Why Day Camps?

As you get in the car and drive down the street, (depending on where you live), you’ll see church building after church building. ⛪ If you are anything like me, I wonder about each person that may represent that church, how God is moving in that church, what summer programming they have, and everything in between. That also gets me thinking about families in the area that may not have a local church, feel welcomed into one, or don’t know how to come back after a very hard season.

Why does WinShape Camps love and partner with the local church?

We believe in the church. We believe that the church has always been and is still a key part of God’s plan to bring salvation and restoration to the world. We love the church because it is the faith community coming together to disciple, reach, and love on those in need of a Savior. We also realize every church might be different in the way they operate, but they still have the purpose of reaching people with the message of Jesus. None of us are the same, therefore no church will be the same.  However, we all should be preaching the same eternal and saving Gospel.

With busy schedules, exhaustion, sports, and everything in between it can be harder for people to walk through the doors of the local church. The reality is, some parents may even feel inadequate in their own faith and don’t feel strong enough to even bring their kids alongside this faith journey with so many questions of their own.

Deuteronomy 4:9 – “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

The Church Remains Once Camp Leaves Town

Parents and families seem to count on the local church to be the ones to teach their kids about Jesus when church programming should be utilized to set the stage for family discipleship to happen in the home. We believe that WinShape Camps should complement your Sunday mornings. It’s an opportunity to dive deeper into the faith that is being taught through at-home discipleship for church-going families. For those who don’t know Jesus, camp may be their first glimpse at or an introduction to the Gospel and the person of Jesus Christ. After that one week of camp is over, and our teams have said farewell to campers and packed their trucks, the local Church is who remains to disciple and walk alongside those families.

Our heart is to set the church up well for when we leave their city. We get to hand over the relationships we have gained with the kids and families in their community and introduce them to their local church.

Day Camps as a Bridge to a Faith Family

Camp happens for 5 days. In those 5 days of camp, each camper experiences around 8 hours of programming per day Monday-Thursday and a half day Friday. Those hours added together with the average Christian’s church attendance, means kids are getting a year’s worth of their average Sunday morning in just one week. So, we get to come alongside the church as we show kids and their families that Jesus deserves to be at the center stage and in the front seat of their lives. At WinShape Camps for Communities, kids get to have fun, learn more about Jesus, make new friends, and experience new skills.

We get to act as a bridge that draws kids and families to the source of life – Jesus. And we count ourselves blessed that we also get to introduce them to a faith family they can continue to grow alongside and receive discipleship from all year long.

How beautiful is it that the church is being entered into by those who may not know Jesus? Day Camps is an avenue to come alongside the local church. We partner in doing Gospel ministry and we pray it impacts and serves the four corners of our world for Jesus.  That He may be edified and glorified and HIS work would be made known.

Written by: Aaron Collier – WinShape Camps for Communities, Host Development Manager