It’s camping time!

The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search

a healthy church...transformingLIFE

Home About Contact us News Issues Parishes Prayer Calendar Youth Resources

February 2006

It’s camping time!

Chris Bowditch always greets the start of any year with a little bit of fear and a lot more excitement.

With each New Year come unknown circumstances and untapped potential. Kicking this year off by being part of the Anglican Camping program has ensured that my 2006 has got off to an awesome start. It seems to me that the key to the success of any ministry is God, and with camps this rule definitely applies.

I’m sure that all the leaders will agree that they feel honoured, blessed and privileged to have had the opportunity to be used by God on camp this year. And man, did God do some awesome things!

It was tempting to simply write about all the fun things we did, about the time when we couldn’t stop laughing because a really big leader got cleaned up by a really big kid on the ‘maypole’. But that would only be scratching the surface. Sure we had a lot of fun, but the truth is, God moved in big ways on camp, and we were privileged enough to witness it.

Here are just some of the ways God helped us out in 2006:

God kept us safe: Every day on camp there is the potential for things to go wrong and there are countless minor injuries, oyster shell cuts, wasp stings, and jackjumper bites, that keep us busy. But there was never anything we couldn’t handle and not one serious injury. We prayed for safety and God granted it.

God kept us going: Until you get to camp you forget just how tiring it can be. The average leader’s day begins at 7a.m. and can often finish after midnight. That leaves not much time for sleep and a long day without a break. Doing this day in and day out for an entire camp (or two if you are brave enough) is exhausting. When you get home the second place you want to go is bed (the first being the shower!).

But God sustained each leadership team; God filled us with his spirit and gave us the power to keep going.

God gave us patience: Leaders love the campers that God places on our camps. It is important that we try to be the best reflection of Jesus that we can be so that campers can see that our faith is not just meaningless words or beliefs. As leaders grow tired, campers can begin to push all our ‘angry’ or ‘annoy’ buttons. It can become very hard to reflect Jesus in these circumstances.

Sometimes there can even be tension between different leaders, which makes it very difficult to function effectively. However we praise God that He helped us to deal with any problems and gave us patience so that we were still able to effectively reflect the love Jesus has for each person.

God gave us great campers: A camp is usually defined by the type of kids that attend. Often we get campers who don’t want to behave, who will push all the boundaries further. It is important for these kids to experience what a community built on love can be like, however often these campers can distract leaders from building relationships with well-behaved kids. Both camps that I led on were blessed with well-behaved kids who were mostly interested in the story of Jesus.

God drew people to him: This is surely the most inspiring and praiseworthy thing that God did this year. I was given the task of writing and leading the studies on Waves Camp and through this I got to experience a camper giving their life to Jesus for the first time. I cannot even begin to describe how amazed I was that God chose to bless me with such an experience.

Even better: I found out on Waves that at least two campers who come from my church’s youth ministry had given their lives to Jesus the week before on Mayfield Camp! I remember one of the girls saying that the best thing she had learnt on Waves was that God threw a party in heaven every time someone who was lost comes back to Him (Luke 15). To see the joy in her face, that she knew God had just had a big party for her was awesome!

To see yet another camper say to me that he believed he needed to have a friendship with Jesus, but that he wanted to go to church first to make sure it wasn’t just a camp thing was also amazing.

So God moved in big ways on camp in 2006 and I hope that after reading this you can take the time to send some praise and thanks His way!

I want to say that camp doesn’t end with camp. All these kids need to find Christian communities in which they can continue to be supported.

My prayer is that God would continue to do amazing things in the lives of young Tasmanians, that he would continue to call people to him, and that we would continue to see more young people committing to follow Jesus just as we have seen on camp this year.

May that be your prayer too!

‘Arrr, there be pirates at Summer camps!’

Anglican Summer Camps are a great mix of fun and learning about Jesus.

