"Calling Christians at Camp" Part 2

From the article "Calling Christians at Camp" in the Lutheran Forum by Chandler R. Carriker

Looking back into the Lutheran tradition, we can learn much from Dietrich Bonhoeffer about importance of intentional Christian community, of which outdoor ministry is one instance. The communal learning at Finkenwalde, and the resulting book Life Together, are the usual touchstones for Bonhoeffer fans when it comes to intentional Christian community. But Bonhoeffer was already experimenting with Christian community long before the illegal seminaries came about. Early in his teaching career, Bonhoeffer was given the reins of a group of fifty confirmands in the town of Wedding. Eberhard, Bethge, Bonhoeffer’s biographer, describes the group as “out of control,” to such an extent that the elderly minister who preceded Bonhoeffer died a few weeks after retiring. The group “quite literally harassed [the elderly pastor] to death,” said Bonhoeffer. But his own method for passing on the faith to these wild young disciples reflects many scenes found in camping ministry. Instead of shouting down the group while they exclaimed, “Bon! Bon! Bon!” at him, he began to speak quietly so that only the boys closest to him could hear what he was saying. Gradually the group quieted down, unsure of what to make of this young new instructor. As soon as he had their attention, he began to share stories of his visit to Harlem. The boys quickly realized he was different from their other teachers. Bonhoeffer held their attention “simply [telling] them stories from the Bible with great  emphasis, particularly the eschatological passages.” The communal aspect of this catechetical experience was stunningly different from typical Protestant education at the time. Bonhoeffer lived in the same community as many of his students and made himself accessible outside of the classroom. He was deliberately a daily presence in the life of his students. The youth could visit Bonhoeffer at home in the evening to play chess or learn English. He took the class on weekend trips to youth hostels so they could experience the Christian community formed by the Holy Spirit, a theme which became prominent in his early writings. For all the popular talk of the church as a community, in the German Lutheran church at the time the truly intentional community remained an abstraction. It was the athletic or Nazi youth clubs that provided tangible examples of community to young people. Through his pastoral work with youth, Bonhoeffer came to recognize this lack in the church and consequently the dangers that loomed in the shadow of a growing

Third Reich. As a theological and practical treatise on Christian community, Life

Together reflects the experiences of Bonhoeffer at his exiled seminary in Finkenwalde. Central to Bonhoeffer’s argument is that a Christian community which attributes its composition and creation to anything other than Christ alone is a false community. “Christianity,” Bonhoeffer simply says, “means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this.” Communities that constitute themselves on anything beyond Christ, Bonhoeffer writes, are based on a “wish dream.” Such a wish dream could be grounded in anything from idealistic visions of the harmony of humanity to the desire for right and proper sacramental practice. No matter what the cause, if a community holds anything save the grace of Christ Jesus as its foundation, it will find itself shipwrecked upon the shores of human sin and brokenness. “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself,” writes Bonhoeffer, “becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” Bonhoeffer’s idea of a “wish dream” should resonate loudly with many who have worked in camping ministry or youth ministry in general. The natural passions and idealism of young people, which are a  strength and gift for the church, can often lead to high hopes for the communities in which they find acceptance and purpose— only to have their hopes come crashing down around them the moment a friend or leader in the community disappoints them. Young disciples come with strong hypocrisy radars, a curse that sets the bar too high for any community grounded in illegitimate criteria or wish dreams. This is a common phenomenon in most camping ministries, not so much among the campers as the counselors, often college students. Communities are built up over the summer among staff members. The young adults feel free to drop the facades that college life requires of them. But, inevitably, through the brokenness of human relationships this perceived freedom is violated and such openness is proven to be tenuous. “This place isn’t the

Christian community that I thought it was” is a common refrain in the mouths of college-aged disciples. For those who work with the young faithful in such settings, Bonhoeffer’s analysis of the wish dream suggests a response to such disillusionment, directing it towards the foot of the cross rather than—as happens far too often—out the church doors. Alongside Bonhoeffer’s communal and pedagogical insights for camping ministry, Luther’s treatment of God revealed in nature can guide the faithful pursuit of outdoor ministry.

Calling Christians at Camp Part 1

From the article "Calling Christians at Camp" in the Lutheran Forum by Chandler R. Carriker

One summer evening, the entire community of confirmands, counselors, and pastors gathered around a young woman to see the water of baptism poured on her. I stood there and thought to myself: “Lord, I just got into this so I could work at camp. It’s not supposed to be this serious!”

At twenty-one, in my first year as a supervisor at a Lutheran summer camp, I believed I had a handle on most any situation that could arise. Then in the midst of a seemingly typical week of camp, among the college-age counselors, campers, and pastors appeared this young woman who had never been baptized. She was a regular churchgoer at a Lutheran congregation with her friend and had decided to tag along for confirmation camp. As catechetical conversation returned again and again to the sacraments, she

spoke up to the group and her pastor, saying, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” Parents were called, the congregation back home gave its support, and I was sent to track down the camp’s baptismal font, still unsure of what we were getting ourselves into.

But on that Thursday evening, and during conversations that followed with my counselors, I realized that we were about something more than, say, athletic or scouting camps. No matter how much we saw our ministry as distanced from the institution of the church (youthfully convinced that we were cooler than that), we were very much wrapped up in the body of Christ.

For many of our Lutheran congregations, experiences at camp are an essential part of the formation of young disciples. In a study of American Protestant teens, 41% of all ELCA youth said that they had attended a summer camp run by a religious organization. The number goes up to 48% for Missouri Synod youth. Perhaps even more telling, among those aged thirteen to seventeen who regularly attend religious services in the ELCA, the percentage that has attended a religious camp rises dramatically to 58%. These numbers are on par with evangelical Protestant denominations, such as Southern Baptist youth attending at a 48% rate and United Methodist youth at a 53% rate.¹

Beyond numbers, many congregations are absolutely devoted to their local outdoor ministry sites. In my own congregation on the coast of North Carolina, the devotion to a large Lutheran camp in the western part of the state was so strong that I didn’t even realize until I got to college that there was another Lutheran camp with a beachfront site only a few miles from my own home! The same kind of loyalty to particular camps reigns as well in Pennsylvania, where I live and work now.

Alongside the usual weeks in the summer, weekend retreats at camps, such as Teens Encounter Christ and Chrysalis, function as a direct extension of many congregations’ youth and educational ministry. Youth leaders and pastors regularly proclaim camp as the very antidote for a teen’s lackluster faith. This is perhaps a bit overstated; camping ministry is not a perfect fit for every youth and should not be seen as quick fix for deeper needs. But it certainly can play a central role in sowing the seeds of faith planted by the Spirit that may often be buried deep during teenage years of transition.

The question should be, then, not whether such temporary communities are important and faithful, but why they exert such an influence on so many of us. Are they, like much youth ministry in the past few decades, mere repetitions of the wider culture’s efforts to lure young people, winning the loyalty of youth with the tactics of commercial culture? Or is there some deeper connection to the faith in places of intentional but temporary Christian community and God’s good creation in nature? Are we about camping because it works for scouts or organized sports, or is there more to it than that? (to be continued...)