If I’m honest, church was a stuffy and rather boring experience as I grew up in a small northern town in Scotland. Peppered with a few enjoyable parts like Sunday School outings, I understood who God was but didn’t see how the lifestyle applied to me at that age.
Then I started going to Free Church Youth Camps every summer.
I immediately experienced the tremendous joy of having such fun doing things that I would never have been able to do at home or in the playground. I found out who God was as it was explained to me at a level appropriate to me. It became apparent to me in those years of being a camper that God loved me, provided for me, wanted me to have fun and would lead me to a life of trusting him and making lifelong Christian friends.
Church was no longer stuffy and boring. It was now applicable and interesting.
Becoming a leader was even more fun! We, as previous campers and now as great friends in Jesus, could continue on having such a laugh, being riotous idiots, playing daft games and emptying buckets of water on folk. All the things our leaders had done before us! We would share our testimonies with the young people and pray for them, that they too would see that God has created us in his image, to have fun in worship and play; to glorify him and enjoy him forever.
Free Church Youth Camps are a tremendous tool that God is using to connect the future church to him, through experiencing his greatness, his family and, most of all, understanding his sacrifice made for us to enjoy the life he gave us.
