Before camp you probably got sick of me saying how awesome Church camps are...well last weekend did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm. In fact it was the best camp I have been to for years! As one person put it: "it felt as though God's blessing was on us all weekend". Another used the word "perfect". Before we pat ourselves on the back too much though, before we slip camp into a "nice memory" basket in the recesses of our minds, let's reflect a little about what was so good.
The food (YES!); the "family" feel; the fun activities; the engagement with new people in the church; the great administration; the generational links; the opportunity for pressing into God; the opportunity for reaching outside ourselves... So many aspects...
First, let's look at the "stated intentions" of camp itself. We had a theme which was in line with our Vision Statement "Living faith from the inside out". This gave us a platform to explore deeper into what we have already been discovering and uncovering for the past 18 months. We started the camp in prayer and worship, looking at and experiencing different forms of worship that challenges our "normal ways". We then talked about how we might "practice the presence of God" and we heard some wonderful wisdom from people of all ages - young, old and everything in between!
The second half of the camp had more of an outward focus with several invited guests joining us. There were around 15 people who took on this invitation in various ways and that was encouraging to see. All in all we had over 70 people participate in the weekend in some way, with 63 staying over night on the Saturday - and more kids than adults!!
Just considering these things above and you would have to say that the camp was a great suc-cess! However when you add to that all the wonderful "togetherness" that was apparent throughout the camp; when you consider the depth of inter-generational relating and the pro-found conversations and prayer that was happening spontaneously etc. then you can see a whole new layer of awesomeness to the camp.
Basically God turned up and that is always cool! The challenge for us now is to continue with the momentum that God has injected into the life of our church. We need to keep our ears open to what God is saying, we need to listen for his guidance and make decisive moves for-ward for his glory. Are we up for it? Well, I think God believes that we are as he continues to do exciting things among us. Let's keep on keeping on...oh, and who's up for organising Church Camp 2013? Let's get the ball rolling!
Blessings, Pastor David Auty
The food (YES!); the "family" feel; the fun activities; the engagement with new people in the church; the great administration; the generational links; the opportunity for pressing into God; the opportunity for reaching outside ourselves... So many aspects...
First, let's look at the "stated intentions" of camp itself. We had a theme which was in line with our Vision Statement "Living faith from the inside out". This gave us a platform to explore deeper into what we have already been discovering and uncovering for the past 18 months. We started the camp in prayer and worship, looking at and experiencing different forms of worship that challenges our "normal ways". We then talked about how we might "practice the presence of God" and we heard some wonderful wisdom from people of all ages - young, old and everything in between!
The second half of the camp had more of an outward focus with several invited guests joining us. There were around 15 people who took on this invitation in various ways and that was encouraging to see. All in all we had over 70 people participate in the weekend in some way, with 63 staying over night on the Saturday - and more kids than adults!!
Just considering these things above and you would have to say that the camp was a great suc-cess! However when you add to that all the wonderful "togetherness" that was apparent throughout the camp; when you consider the depth of inter-generational relating and the pro-found conversations and prayer that was happening spontaneously etc. then you can see a whole new layer of awesomeness to the camp.
Basically God turned up and that is always cool! The challenge for us now is to continue with the momentum that God has injected into the life of our church. We need to keep our ears open to what God is saying, we need to listen for his guidance and make decisive moves for-ward for his glory. Are we up for it? Well, I think God believes that we are as he continues to do exciting things among us. Let's keep on keeping on...oh, and who's up for organising Church Camp 2013? Let's get the ball rolling!
Blessings, Pastor David Auty
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