At Shelters 

Helping at shelters, whether a homeless shelter, animal shelter, or other place is great.  This can help people learn compassion, especially for others. 

At these shelters, they can also provide a smile for another, and brighten people’s days. 

With this, there are other activities too, such as maybe singing for those in a nursing home or visiting others. 

Cards and Craft Projects 

Cards and craft projects are a good way to brighten up one’s day, and also help kids foster compassion. 

They get to do something nice for someone, even if they haven't met them before. 

Putting together small crafts to give as gifts or even cards for those in retirement communities can be a great way to show compassion, and it’s fun too. 

Leader Emulation 

One way to foster compassion is to look at others, and emulate those actions. 

One thing to look at are leaders. Obviously it’s hard for leaders to grow, and they may falter with connecting their faith with this.

However,through a leadership workshop, a participant can talk about the leaders, perhaps in the bible, different qualities of this, and how to apply that in their lives. 

This can be a great way to really foster development, and instill these teachings. People will know what others are doing, and they can work on improving their wellness on all fronts with this. 

Obviously, this is not easy, but with time and effort, it can happen.  

Cleaning Up the World Around you 

Sometimes, community service isn’t just helping other people, but also beautifying the area around. 

God gave us these places. He tells us to embrace and love nature, and not harm it.  Obviously, not everyone follows this. 

One good service project that campers can love that'll help with improving compassion is by beautifying the area. 

They can clean inside, outside the facility, or even around the park. Get participants to plant gardens around, and they can also work on other aspects too. 

Sometimes by cleaning up the area around you, it puts everyone on the right track to a beautiful, happy world. 

With service projects, it can be a struggle. Obviously, people may not realize the clone action this compassion has to the community. 

But, if you get them to learn about these projects,and help with putting together service projects,such as cards for those who are sick and elderly in church, they’ll be able to grow and foster better wellness over time. 

Obviously it may vary based on a person's needs, but with so many amazing ideas, children of all ages can learn the value of service, and boost their connection with others, including God.

Are Christian Camps Worth the Price Tag?

As a parent, you want to give your child the world. This means being able to provide them with all the opportunities and experiences you can afford. One of those experiences that many parents want to be able to provide for their children is summer camp. After all, the last thing you want is to have your kid left out when all the other neighborhood children are saying goodbye for a week or two out of the summer to have grand adventures off and away while your child sits at home wishing they could go.

Unfortunately, a couple of problems are often associated with this particular scenario. The first and foremost is your faith. As a Christian, you must be prudent and wise when sending your child into certain situations. You want to ensure they are safe and in an environment that does not go against your personal beliefs and convictions. So, if you send your child to camp, you know it must be a Christian camp. But Christian camps tend to mean private camps, which typically come at a higher price tag. Therefore, you must ask yourself, is it worth it?

The simple answer is, in many cases, yes. Not only because you would be providing your child with a fun, safe, and enriching opportunity, but one benefit of Christian camp is that there are often many scholarships available to those who need financial assistance.

Let's first start with the benefits of a Christian camp. These caps are solely dedicated to teaching your child about faith in the Bible. You want to ensure that you find a camp that aligns with your theology, but if you do, you can be assured that they will not be exposed to things that you would consider harmful to their development. These camps spend their entire offseason planning and preparing to teach and invest their young campers about God and truth. 

They make sure to have a worship leader to sing praise songs. Come on, they will hire a reputable speaker to come in and teach your child the word of God, and they will have so many fun activities where your child can learn and grow in more ways than just their faith.

The other reason that Christian camps are worth their proverbial price tag is that you often don't have to pay the full price tag. Whether it's going through a church that is affiliated with the camp or going to the camp directly and letting them know your financial needs, these camps are very good at ensuring they provide a financial solution for your child to attend.

Whether they partner with private donors or grants, they spend their year raising funds and taking in donations so that they have specific money set aside to help provide a way for those children who could otherwise not afford to come to camp. The process is also incredibly easy, as you need to connect with a youth pastor or fill out a scholarship application online to receive financial assistance. 

Therefore, whether you are paying out of pocket or going the scholarship route, you can rest assured knowing that your investment in a child's physical, mental, and spiritual well-being is well worth the cost of an adventurous summer at a Christian camp.

The Evolution of Christian Camping: From Tradition to Innovation

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.