Evangelistic camping – an exciting new way to reach Asia’s youth (2)

Our experience in Evangelistic camping:

In July 2008 we experimented with our first Evangelistic camp in Panay, Philippines. We called it an E-camp. The results of that first E-camp was very encouraging.

So we planned a series of regular monthly E-camps, starting from Jan 2009 till the present. So far over 800 people have attended these E-camps.

According to conventional camp philosophy, we started with a majority of saved youth and a minority of unsaved youth – this situation supposedly provided for the saved youth to influence the unsaved youth.
However, we experimented by gradually increasing the ratio of unsaved youth. And to our pleasant surprise we found that it was possible for the camp staff and the camp atmosphere to sufficiently influence them.
Now we are fairly confident of running an E-camp of 100% unsaved youths. One of the reasons why this is possible is because most of our campers come from poor rural areas and they are generally respectful of authority. So far we have little experience with urban youth.

Of the 800 campers so far, over 80% of them came in as unsaved youth.

So far, over 80% of these unsaved camp registrants made professions of faith at the end of the camp.
We have not collated our data on how many of them are presently attending church but our rough estimate is that over 100 are presently attending a recommended church in their locality. We have found that the number that attends church depends largely on the follow-up by the local pastors and the quality of their youth programs.

Not only are the youth reached but local churches that have experienced the addition of youths have been “revived” to be more evangelistic. The revival effect is especially marked on the pastors – many of whom have been discouraged by years of barren labour. This is a very important impact of E-camp!

The structure of an evangelistic camp:

The key ingredient to any successful camp program is the camp counsellor.

Camp counsellors must be properly trained. We had the benefit of training from trainers sent from the Wilds Camp in North Carolina. Counsellor training is the most important part of E-camping.

Most camps in Asia focus their efforts on the development of the campsite rather than counsellors. This is acceptable if the camp is designed as a rest and bonding site for Christians. However, for E=camping the influence of the counsellor is critical. His love, concern and counselling is what attracts these youth – many of whom come from dysfunctional homes.

The camp-site is of secondary importance. A cooperating Bible-school can serve as an adequate camp-site. The additional benefit of this arrangement is that their students can serve as counsellors. This is one of the best ways for a Bible-school to train its students in evangelism, counselling, leading, etc.

Alternatively, a church camp-site can be rented.

The key person is the camp counsellor and the main part of the program is the preaching of God’s Word. It is amazing to watch the attentiveness of these youth. For most of them it is the first time that they are hearing the Word of God, so there is a reverence for God’s Word. In fact, the attentiveness of these first-timers is a marked contrast to the attitude of churched youth who often seem bored and disinterested.
A series of 7 sermons is preached during the 3 day camp (Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon). Each message builds on the previous one and at the end of the series the Gospel is fully and clearly presented.

The future of E-camps:

I believe that E-camps are one of the most effective ways to reach Asia’s youth.

If we don’t reach Asia’s youth effectively, then Satan will. In fact, he is already doing a very good job influencing our youth while most of us are sleeping!

Please pray for more Christians to be involved in E-camping.

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Evangelistic Camping Part 1