We The Church: Taking Camp Home With Us
There is something really special about Bible study here at Camp Bear Creek.
Maybe it’s sitting outside with the sounds of nature all around. Maybe it’s opening a Bible with a group of friends who have spent the morning laughing, playing, exploring, and getting to know one another. Or maybe it’s the conversations that happen when kids realize that the Bible isn’t just a book of stories—it has something to say about how we live our lives right now.
This summer, our campers spent the week learning about one big idea: We are the Church.
Church is not just the building that we go to on Sunday mornings. It’s not just the people sitting in the seats during a worship service. We are the Church—God’s people, living out our faith together.
Throughout our week this summer, our Bible studies explored what that means and what it looks like to follow Jesus wherever we are. And now that summer camp is over and campers are back home and back at school, these lessons become a little more important. Because the goal was never just to have a great week at camp. The goal was to take what we learned with us!
We, The Church
Our week began in Acts 2, where we met the Early Church. Campers learned that the Church isn’t primarily a building. The Church is made up of people who put their trust in Jesus. The Early Church gathered together, learned together, prayed together, cared for one another, and shared what they had with people who were in need. Campers were challenged to see themselves as valuable members of God’s Church—not someday when they’re older, but right now. That changes the way we think about church.
If the Church is people, then the Church doesn’t stop being the Church when we leave a church building. It doesn’t stop at the end of Sunday morning. And it definitely doesn’t stop when the week at Camp Bear Creek ends.
When campers walk into their school this fall, they are still the Church. When they sit at the lunch table, they are still the Church. When they play on a sports team, hang out with friends, or interact with someone who is having a difficult day, they are still the Church. The question is: What will the Church look like through them?
Worship is more than singing
On Tuesday, we talked about worship. Campers learned that worship is about recognizing and expressing God’s worth. And while singing is certainly one way we worship, it isn’t the only way. Colossians 3:12-17 describes worship through compassion, kindness, forgiveness, love, peace, gratitude, learning, and singing. That’s a pretty big definition of worship. It means that worship can happen on a Sunday morning–but it can also happen on a Tuesday afternoon at school.
Worship can look like forgiving someone who hurt you. It can look like kindness to someone who is being left out. It can look like prayer. It can look like being grateful when things don’t go exactly the way you wanted. It can look like using your gifts and talents to encourage someone else.
Campers don’t have to wait until the next time they sing a camp song or go to church to worship God. They can worship God through the way they live and the way they love.
We don’t have to carry everything alone.
By Wednesday, we turned our attention toward another important part of being the church: supporting one another. We used the story of Moses in Exodus 17:8-13 to talk about what happens when we become tired and overwhelmed. Moses couldn’t hold up his arms forever. But he didn’t have to do it alone. His friends came alongside him and held his arms up when he couldn’t do it himself.
Our campers experienced this lesson in a very tangible way through a heavy backpack representing the hurts, fears, anger, sadness, and stress that people can carry. We challenged them to see the Church as a community that can help carry those burdens. It’s something we all need to remember. Some days at school are going to be hard. Some friendships aren’t going to go the way we had hoped. Homework, activities, family situations, and all of the other things that fill a kid’s life can sometimes feel like a pretty heavy backpack. But they don’t have to carry it alone.
And being part of the Church means we aren’t only looking for people to help us carry our burdens—we are also looking for people whose burdens we can help carry. Maybe that means noticing a friend who is having a hard day. Maybe it means sitting with someone who feels left out. Maybe it means encouraging someone who is struggling. Maybe it means simply asking, “Are you okay?” and actually listening to the answer. That’s what the Church is supposed to look like.
Stand up, do justice
On Thursday and Friday, we talked about what it means to stand up for our faith and to live out our faith. The curriculum challenged campers to think about the times when it can be difficult to stand up for their faith and reminded them that the Church is a community that can stand with them. That lesson becomes very real as campers return to school. Following Jesus won’t always be easy. There may be times when they feel like the only person in the room who believes something differently. There may be times when they have to choose between doing what is popular and doing what is right. It doesn’t mean being rude or looking for a fight. But it means having the courage to say, “That’s not who I want to be,” and remembering that even when we might feel alone, we are never actually alone.
We ended our week talking about justice. Justice means recognizing the value of the people around us and working to fix the things that are wrong. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus teaches about caring for people who are hungry, sick, in need, or overlooked. Our campers were challenged to recognize that when we ignore people in need, we are missing an opportunity to love and serve Jesus. We also talked about empathy—about learning to see the world from someone else’s perspective. Because before we can help someone, we often need to notice them. Who is being left out? Who is being treated unfairly? Who needs someone to speak up for them? Who needs a friend? We don’t have to change the entire world tomorrow. We can start with the person sitting right next to us.
Take camp home.
It’s easy to think of camp as a place where we get away from ordinary life. For one week, campers leave behind their normal routines and experience something different. They make new friends. They try new things. They sing loudly. They laugh until their stomachs hurt. They spend time outside. They learn about God.
But eventually, everyone goes home. Right now, the cabins are quiet. The campfires have burned out. The meadow is empty. School has started again. But now is when the real challenge begins. Can we take what we learned at camp home with us? Can we remember that we are the Church? Can we worship God through the way we live? Can we help carry someone else’s burden? Can we stand up when everyone else is telling us to sit down? Can we notice the people who are hurting?
The Church doesn’t stay at Camp Bear Creek. The Church goes home. The Church goes to school. The Church goes to soccer practice and piano lessons. It sits at classroom desks, eats in the lunchroom, and plays on the playground. So, as a new school year begins, our prayer is simple.
God, help our campers be the Church.
Help them live, love, worship, support, stand up, and do justice wherever you have placed them.
Technology at Camp