Introducing: Camp-in-a-Box!
Or, more like camp-in-a-digital-box…! We are so excited to present you with a full camp week’s worth of spiritual life programming! This year has looked far different than anything we could have imagined. Instead of campers from across the country gathering in our camps to serve in our pocket of rural Appalachia, people are staying local. We miss having you all here in our midst: seeing you take your morning daybreak across camp, celebrating the new skills you learned on a worksite, listening to your creative Day Camp cheers, singing the Mountain T.O.P. song with you (especially the big finish!), and commissioning you to return to the valley below.
Part of the work that our summer staffers contributed to while here for a few weeks was this very resource. They have created content that follows the same worship flow you would have experienced in camp. As with all our team-based resources, these elements are designed to be flexible. You can re-create a mini-Mountain T.O.P. in your own community and serve locally for a few days. Or, you can use these resources over the course of several weeks of youth group meetings. Share these resources with your youth group digitally or gather (in a safe and socially responsible way) and worship together. However, you utilize this material, share with us! We would love to hear how this experience was for you.
Each day has an individual reflection (similar to a morning daybreak), small group discussion (similar to an on-site daybreak), and a worship outline. We encourage you to watch our video as an introduction to our yearly theme before diving in! This blog post will help jumpstart the conversation, too. The worship flow will take you through seasons of flourishing, slowing down, barrenness, reawakening, and responding and remembering. The natural seasons and all their distinct qualities teach us a lot about our spiritual lives. We may not fully understand the doings of God but we can trust that God is with us in all seasons. While this theme is introspective in nature, that self-reflection should lay the foundation for understanding the experiences of others. As we learn about the different spiritual seasons in our lives, we are better equipped to empathize with others.
We are thrilled to share this resource with you and can’t wait to hear how it impacts your group. We look forward to seeing you back on the Mountain again, soon!
Day 1: Flourishing
Day 2: Slowing Down
Day 3: Barrenness
Day 4: Reawakening
Day 5: Remembering & Responding
A very special thank you to the summer staff who contributed to this incredible resource:
Camp Directors: Caroline Hurst, Brien McChesney, Liz Murray, Kara Painter, Steven Stinson
Program Managers: Hanna Holman, Kristin Guglielmo, Hallie Marie McErlain, Jackie Weisel
