Devotions

[clarabelle1985]

hi i work at a christian camp not sure if anyone else our there does but if u dont u still may be able to help.
Every nigh before bed we lead devotions with our cabins im looking for new ideas for this year appropraite for varing ages. I would like somthing that could be carried on for the entire week disscusing age appropate issues for theere faith or jsut being good citizens in genral any ideas?

[CAMPFRIEND]

We do a lot with books for the younger camper Giving Tree. I have also done a lot with music. I think that works well if you can find song that might mean somthing to the campers. For the older campers I let them come up with topics. This is a chance for a lot of kids to talk to an adult in a great setting where their parents are not there. Becareful with you topics!

Hope this helps

[campnerd99]

At my camp there's usually a general theme for the whole week like love or friendship, and then each night for vespers (devotions) we discuss sort of a sub-theme. For example if the theme for the week was friendship then we might talk about helping friends one night, helping friends the next ect.

[Sparkes]

we do a family night 4 times during the camp, and each night has a different theme; two of which were friendship and loyalty (I was always working through them so I can't remeber the rest). We have a senior staff member talk, a camper/lit talk, songs that reflect the theme and then we go back to our bunks and do an activity (painting, create a skit, etc) or talk about the theme.

[ThanksALatte]

Depending on the age, books work (The Wemmick stories by Max Lucado are great stories integrating simple, yet profound principles), studying scripture can work (even with the younger ones), and just sharing wisdom that you yourself have learned.

[campnerd99]

Another idea that worked really well at my camp this past summer:
The theme for the week was 'The Lord's Prayer' the counsellors divided it up into the appropriate number of sections and each day we focused on one of those sections. Younger campers can concentrate on maybe memorizing it and understanding it, while the older campers can really discuss it. We (oldest campers) got journals that had the divised sections of the prayer and a few questions we should think about realating to that part.

If you want I can send you the questions/divisions of the prayer.

[Belay06]

We do a taps talk before we go to bed everynight.
We don't have themes, but the way i do it is i try to make it more personal everynight. It helps kids to open up a lot and it gets them comfortable with each other. I think the fact that we sometimes do these in the dark helps out a lot too. On the very first night i will do an introduction to taps, usually the first question i ask at the beginning of every session is what are you hoping to gain and learn from camp and what was your favorite activity of the day. It's really basic. Then towards the middle of the week i bring up different kinds of topics (it can be just about anything depending on the age group) and i ask for different types of opinions of situations. These can lead into very educated conversations and i'm sometimes surprised at how much kids learn. Towards the end of the week i ask how they each grew, and if anyone in specific helped them to grow and what they took from camp and how they plan on sharing what they learned and discovered with the world. These are obviously for kids who are like 10 and up. For the younger groups which i usually have, i ask them to talk about there day at camp, how it went, what they enjoyed and didn't enjoy so much. I usually keep those pretty much camp based. For my absolute youngest campers i just read them a book before bed. Last year i had a group of bugs (we call them bugs n bunks they're age 6-8, but this group was all 6 and 7 year olds) bring in books that htey all loved and we would read them every night and act them out a bit. It's also great to have them read the books too.

[June Bug]

Devotions at my camp are meant as a time for positive reflection and relaxation. Sometimes the kids will simply tell their counselor what the best part of the day was, and what they are looking forward to doing the next day. Sometimes the counselor will read stories or poems from our Devotion Book. With the older girls, "Chicken Soup" stories are very popular. I've even read chapters of Harry Potter to the kids. When I directed the Girls' Unit last year, one of our counselors had a beautiful singing voice and would sing slow camp songs to the kids every night. Very soothing.

Bottom line: it doesn't really matter what you do, as long as it's something the children enjoy and you spend calm, quality, time with them.

[Michael Hupfer]

You can never go wrong talking about the gospel. I would devote one night a week entirely to the gospel, mentioning the basics every other night. The more informal setting gives the kids time to ask questions. Using the "Romans Road" is a great way to present Christ (Rom 3:23; 1:18; 6:23; 5:8; 4:4; 10:9,10). I would also do themes such as the importance of Bible study (2 Tim 3:16), telling others about Christ (Rom 1:16), and godly thinking (Rom 12:1,2 or Phil 4:8). Whatever the topic, try to keep discussion open and gear it to the age group. Don't overwheme theme, but don't water it down. These night devotionals can be good tools to challenge your cabin with God's Word. I challenged one cabin to read their entire Bible in a year. I prayed over the next year for a few of them that said they would. One boy did. He was maybe 10 years old. That was one of the most encouraging things that I experienced at camp.

[stepka]

We do a 5-10 minute devotion in the morning just before breakfast, called morning watch. We sing grace for every meal. We have morning chapel after breakfast with mainly singing and a short sermon by one of the pastors. Then after chapel, the kids break into their age groups and one group goes to crafts, one group goes to PE, and one stays in the chapel for bible study, with switches so all get to do all 3. After lunch they either go swimming in the river or stay at camp to work on the play or musical or whatever we're doing that year, for visitors night. At night is campfire, where we sing a lot of songs--religious or otherwise, and one adult will give a personal testimony at the end which gets them relaxed and sharing and ready for bed we hope. After campfire, the younger kids head off to bed and the youth (13 and up) have some fun games. I know it sounds like a lot of talking, but we have a peace emphasis so we really build a community, and it's all age appropriate. Our campers are 8-18, so we have a lot of variety there. It's a little camp with a big heart!