Why send your child to a Christian camp?
Have you ever wondered what is so freaking magical about summer camp that your kid keeps talking about it two months into the school year?
It's a mix of freedom, adventure, and, at Christian camps, a person named Jesus. For many children, summer camp is the first place where they experience the opportunity to be wholly themselves without fear of judgement. This means the chance to ask some big questions on their own. What is their camp nickname going to be? Can they really spend a whole week away from home? How often do they want to shower? What does it mean to be a friend? What does it mean to believe in God?
The environment that creates the opportunity for kids to explore these ideas isn't just happenstance. A camp culture is built and created to give your child the best experience possible. For us at Camp Alta Mons, that means giving children the chance to experience what it is like to live in Christian community.
When kids come home from camp, they often talk about the friends they made, the counselor who was patient with them, the group that they did everything with, the giant mountain that they all climbed together, that time they all got wet when it poured down rain, that kid that no one liked who ended up being hilarious, the last night when everyone cried cause no one wanted to go home. This is community. This is love that knows no boundaries, and commitment that cannot be broken.
Our hope is that through Christian community at camp, kids will get to experience God's love. So that when they encounter Jesus, they will be able to recognize him connecting that the love and acceptance they felt at camp was of God. A lot of kids grow up in church knowing of God and knowing their parent's faith. For many children camp is the first place where they get to decide for themselves what it means to be a Christian and what the story of Jesus means for their life. Camp Alta Mons was that place for me.
For more on Camp Alta Mons and the magical things happening there check out www.altamons.org/alta-mons-experience or check out our Open House on May 16th.
