Christian Camps and Social Media
As a youth pastor and solo pastor for 15 1/2 years I am a strong advocate of the Christian camping experience, especially for youth. There is something special about disconnecting from many of the distractions of life in order to concentrate our focus on the Creator of the universe.
I was wondering recently though how Christian camps are fairing in this age of digital information overload based on a conversation with a friend who used to help us run our camps. I started scouring the net to see how Christian camps were doing, and I found out that many have gone out of business due to a significant drop in attendance.
Back in the day … (Okay it wasn’t that many years ago!), I can remember that the only reason we came in before dark was due to being in trouble. Fast forward to my kids generation and the only time they went outdoors was when they were in trouble.
Part of the reason for the couch potato youth seemed somewhat related to the types of digital entertainment available to engage. Game Boy, PS3, Computers, etc., seemed more interesting than being outside. How in the world does those activities beat out playing fort?
One shining example of a camp that is using social media to promote it’s ministry is http://www.foresthome.org. According to a recent Christianity Today article, Forest Home is using Facebook and Twitter effectively to expand its ministry.
I find this use of social media a refreshing example of ingenuity for a religious organization. What could be more useful to build and promote a ministry than a form of Internet marketing that is readily available, and inexpensive to implement? I tip my hat to you Forest Home!
Do you think this is a good strategy for Christian Camp Ministries?
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There’s not much churches could do with the way how kids love those game consoles. But we could make camps an interesting alternative by partnering with local school teachers and parent clubs. A little school and parent help would get them to try it. Once there, it’s up to the Church how to make it interesting enough for these hard to please kids.