We have just published 'The Value of Christian Summer Camps' by Stephen Kuhrt.

http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=738

Please use this thread for discussion

Having taken young people on CPAS camps when I was a curate, I would agree with Stephen's comments.  I can also commend the 'Sports plus' camps run by Christians in Sport for young people serious about their sport.

I definitely agree as well. I'm off this morning to help on a camp!

The Christian teaching was good (and some of the talks still stick in my mind) but its impact was drawn from the modelling of new creation so strongly present on such camps. This was evident firstly in the integration of this teaching with a fun and fellowship that demonstrated that Jesus came to bring ‘life in all its fullness’ and, to an even greater extent, within the specific kindness and Christian love that I experienced from both leaders and other members of the camp...

Linked to this, was the opportunity they highlighted to really ‘be themselves’ and how much easier it was on these camps, not only ‘to be a Christian’ but have genuine fun and enjoyment, away from peer pressure and the normal fear of being mocked or judged. Finally they spoke of the value of one to one chats with leaders and being surrounded by new people who were passionate about their faith...

But at the heart of such camps is the transforming power carried by their modelling of so much of the new creation that Jesus came to bring. Generations of Christians have now been inspired by such camps and many believe that the ever growing numbers of evangelical ordinands within the Church of England compared to the other traditions is a very direct result of this work.

I wonder whether the creation of "utopias" for the ordinary Christian that are proleptic of the Kingdom-- the Sunday School Movement and the Chatauqua Movement in the US, and camps here, there, and everywhere-- are not an unnoticed evangelical contribution to modern ecclesiology. There is certainly a due emphasis on personal conversion here, but it does not seem to crowd out the wider church and creation. Thanks, Stephen, this is food for thought!

Yes they are great, no quite as to get away from being mocked as such, but with the same faith, the love and the enjoyment, almost like a sort of heaven compared with the world.

many believe that the ever growing numbers of evangelical ordinands within the Church of England compared to the other traditions is a very direct result of this work. 

Are there any figures to support this? Is that traditions within the CofE or denominations? Scripture Union is not an Anglican organization. How much of the credit should go to student churches?

Dave

I cannot say how camps have influenced recent ordinations of evangelicals in the CofE. However, there are grounds for saying that camps have been very influential, and perhaps their influence has been partly responsible for the survival of evangleicalism in the CofE in the second half of the 20th century, and its current strength. The camps started by Eric "Bash" Nash, known as "Bash Camps", have many illustrious alumni. The most notable. of course, is the late John Stott. My own particular hero from that generation would be Mark Ruston, whose quiet work as - to use his own words - "A square vicar in a Round Church" I think we will find when the books are opened had a remarkable impact for the Kingdom.

I would also think that the modus operandi of Bash Camps have had an impact on similar ventures operating outside the rather small world of independent schools. I consider the way they worked to be fundamentally relational. A high ratio of leaders ('officers' originally, of course) to campers enables individual attention. And there is an emphasis on continuing contact, support and prayer during the year.

Perhaps the greatest benefit the wider church has had from camps is through the encouragement and development of leadership. Such camps have given people a taste of core Gospel work, and the tools for doing it. A friend of mine who went on to be ordained said that he learnt much more about giving talks at camp than he did at theological college!

The sadness I have over recent developments is the loss of the unity in the Gospel of people from a wide range of church backgrounds. It seems that at least some camps have become much more restricted in the theological outlook, with an emphasis on adherence to a particular theological line, rather than a relationship to a living Saviour. But the Spirit can and does use all our feeble efforts.

Bowman,

Here a some links to figures on the UK church:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_Kingdom

http://www.humanism.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-belief-surveys-statistics

http://www.eauk.org/church/research-and-statistics/

http://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2012/01/provisional-attendance-figures-for-2010-released-%E2%80%93-marriages-up-four-per-cent,-national-%E2%80%98mapping%E2%80%99-identifies-at-least-1,000-fresh-expressions-of-church.aspx

http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/facts-stats.aspx

http://christian-research.org/

Dave