around. But now that I am the “Family Guy” at New Life Christian Church, I’ve been exposed to so much more. In addition, going to Orange ’11 this past year and blogging about it all really opened my eyes to the ways of Children’s Ministry. I really love this ministry and all the dedicated staff and volunteers that spend countless hours loving children.
One of the new experiences I had over the summer was going to our Children’s Ministry Summer Camp for the day to see what happens at a summer camp. Let me just say that it didn’t take long for me to become a believer in KidMin summer camp! Here are some of the things I loved about it:
- It was very well organized and structured. Our KidMin Director put a lot of time and effort into making it special for the students. One of the key differences I found between KidMin and StuMin camp is the structure of the day. At StuMin camp, there was a decent amount of free time in the afternoon for them to do what they wanted. At KidMin camp, there was plenty of time for the students to have fun but it was structured. For example, they did Pool at X time, Games at Y time and Snack bar at Z time. Having that extra bit of structure is good for that age group.
- It was fun. That’s right, fun is an important element in any camp…especially KidMin camp. There was a lot of fun there from the pool, game room, afternoon activities. The primary difference between fun at KidMin camp and fun at StuMin camp is that it was more structured fun. For instance, there wasn’t “free” time where children could do whatever they wanted during that selected time. Rather, it was structured free time so that they went from one activity for a certain period of time, having fun at each activity. I really thought it was wise to do it this way because if you give a bunch of younger children “free” time, they won’t know what to do with it. It could be really chaotic. This way, they had lots of fun and knew exactly what to do and when to do it.
- Christ is proclaimed. A lot of what happened down at camp each and every day was rooted in Bible. Whether it was a game or a lesson or a group challenge, the students were challenged constantly throughout each and every day. That’s the most important aspect. Not only did they have plenty of “bible time” but they had it structured in great ways where the students were encouraged to learn.
Wonderful post, I truly see your passion. Coming from student ministry, I see many similarities between stumin and kidmin camps; your observations we're the same as I. However, now that I am a FamMin pastor, I've noticed that camps become free/cheap babysitting for other church kids. Of course we have some visitors, but in general ours has evolved to awesome-"life changing"-"God filled" day care. So, my question is how do we not become that- how do we engage the kids (and their families) in the church while at the same time reaching to the far from faith (kids & families alike). Maybe it is a northwest thing, but kidmin camps are a massive undertaking with little results longterm….which is not to say there are no results. Is there something different, something more effective for families, kids and far from faith?
That's a great comment and I can definitely agree with that. I don't know if you are very familiar with Young Life but I was associated with them for a long time and they have a great deal of success doing an outreach summer camp. Maybe if churches took a page out of their book we could do something that makes an impact to the farthest out child just like Young Life does with teenagers. "Bible camps" are the norm, it could be huge if a church or ministry took on this challenge to reach out to the non-believer and their family.