Summer Camps provide fun and spiritual activities for more than 350 juniors and teens

This article was originally written for the monthly printed bulletin Northpoint.

For Annabelle Burrett, 11, Summer Holidays used to be, as she describes, “kind of boring”. “I pretty much went to the beach and also had to go to work with my mom,” she recalls. Now, in her second year at Summer Camp, she has been using that time to learn new and interesting skills. Yet, more than sailing, horse riding and archery, she and around 350 other juniors and teens have been learning more about Jesus.

That is why Summer Camp is such an essential evangelistic initiative. “It is one of the most important things we do as a Church. Here we present Jesus in a fun environment where the kids make lifetime memories. We also have a great number of non-Adventists, so this is a great opportunity to present Jesus to them,” explains Dana Howard, Youth Director for the Adventist Church in North New South Wales.

This year, the three original camps grew to four due to the high demand for registrations. Each of the four camps run with a staff of 70, formed almost entirely by volunteers. Cullen Partington is one of those volunteers; he worked as a counsellor at the second juniors camp, guiding and taking care of one of the boys’ cabins. “I’m basically their parent for the week,” he jokes.

“I’m not being paid to be here, but for me, it’s a real blessing because I can see the difference in their lives. When you see them coming to Summer Camp, a lot of them don’t have the background of a Christian faith, and when they come here to experience God it’s just amazing to see the smiles in their faces and them learning from activities and life skills and learning about God as well,” he says.