Creation Vacation: Aligning Camping Ministries with the Church's Initiative on Children and the Poor

Creation Vacation: Aligning Camping Ministries with the Church's Initiative on Children and the Poor

John Wesley emphasized direct, one-on-one contact with people who live in poverty as a key component of vital discipleship.The church seeks to be faithful in this regard with renewed initiative to create community with children and the poor.Creation Vacation camps are the response of local congregations, working through Camp and Retreat Ministries.Creation Vacation is based on a general truth--that people don't care about, or care for, what they don't know--or, to state it positively --If people living in urban poverty housing are to know and care for the glory of God's creation, they need a respite from stress, positive outdoor experiences, and supported opportunities for re-creation -- what many of us call a vacation: in this case, a Creation Vacation.If people of our middle class churches are to know how to invite and receive persons in their community who are poor, they need positive experiences that connect them as friends to such people: Family Friends at Creation Vacation.People are empowered and transformed by their experiences together at Creation Vacation camps--and through them, we seek to transform churches and communities.