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The summer is here, and for thousands of young people across the country (not to mention their less-young leaders), the highlight will be summer camp. There’s something really special about a week of soaking up God’s word, living in Christian community, worshipping God side-by-side, having deep-and-meaningful conversations, eating heaps of food cooked by someone else, playing epic wide games, and enjoying an endless stream of puns and bizarre in-jokes which somehow take on a new level of hilarity than they would otherwise in normal life. (Sleep deprivation makes everything funny.)
Most of us come home physically exhausted, but spiritually excited—buzzing about the things we’ve heard from God and the stuff we’ve seen him do. So how do we harness this post-camp high (and avoid the post-camp blues)?
I asked several of the summer-camp veterans among TGBC’s staff for their ideas. Here’s what they came up with. There’s something for everyone: campers, leaders, parents and youth group leaders from home.
Write it all down. “One thing I found helpful was that on the last day we would write postcards to ourselves saying what we had learnt and what a wonderful time we'd had. We would then post them to ourselves so that a few days after camp we would have a nice postcard to read. That’s helpful for the leaders too!” Similarly: “I like to write a big long journal entry when I get home from camp listing all the things I’m grateful for or have been struck by. It’s great to re-read a few months later.”
Book buddies. “Lots of us are guilty of bookstall splurges on books that don’t actually get read. Reading with others can be a great way to make sure this actually happens. Parents, give your kids money specifically for the purpose of buying a book which you can then read together and talk about in the weeks after camp. Or campers could agree to do this with a friend.”
Eat right. “I would recommend eating a lot of veg and fruit post camp. This does help beat the blues as you eat so much on camp (as you need to with so much energy being used). When you go back to eating less when you get home (especially a lot less sugar) you do feel a hunger gap, as well as the void of missing people.”
Touch base on Monday morning: “For leaders, keeping in touch with other leader's in the week after camp is helpful. Drop them a Whatsapp to ask how their week is going. A lot of people will be going back to work on the Monday and it is such a knackering day—so texting them and asking how they are doing on that Monday is a huge encouragement.”
Do your research. Youth leaders from sending churches: “See if you can contact the camp organisers and find out as much as possible about the teaching, activities and songs. This means that you can incorporate and review the main points in your post-summer youth programme or in one-to-one mentoring. Or you could introduce a new song or game from camp into your meetings. You could also offer your kids the opportunity to sign up for something (organising a special event, an act of serving together in church) that picks up on a key application.”
Keep praying. “Exchange prayer requests with your group on the last day, and keep them somewhere where you’ll be prompted to pray. Diarise key dates (like results day, or the start of term) with a reminder to pray. Where possible, follow up with group members to let them know you’re praying and to ask for an update (if you’re a leader, always be sure to follow your camp’s guidelines on interacting with under-18s).”
In-house reunion. “Youth leaders, if you have enough kids who have been on camps from your church, you could run a sort of in-house camps reunion. For example, have a barbecue or camp fire, where the kids share about their camp, or teach a song or game, or reconstruct an activity, and you can all pray together. Discuss beforehand with the kids what particularly struck them, think about how to convert these into applications, and write up a list of them throughout the evening which you can keep referring to during the rest of the year.”
Post-camp family evening. Here’s a nice idea for parents: “As a family, organise a special post-camp evening, with special food, youth-group friends, grandparents, godparents or anything else that would make it particularly special for your kids. If they are up for it, you could ask your kids to put on a short presentation about the camp for you (could include teaching a song, telling a funny story, reciting a memory verse, re-enacting a sketch they saw, re-telling one of the Bible stories). End by praying together, and keep in mind the things that particularly struck them to return to in family prayer times or appropriate conversations throughout the year.”
What are your ideas for harnessing the post-summer-camp high? Share them in the comments below!
To find some ace post-summer camp reads, click here
Rachel Jones is the author of A Brief Theology of Periods (Yes, Really), Is This It? and several books in the award-winning Five Things to Pray series, and serves as Vice President (Editorial) at The Good Book Company. She helps teach kids at her church, King's Church Chessington, in Surrey, UK.
