Fruits of Family Camp

Last weekend, starting August 10th and going until August 12th Glory of Christ held it’s first ever Family Camp. Overall we had either entire or representatives from 10 different families of the church take part in some or all of the camp! I praise God for the outcome of it and I would like to share a few benefits that I saw come from the camp:

1. The Camp served the mission of Family Discipleship which is: to equip parents to disciple their children according to the biblical revelation of Jesus Christ.

2. I am beginning to see a broad, two-fold target emerge for Family Discipleship. The first target is the household units and the second target is the entire church functioning as a family, the family of God. The camp served and strengthened both!

3. Our lives tend to be isolated from the body and the extended, undisturbed time together gave us all valuable opportunities to learn about each other, function together as a whole, discover gifts, apply gifts, and even allow ourselves to be slightly more vulnerable as we lived our lives together for two days.

4. Family Camp gave us a foretaste of what blessings we could have in living in community and the blessings we are missing out on by not doing so. Coming together once a year in that manner is a wonderful reminder and confirmation that the church truly are our brothers and sisters and that we desperately need our brothers and sisters in our lives for spiritual growth and fruitfulness.

5. Family Camp gave youth a wonderful opportunity to be independent and develop relationships with each other. At the same time it was balanced in an environment that was Christ-exalting and not segregated from parents and other adults.

There are plans in the works for a family camp next summer, 2009. I look at this first camp as a stepping stone to develop this vision further. Even though it will be 9-12 months away, I just want to encourage you to consider the possibility of joining us next summer for family camp and pursuing the vision of Family Discipleship in this church together.

In Christ,
Pastor Kevin