Partnership in Practice

Best Practices that Facilitate Partnership Between Camps, Families, and Churches

You can download this resource (PDF format): Partnership in Practice

One of the goals of the Growing Faith Together project is to identify best practices that facilitate partnership between camps, families, and churches and that foster faith formation in the home. Through our work with our core camps, we’ve identified a long list of strategies that camps use to partner with churches and families in this endeavor.

You might recognize the layout from Phase 1 – there are three audiences and three time points to consider. The goal of this resource is to provide camp leaders with a list of possibilities. We recommend gathering your team and using this as a foundation for brainstorming what might work best in your context.

Before Camp

Camper

• Pre-camp letters or emails sent to campers, or to parents with the intent that campers receive them
• Share pre-camp bible studies for campers to use on their own
• Organize an intentional welcome process on arrival day designed with the ideas of temporary community in mind
• Increase staff training for camper/counselor 1:1 conversations
• Increase staff training on faith formation/discipleship

Parent

• Send pre-camp letters or emails to parents about what to expect
• Send pre-camp letters or emails to parents with questions/conversation starters designed to prepare campers and parents for camp
• Provide parents with curriculum and outlines of teaching sessions being used at camp
• Send a list of things for parents to pray about in preparation for camp

Church

• Send churches a resource for designing a blessing/commissioning Sunday
• Offer time for church leaders to meet either virtually or in person with camp leaders
• Provide leaders with curriculum and teaching information prior to camp
• Encourage churches to provide scholarships
• Visit churches to talk about camp and encourage registration
• Host informational meetings or preparation sessions at churches

During Camp

Camper

• Model devotional practices during camp
• Give campers journals to guide daily quiet time and reflection tools and post camp resources
• Program for daily small group faith conversations and bible study
• Pray for meals around the table in small groups instead of a big corporate prayer
• Pray for meals as a large group (i.e. one prayer for all dining campers!)
• Have guided meal time conversations Program intentional cabin prayer time
• Use transitional objects to help kids remember their experience
• Facilitate cabin reflections at end of day

Parent

• Send specific parent faith resources that were connected to the curriculum during the camp week
• Send videos with updates, curriculum recaps, and/or prayer requests to parents during the camp week
• Provide daily updates to parents on daily events, lessons, etc...
• Upload daily pictures

Church

• Invite church leaders to serve or lead in some capacity at camp
• Invite church leaders to visit camp for a day during camp
• Invite church leaders to retreat at camp during the camp week
• Connect church leaders with on site chaplain
• Send letters to church leaders while kids are at camp
• Email leaders from churches where kids attend while kids are at camp
• Meet with leaders from churches where kids attend while kids are at camp
• Alert church leaders of new skills or potential leaders in campers
• Send prayer requests to church leaders during camp 

After Camp

Camper

• Send campers home with a devotional tool or resource
• Mail/email campers a devotional tool or resource after they returned home from camp
• Provide online devotional tools for campers after camp
• Send a postcard or letter from counselor after camp ends
• Call campers after camp ends
• Host camper reunion events

Parent

• Provide parents with printed resources or tools at pick up to help parents talk to their children about camp
• Provide online resources or tools to help parents talk to their children about camp
• Provide print devotional resources or bible study tools designed for families to use together
• Provide online devotional resources or bible study tools designed for families to use together Invite parents and families to return to camp for fall events or activities
• Recommend local churches to parents without local church connections
• Design a pick up/closing day program that utilizes the concepts of temporary community
• Host parent meetings or parent session with director or other staff designed to share camp philosophy and purpose with parent OR parent counselor meetings
• Involve parents in closing ceremony with campers

Church

• Provide resources and/or encouragement for church leaders to hold a camp celebration at church
• Visit churches in the fall to talk about camp
• Share worship playlists with church leaders after camp
• Send churches a lists of campers from their church or from their area
• Invite churches to attend fall events or activities at camp