‘Camp shapes people’

I am looking ahead to my last summer as associate program director of Mennonite Church Manitoba’s Camps with Meaning (CwM) program; my last summer spent travelling to and from Assiniboia and Koinonia; my last summer training and supporting an amazing group of young adults; and my last summer watching staff, volunteers and campers make connections and have ridiculous fun.

As I look ahead, I am also looking back over the past five summers of doing all of those things (even during the pandemic!) and, in that process, reflecting on my own experiences and how important camp has been for me and for so many of us. I would guess that, if we look around at church leadership folks, we will discover many of them worked at camp in their younger days. Camp shapes people in so many ways.

Our CwM camps have begun using words like “unplug,” “connect” and “grow” to describe what we do and how we do it in our summer camp, leadership development and rental programs. Camp is a place where we unplug. Hopefully from our phones, our emails and screens. But also unplug from our everyday routines. Slow down, move to a different rhythm, make space for different adventures. Unplugging opens a space for God to show up differently. I feel it when I turn into the Assiniboia driveway, or round the last few curves of the Koinonia road. The trees, the air, the water, the sounds. I breathe differently at camp, and space is made for Spirit.

Camp is also a place of connecting. We connect with creation by running barefoot in the grass, digging in the garden, jumping in the lake. We are immersed and able to connect with God through creation, but also through music, sharing our stories, the rhythm of conversation and silence.

And we connect to each other. The intergenerational community at camp is unique and valuable. Campers connect with youth and young adults who connect with site staff, pastors and older volunteers, and together we experience a week of fellowship. The connections and relationships I have built with young adults, as well as pastors and congregations, have been genuinely joy filled, life giving and faith deepening for me.

And we grow at camp. Campers and staff grow in faith and trust, in resilience and independence, in kindness and empathy, in skills and abilities. Camp was the first place where I was asked to lead things, encouraged and appreciated for my gifts and my self, and it continues to be that place for me. I have been stretched, affirmed, challenged and nurtured, and I am so grateful to have spent this past season of my life at camp.

People of all ages can benefit from the unplugging, connections and growth that happen at camp, but it is especially so for the young people, who will one day lead our churches and communities. Camp shapes people.

Janet Peters has been the associate program director for Camps with Meaning for the past five summers and is looking ahead to her last summer in the role.

(Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/campswithmeanin)

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