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Incorporating Faith & Fun: How a Summer Camp Experience Can be a Milestone in a Child's Faith Journey

May 9^th, 2012 by Ashleigh Munch, Program Director at Camp Henry

If you are anything like me, you might have had a tough time sitting through church as a kid and you didn’t quite make the connection of how any of it related to you. The good news is that many camps today deliver professional religious instruction and can be an opportunity for a child to explore their faith in an accepting and open environment.

There are many different reasons for choosing a Camp with a focus on faith but a lot of the data suggests that parents view camps as an integral part of their child’s faith development. A lot of parents are thankful to have yet another avenue to expose their child to certain beliefs and to staff who are thrilled about sharing their views in a respectful way. Much can be gained from the fantastic relationships campers are able to develop with their counselors and the great thing about camp is that it is relevant to the child and their way of thinking.

In fact, many camps go beyond just having a chapel time or a certain chunk of the day that is specifically devoted to faith discussions and are utilizing methods that incorporate faith and fun. A great example is how we operate at Camp Henry. As a Christian camp, we believe that everything we do at camp should be an example of our faith. We search out teachable moments and do all that we can to make no distinction between faith and fun. We firmly believe, along with many other camps in the industry, that campers can explore and experience spiritual truth in everyday activity.

A great example is how we run our High Ropes Course. Right along with receiving instruction about how to put on a harness and the proper safety steps we also brief the campers on their experience and how faith will be required during this activity. We ask them to think about how this fun and challenging activity could be a metaphor for what God might have to teach us about trust and life in general. We also spend time after the experience debriefing and relating the activity back to what the campers might have heard in their lessons at chapel that morning or in small group discussion with their cabin mates throughout the week.

Certainly, all camps are purposeful with the activities they provide. Elements and facilities aren’t just in place for kids to have a blast – as camp staff, we hope that the child will learn, challenge themselves, become more appreciative and understanding of the world around them, and explore their faith in new and relevant ways. Choosing to send your child to a camp that has a faith focus can be another great tool for helping them learn more about their faith and in helping them make their faith their own.