Refresh Summer Camp & Your Church
Camp is a resource. If you are a youth leader or pastor, please use Refresh Summer Camp as a resource for your church ministry. Incorporate our annual camp into your youth ministry calendar, encourage your youth to attend and bring their non-Christian friends, send mentors to serve, and debrief with your youth afterwards.
Why Refresh Summer Camp?
- Grounded in the Gospel, as uncovered in the Bible.
- Evangelistic. Refresh is designed to be a welcoming community that explores the basics of Christianity to all youth – Christian or not.
- Heaps of fun! Our team dedicates months of planning to create experiences that form communities, bring laughter and good memories. Experiences that form relationships for the sake of sharing the Gospel.
- Local church focused. Refresh strongly encourages youth to be plugged into their home churches and to connect those without churches to join one after camp to continue their journey with God.
- Follow up. Mentors ensure interested youth are connected with a Christian community and often continue godly relationships post-camp to be a voice of biblical encouragement and support.
So you’re asking the question, “Why bother with camp ministry?”
There is no question that Christian camps have a wide-ranging influence. The question is whether any of it matters long-term. Conventional wisdom says that any benefits fade quickly after the last goodbye; that stories of life-changing experiences are simply exceptions to the rule. What, if anything, are the lasting impacts of camp?
There is an emerging body of research that demonstrates that camp is much more than fun and games. There is something deeply significant and deeply theological happening at Christian camps around the world. There is research that reveals the long-term impacts of camp, effects that go far beyond the “camp high” that fades quickly after the experience. In no way are we downplaying the central role of the local church. Rather, we are highlighting how camp ministry can partner with the local church to further their kingdom ministry.
Benefits of Camp
Research by the American Camp Association (ACA) in 2005 shows that diverse camp experiences lead to growth in self-confidence, leadership, social skills, and other important elements of positive youth development. This growth persists at least six months after the camp experience.
Benefits of Christian Camps
While these findings are encouraging, they do not address the unique characteristics and goals of Christian camps. Our camps are set apart by their focus on the person of Jesus Christ and a steadfast commitment to faith formation.
Faith practices are incorporated into all elements of the camp experience. These are not simply secular camps that include an occasional Bible study or worship service. They are also not manipulative camps designed to elicit an emotional conversion experience, either.
The Research Findings
The findings of the Effective Camp Research Project suggest that the Christian camp model consists of 5 fundamental characteristics: camp is participatory, faith-centered, different from home, relational, and a safe space. These characteristics interact in a sort of dynamic interplay to give rise to the camp experience and open the possibility for a whole series of impacts.
The findings confirm that a kind of “camp high” exists, but the evidence for long-term growth is much more compelling. There were temporary increases in general happiness and agreement with doctrinal statements (e.g. “God created the world”), but the lasting changes had to do with the relevance of faith in everyday life (e.g. “Faith in God helps me in my daily life”) noted three months post-camp.
Campers’ increased interest in worship services faded shortly after camp, but their increased agreement in the value of belonging to a church persisted, along with the belief that they could turn to Christian friends or Christian adults (particularly at church and from camp) in times of need. Campers were also participating more frequently in devotional practices that sustain faith long-term: including Bible study, prayer, church attendance, and conversations with their family and friends about faith.
A three-month impact is wonderful, but there is additional evidence from the National Study of Youth and Religion (in America) that these lasting changes continue years after the experience. (See infographic below)
Participants in the study who attended religious camp as teenagers or youth were significantly more likely in their young adult years to participate in communal religious practices like group Bible studies, college religious groups, and church attendance than those who never attended summer camp.
Even more astounding, those who attended religious summer camp as children or youth were over three times more likely to remain religious five years later than those who did not attend.
A youth ministry blog by Australian pastor Mike Stevens showed this infographic that represents research confirming the obvious – camps and peak experiences are vital in youth ministry.
Role of Camp in Faith Formation
These findings are so compelling that they may reshape our understanding of the role of camp in faith formation instead of brushing it off as not effective. We can say with confidence that camp experiences have much stronger lasting impacts than temporary ones.
Research suggests that young people are participating more deeply in their faith months after camp is over, and this continues to affect many of them for years. They have gained something much more valuable than simple knowledge about God: a desire to be in Christian community, a hunger to learn more, and the assurance that faith makes a difference in their lives. Connecting them to a local church to be their day in day out Christian community is the next step.
Whether you are a deacon, pastor, youth leader, parent, or other caring adult, this information is important. Connecting with young people with camp experience is truly worthwhile. Find out if they have a camp story. Encourage them to attend camp. Walk alongside them and participate in the lasting impacts of camp, or support those who do. You can help these impacts continue to bear fruit long-term.
Extra Research
Want to read more?
Check out the Effective Camp Research Project yourself! https://vibrantfaith.org/effectivecamp/
Works cited:
American Camp Association. Directions: Youth development outcomes of the camp experience. Available here via http://www.acacamps.org.
Building Faith, “The Lasting Impact of Christian Summer Camp”, Center for the Ministry of Teaching, Virginia Theological Seminary. Available here via http://www.buildfaith.org
Smith, Christian. Soul searching: The religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. New York: Oxford, 2005.
Sorenson, Jacob. “Christian Camping Ministry: Impacts and Significance to the Church” AYME, 2016.
Sorenson, Jacob. “The fundamental characteristics and unique outcomes of Christian Summer Camp experiences.” Journal of Youth Development 13:1-2 (2018) 183-200.
Sorenson, Jacob. “The summer camp experience and faith formation of emerging adults.” Journal of Youth Ministry 13:1 (2014) 17-40.
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