Camp Sunday

Thank you so much for taking on the opportunity of hosting a Camp Sunday at your church! Camp is an amazingly influential opportunity that has proven to be a hugely successful way to outreach with an evangelical focus for younger students and to provide a great discipleship launch and steps for older students.

Select from the many features and elements below to create an experience at your church whether it’s just a few brief minutes or a complete event.

Details for a Successful Camp Sunday

Choose a Good Date

When planning the date consider the following:

Local Spring Break schedules
The Early Bird Deadline for camp (April 16 price goes up $30)
Easter schedule
Other local factors that could impact attendance by your participants.

Prepare the Space

No matter where your event it is, be sure to provide some decorations that get people thinking and excited. The more exciting and unique you can make the space the deeper the impression upon those who are there.

Have students/adults wear camp shirts and bring sleeping bags and luggage.
Hang up camp posters and photos plus fill your video screens with camp photos and videos.
Put a theme to your day such as "Be a Camper, Send a Camper" that invites everyone to be involved regardless of their age.
Place students as greeters welcoming everyone to the day.
Have hand-out materials (camp brochures, registration forms, personalized materials, etc).
You can even have a clever little snack for everyone like s’mores after the day ends.

Work Ahead

Be working on all the details long out, if you’re setting things in place last minute important things might be missed or have to be dropped. Visit getkidstocamp.com to order any supplies you might need like: free posters/brochures, links to photos/videos and customizable materials such as slides and bulletin inserts.

Plan Multiple Speakers

Different voices and perspectives will greatly enhance your effect and clarity. Personal stories of those who have been impacted by camp through various roles of attending, sending and serving can share whether they are opening a service in prayer, sharing a testimony or by being a living example of God at work..

Use current campers, former campers (from 18-80 years old), parents of campers, donors who have supported getting campers to camp, camp counselors, camp directors, or even camp staff (if available).

Call To Action

It’s crucial to everything we do in the church; don’t forget to put an action step into your day. We are an active society and we forget things if we don’t address them right now. So:

Ask the students and challenge them to bring a friend with them to camp.
Ask mom and dad to sign a camper up right there.
Ask for a special scholarship offering.
Ask those without children to give a brochure to a grandchild or neighbor.
Ask everyone in the congregation to put a piece of paper in the offering plate with a number of how many students they want to send to camp to be introduced to Christ.
Ask people to pray for all the 3,500+ campers, 1,500+ volunteers and 200+ staff this summer.

Introducing Camping to a Group

If you’re helping a group become familiar with camping it’s important to do some groundwork. The people in your group need to understand why camping is both an effective and meaningful experience. The topics below speak to some key values and data regarding our summer camps; it could be presented as a complete Sermon Topic for the day or each part could be split into multiple speakers/weeks (students, parents, youth leaders, etc., sharing about how they experienced it), etc.

Outreach

Camp is a perfect outreach event with great features and activities that draw students into a place where they begin to have the first seeds planted regarding God. Here students have opportunities to experience healthy relationships with their peers and counseling staff that display Christian love, find both challenging and encouraging obstacles that help them grow, and dig into the big questions they have in a comfortable setting.

Evangelism

Intentionality; every camper has a very clear opportunity to hear and respond to God’s Word and Salvation during their time at camp. Everything that happens at camp in some way reflects back to our Christ-centered philosophy. Even while students are on the blob, playing paintball, doing a high ropes course or challenged through games, the activities draw into discussions that help reveal Christ and answer questions.

Discipleship

For older campers, the story continues deeper as the message moves into the missional focus of being a disciple and what it means for each of us to live in the shadow of the cross and respond to issues of need and justice. Lastly, discipleship is continued through the unique connection between Impact 2818’s camps and the local church body. Even while at camp, the connection to the student’s home church is critically important and well understood. Programming helps to provide accountability and inspiration that will continue as the student returns home with their local faith community to continue their journey of becoming a committed follower of Jesus Christ who lives out the gospel.

Learn More From These Handout Materials (order at getkidstocamp.com)

Impact 2818 New Camper Brochure - This piece helps address some of the most common needs/questions a parent might have
Why Camp Card - A general awareness piece that discusses how camping in general is important and how Impact 2818 is an excellent ministry resource.
Summer Program Report - Provides measurable results information about Impact 2818

Promoting Camp Events

Most often, churches promote: Camping in General or Specific events/sites. Both work well.

We find that a church that sends its leadership and volunteers to lead a specific week of camp often promote that date and work diligently to get their students into the same event.
Some churches have a history or affinity to a specific site and may simply encourage students to attend any week at that location.
Other churches simply want to make sure the students are going somewhere and encourage the parents to choose the option that seems to fit their calendar and location needs the best.

Put It In Their Hands

No matter how you’re getting students to camp, you’ll just simply want to help put the information in their hand that can match your goals.

New Camper Brochure (order)- Provides introductory information for those unfamiliar with Impact 2818 or Christian camping.
Returning Campers Brochure (order) - This new and simple at-a-glance brochure provides ministry-wide calendar, location and cost details.
Registration Forms - Form to sign up via paper.
Scholarship Forms - Apply for tuition assistance from Impact 2818.
Create a Custom Flyer - If you’re looking to promote just a specific event you might be best suited by using a custom bulletin insert or flyer; you might also want to keep some Returning Camper brochures around in case a family has date conflicts and still wants to experience camp.

Visuals On The Big Screen

Slides - Have a slide ofr the projection screen each week until camp comes reminding people to register, dates, scholarship info, etc.
Photos - Download some camp photos at flickr.com/impact2818 to give a good idea of what happens at camp.
Videos - Play our camp videos to help introduce, create interest, explain, wow, or to display a single element of camp. Download from vimeo.com/impact2818 or order a DVD at no charge.

Camp Display

Set up a display area that lets your families know where to go and look for details as well as ask questions (if you are capable of staffing it with a volunteer).

The Keys to Scholarship Fundraising

Many things today seem to cost too much. Utility prices are crazy, food costs are exponential, extracurricular activity costs keep expanding... Running a church costs money and camp operates just like a church. Stewardship is key and the camp staff do everything they can with the minimal amount of resources necessary to make quality and effective ministry happen.

Impact 2818 providede over $151,000 in scholarship dollars in 2011 to help families with need.
Our partnering churches provided over $232,000 in tuition assistance to campers.

If your church is looking to join in with getting campers to camp, fundraising is an essential part of that. Check out thes great fundraising ideas.