Camp Ministry

Students will be introduced to skills and competencies necessary for planning and leading purposeful learning activities. Students will learn how to introduce truth, illustrate truth, and illuminate a lack of truth through the use of and modification of known activities or by introducing new activities, games, and initiatives.

This course is designed to familiarize the student with the history, philosophies, and current trends within the outdoor education and organized camping movement. The following major topics will be addressed: centralized vs. de-centralized programming; residential & wilderness environments; needs-based & age graded programming. Students will be introduced to the roles that many of the major professional organizations play, such as the American Camping Association, Christian Camping International, Association for Experiential Education, and Association for Challenge Course Technology. Students will develop and clearly articulate a solid, philosophic approach to developing a camping ministry.

This course is designed to help students understand principles and acquire competencies necessary to move participants toward growth in the context of short-term impact ministry environments such as retreats, resident camps, mission trips, and wilderness trips. Key subjects include: group dynamics, relationship building, camper discipline, facilitation, framing, debriefing, processing, and Bible study.

This course is designed to introduce the student to current experience-based learning theories, models, and tools. Students will interact with these theories, investigating, evaluating, and adapting them in order to develop skills for facilitating learning for a wide range of students in a variety of environments and experiences.

Students will be introduced to the recreational program development cycle typical to camping environments, from assessment and design to implementation and evaluation. Assessment of human development, spiritual development, and group dynamics will be addressed along with basic strategic program development. Students will be introduced to the necessary skills, techniques and methods for effectively and safely implementing a learning strategy in the context of recreational programming, along with proper evaluation methods and post-event learning integration.