MAINTAINING MOMENTUM

HOW YOUR CHURCH CAN SUPPORT YOUNG PEOPLE AFTER THE CAMP EXPERIENCE

NIGEL WINDER | SUNZ Children and Families Consultant and Southern Regional Director

Camps can light a rocket under our faith sending us temporarily into spiritual orbit. On returning home, however, the euphoria of camp can quickly wear off leaving us crashing back to earth and reality. It can be like a runners’ high that wears off leaving us feeling flat and lethargic. When we hit a spiritual mountain-top we realise that realistically the only way to go is down—unless we own a rocket backpack! Leaving camp may mean returning to loneliness, an unhappy family, school or tertiary environment or to work pressures— and to plenty of distractions and vices. When reality hits, it’s not uncommon to experience some form of post-camp depression and realise we are not able to maintain that mountain-top experience. While no one can sustainably operate at the full revs of camp life for too long, we do need to keep some momentum going, creating a slower descent for our campers rather than dropping off the side or burning up on our reentry to every-day life.

As churches how can we help? We can’t replicate camp programmes and activities, but we can provide and maintain some of the principles that make camps so good for faith formation. With hyperthermia, it is dangerous to warm up the victim too fast. Conversely, it would be a shame to allow those warmed up in their faith from a positive camp experience to cool off too fast. We don’t want to remove the burning log from the campfire, letting it go out. Rather we want to ensure that our churches provide a place of community that keep the log burning. Here are some tips to keep hot and nurture our young people returning from camp:

• Take time to find out what they enjoyed most at camp and how they grew spiritually; help them set some post-camp goals. • Ask how the church can build on their enthusiasm and—like camp—provide a community that helps nurture life-long faith. • Discuss and acknowledge how hard returning from camp can be, and why. It’s reassuring to know this is quite normal and there are some simple strategies that can minimise reverse culture shock. • At camp young people refresh their spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer. Ask how they intend to continue these habits, what resources might they need, and who they can be accountable to going forward. • If they made new friends, can they be encouraged to invite those friends to church or one of your other programmes? In what ways can they stay in touch? • If they have unanswered questions, discuss how they might find out the answers. • If they enjoyed the example, encouragement and mentoring from

WE CAN PROVIDE AND MAINTAIN SOME OF THE PRINCIPLES THAT MAKE CAMPS SO GOOD FOR FAITH FORMATION.

camp leaders, see if they would like to be mentored by someone in your church who could continue to support them. • If they were a camp leader, is there a place in your church where they can continue to hone those leadership skills?

Discuss what they discovered about their leadership style and giftings. I would recommend informal one-on-one post-camp interviews to discuss these things, but also giving young people the opportunity to share camp highlights and learnings with the rest of your church family. Someone fired up in their faith can light the fire in others. Now that I look at the list, I realise these are good things to be providing for our young people, regardless of whether or not they have been on a camp! Even if your church already does all these things, encourage your young people to attend reputable Christian camps anyway. Plan together when the next camp or other mountain-top experience could be, so they have something to look forward to. You will find it is a good investment in their faith formation and still a lot cheaper than buying them a rocket backpack!