Phil and a friend

‘Waves’: Beach ‘car wash’

(Photos Imogen Wegman)

	The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search
	a healthy church...transformingLIFE
	Home About Contact us News Issues Parishes Prayer Calendar Youth Resources

				February 2006

		It’s camping time! Chris Bowditch always greets the start of any year with a little bit of fear and a lot more excitement. With each New Year come unknown circumstances and untapped potential. Kicking this year off by being part of the Anglican Camping program has ensured that my 2006 has got off to an awesome start. It seems to me that the key to the success of any ministry is God, and with camps this rule definitely applies. I’m sure that all the leaders will agree that they feel honoured, blessed and privileged to have had the opportunity to be used by God on camp this year. And man, did God do some awesome things! It was tempting to simply write about all the fun things we did, about the time when we couldn’t stop laughing because a really big leader got cleaned up by a really big kid on the ‘maypole’. But that would only be scratching the surface. Sure we had a lot of fun, but the truth is, God moved in big ways on camp, and we were privileged enough to witness it. Here are just some of the ways God helped us out in 2006: God kept us safe: Every day on camp there is the potential for things to go wrong and there are countless minor injuries, oyster shell cuts, wasp stings, and jackjumper bites, that keep us busy. But there was never anything we couldn’t handle and not one serious injury. We prayed for safety and God granted it. God kept us going: Until you get to camp you forget just how tiring it can be. The average leader’s day begins at 7a.m. and can often finish after midnight. That leaves not much time for sleep and a long day without a break. Doing this day in and day out for an entire camp (or two if you are brave enough) is exhausting. When you get home the second place you want to go is bed (the first being the shower!). But God sustained each leadership team; God filled us with his spirit and gave us the power to keep going. God gave us patience: Leaders love the campers that God places on our camps. It is important that we try to be the best reflection of Jesus that we can be so that campers can see that our faith is not just meaningless words or beliefs. As leaders grow tired, campers can begin to push all our ‘angry’ or ‘annoy’ buttons. It can become very hard to reflect Jesus in these circumstances. Sometimes there can even be tension between different leaders, which makes it very difficult to function effectively. However we praise God that He helped us to deal with any problems and gave us patience so that we were still able to effectively reflect the love Jesus has for each person. God gave us great campers: A camp is usually defined by the type of kids that attend. Often we get campers who don’t want to behave, who will push all the boundaries further. It is important for these kids to experience what a community built on love can be like, however often these campers can distract leaders from building relationships with well-behaved kids. Both camps that I led on were blessed with well-behaved kids who were mostly interested in the story of Jesus. God drew people to him: This is surely the most inspiring and praiseworthy thing that God did this year. I was given the task of writing and leading the studies on Waves Camp and through this I got to experience a camper giving their life to Jesus for the first time. I cannot even begin to describe how amazed I was that God chose to bless me with such an experience. Even better: I found out on Waves that at least two campers who come from my church’s youth ministry had given their lives to Jesus the week before on Mayfield Camp! I remember one of the girls saying that the best thing she had learnt on Waves was that God threw a party in heaven every time someone who was lost comes back to Him (Luke 15). To see the joy in her face, that she knew God had just had a big party for her was awesome! To see yet another camper say to me that he believed he needed to have a friendship with Jesus, but that he wanted to go to church first to make sure it wasn’t just a camp thing was also amazing. So God moved in big ways on camp in 2006 and I hope that after reading this you can take the time to send some praise and thanks His way! I want to say that camp doesn’t end with camp. All these kids need to find Christian communities in which they can continue to be supported. My prayer is that God would continue to do amazing things in the lives of young Tasmanians, that he would continue to call people to him, and that we would continue to see more young people committing to follow Jesus just as we have seen on camp this year. May that be your prayer too!		‘Arrr, there be pirates at Summer camps!’ Anglican Summer Camps are a great mix of fun and learning about Jesus. Phil and a friend ‘Waves’: Beach ‘car wash’ (Photos Imogen Wegman)