Effective Camp
The wisdom of camp, shared throughout decades of learning about God and each other, shows us how effective and impactful faith formation can happen through outdoor ministry experiences when 5 fundamental elements come together at camp. view findingssign up for 2023
Camp wisdom speaks.
HOutdoor ministry and the unique settings, experiences, and relationships that form through camp are a critical part of the ecology of Christian faith formation. Evidence is building that camp experiences continue affecting young people long after the last tearful goodbye, and we can build on the success of these experiences in our ministry contexts by knowing the potential impacts and forging connections between camp, congregation, and home. The impacts are clear and recognizable in camps that attend to the 5 fundamental characteristics of Christian camping:
Faith-centered · Relational · Participatory
Safe space · Unplugged from Home
During the summers of 2015-2022, we surveyed more than 13000 summer campers and 4000 camper parents at 60 camps in 30 states and Canada!
What’s new this year? We have an exciting partnership with United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries! We have selected a random sample of overnight camps across all five jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church. This will include over 2 dozen different camps! Together, we surveyed more than 4,200 summer campers in 2022, and more than 1200 camper parents.
The Power of Camp
Through an exciting partnership with Christian Camp and Conference Association, we are offering the core elements of the Effective Camp Project to CCCA member camps. This is allowing us to broaden the base of research on Christian camping ministry! This partnership began in 2018 with 9 participating camps, and continued in summer 2019 with 11 camps. After a pandemic-enforced hiatus, we are back in 2022 serving more of our CCCA partner camps!
Does camp make a difference?
“Yes” always feels like the answer, but do we know? How do we know? This is the question we have sought to answer in the Effective Camp Project.
Through summer 2019, 37 camps across the United States and Canada participated in this exciting research project. They represent multiple Christian denominations. We survey campers on the first day of camp, the last day of camp, and again 2-3 months after they return home. We also survey camper parents. The resulting data provide a robust picture of the immediate and lasting impacts of the Christian summer camp experience.
Partnership between camps, churches, and faith communities together serves to nurture faith, build character, and strengthen families. We’ve learned qualitatively and quantitatively through the Effective Camp Project that camp is a unique space in which 5 fundamental characteristics come together to create deeply impactful faith experiences.
Everyone plays a role in forming faith in and with each other. Whether you are a camp leader, pastor or other ministry professional, a scholar or academic leader, or a parent, we’ve learned some things (and are ever-learning more) that we can take away and apply to our lives and ministries.
Outdoor Ministry Leaders
Pastors & Ministry Leaders
Parents & Families
Scholars & Academics
Findings
What we're learning from Effective Camp ResearchEffective Camp Research Project Findings
The Effective Camp Research Project set out to answer: What is the impact of the one-week summer camp experience on the lives of the primary participants and their supporting networks? The project began in summer 2015 at 3 camps in Wisconsin, using the methodology of grounded theory in order to deeply listen to campers, parents, directors, summer staff members, and area church professionals. It was from this deeply embedded research that we uncovered what we call the 5 fundamental characteristics of Christian summer camp: safe, participatory, relational, away from home, and faith-centered. Following the initial research, we began surveying summer campers on the first day, last day, and 2 months following camp to determine growth and lasting impact. We have now surveyed more than 13,000 campers and 4000 parents at 60 camps in 30 states and in Canada. It turns out that some effects of the camp experience tend to wear off in the weeks following camp, but there is compelling evidence for lasting change in several camp outcomes. Knowing how your camp is doing when it comes to these lasting outcomes can help you improve your programs, motivate your constituency, and strengthen your partnerships with congregations and families. Learn more here if you’d like the ECRP Research Team to conduct research at your camp, providing you with valuable learning about your context, and offering a greater data set to the overall project.
Executive Summary
This four-page document sums up the important learnings from the first two phases of the research.
Full Report
Read the Full Report, a 21-page PDF detailing the key findings from the initial phase of the research project.
5 Fundamental Characteristics of Camp
1 | Camp is Relational
The entire camp experience is framed in an intensely relational environment that includes living together, meeting new people, practicing reconciliation, and encountering the other in face-to-face interaction. The potential impacts of this characteristic include improved social competency, increased self-confidence, and more positive attitudes toward Christian communities.We’re all so different, but we all came together and it was a puzzle that fit perfectly together. – Lutherdale camper
2 | Camp is Participatory
The camp environment emphasizes experience and agency. Participants learn and grow through active, kinesthetic activities. These experiences are multi-sensory and often include new or novel experiences (especially in the outdoors) that participants characterize as fun. Participants even characterized the absence of technological devices as a positive aspect of camp that facilitated participatory encounter. The potential impacts of this characteristic include willingness to try new things, increased creativity, and more positive attitudes toward life.They’re teaching us without us knowing that we’re being taught! – Sugar Creek camper
3 | Camp is Unplugged from Home
Once you actually get away from your life, you can see a whole different angle, and it can be a lot more fun and exciting. – Lutherdale camper
Camp exists in a set apart location that provides physical and emotional distance from environments that participants consider normal. The differences highlight the special nature of the camp environment and provide perspective on the places participants left behind and to which they will return. The potential impacts of this characteristic include increased independence and differentiation from parents
4 | Camp is a Safe Place
The strong sense of safety at camp includes physical safety, but there is a special emphasis on emotional safety. Participants described camp as a place where they could be themselves without fear of judgment or ridicule. The potential impacts of this characteristic that manifest themselves in the data include more positive self-understanding, increased self-esteem, and a desire to seek out safe places and relationships.The whole camp is like a huge safe zone. – Wapo camper
5 | Camp is Faith-Centered
Faith teachings and practices are not peripheral or intermittent aspects of the camp experience but rather are experienced as intertwined in all other characteristics. The potential impacts of this characteristic include increased frequency of faith practices in the home, stronger identification with faith traditions, and ability to interpret life through the lens of faith.Each time you go to camp, you run another mile in your race of faith! – Wapo camper
Phase 1 | Summer 2015
Phase 2 | Summer 2016
Participating Camps
Where do we go from here?
Below you’ll find your easy button on things to share about effective camp. These graphics and written statements help you tell the story of camps like yours and the depth of impact your ministry can offer in partnership with churches and families. The images are downloadable just by clicking. They are sized ideally for Facebook, work great in Instagram and Twitter, and can be embedded in your websites and emails as well.
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