As the pastor of your church, you have a role to play in preparing for summer camp. Here are some ways you can be involved.
By Kyle Cravens
We are into the month of April, and camp preparations should be in full swing. Your student minister and leaders are no doubt holding parent meetings and fundraisers, planning transportation, recruiting adults to go to camp, and making sure payments and paperwork are getting done. The list is long.
Your role is not to just watch from the sidelines. Here are some suggestions and helpful tips on how you can be involved and help lessen the load for your student minister, youth volunteers, and even parents and ensure the students in your church are ready for camp.
1. Promote
If spots are still open for camp, promote, promote, and promote some more from the pulpit, speaking of how camp benefits students and your church as a whole. Even if all spots are filled, talking about camp from the pulpit is a great idea so everyone knows its importance and impact on the lives of students.
“Talking about camp from the pulpit is a great idea so everyone knows its importance and impact on the lives of students.” — Kyle Cravens Share on X2. Support fundraising efforts
If your group needs to engage in fundraising events to afford camp, promote those events and attend them yourself. Consider offering to be part of a fundraising event. For example, if your group holds a silent auction, one item could be dinner with the pastor. If your church offers a church-wide carnival, agree to sit in a dunking booth.
3. Look for scholarship opportunities
Consider having conversations with families who have grown children or who have the means to provide scholarships in order to help those students who may not have the money to attend camp. You most likely know best who these people are. And this could be the difference between a student attending camp or not.
4. Check in to offer support
Check in with your student minister and volunteers on the status and progress of preparations. Offer to help, if needed. Check to see if there is anything you can do to make the process smoother.
5. Attend a camp details meeting
Take a portion of the meeting to cast a vision for the students about how unique this time in their lives is and how these camp experiences can and will be pivotal. It speaks volumes to the students to know the pastor of the church wants them to have a good time and is praying for and supporting them.
“It speaks volumes to the students to know the pastor of the church wants them to have a good time and is praying for and supporting them.” — Kyle Cravens Share on X6. Acknowledge and thank the adults who agree to go to camp
Do something nice for them. Remember to pray for them. Provide a short training on how to share their personal testimony, how to present the gospel, and how to address some of the more difficult situations students are facing that may come up at camp.
7. Find out details of the camp theme and Bible study
Consider giving a sermon on a Sunday night or Wednesday night on this theme topic and the Scripture passages to lay a groundwork for what students will hear at camp. Another option would be to speak at a youth meeting on the topic to give a precursor to this study.
8. Lead a prayer time for camp
Make it an area of emphasis on a Sunday for the congregation to pray for the students going to camp. Personally pray by name for your students and adults attending camp that the Lord will open their hearts and minds to what He wants to do.
9. Bless your student minister
Give your student minister some time off before camp to rest and prepare physically and emotionally. Camp is nonstop. A week at camp is not for the faint at heart, and these leaders need time to step away after lots of preparation to rest and be ready for what the week holds.
10. Send your kids to camp
If you have a child who is in the age range for camp, send them to camp and walk through the preparations other families are doing. As you do, you may think of even more ways you can help.
Jesus tends to move at camp in mighty ways. We must do our part to create a conducive environment and make sure everyone is ready for all that camp will bring. And that includes you as the senior pastor. You don’t want to miss out on playing a part in the preparation, as that will ensure the success of camp and lay the groundwork for lives being changed for eternity.
For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.
Kyle Cravens
Kyle serves as team leader and a camp coordinator for FUGE Camps. He has been with Lifeway and FUGE Camps full-time for 23 years and served 5 summers on FUGE Camps staff. He is husband to Danette and father to a teenage son Colin. Kyle and his family attend Rolling Hills Church in Franklin, TN where he leads a small group of parents of teens.
