Big Sandy Church of God held its annual family camp in Beaver Creek over the weekend. This was the fifth consecutive year the church has held family camp, after a hiatus of several decades. The weekend primarily included families from the church camping at the Lions Campground, sharing meals, going fishing together, enjoying games, and each other's company. The weekend ended with the weekly worship service held in the park.
I spoke with Rebecca Wiehe, who took the initiative to restart the camp tradition and keep it going annually since. She explained her memories of family camp as a child and her motivation for bringing it back. "Our church started doing it before I was in grade school. I was a little kid and then it went on through my grade school years. I have a ton of amazing memories of fun times. Then as I got older, our church just didn't do it anymore. I wanted to kick start it again so that the kids in our church would have memories of being out in God's creation and playing in water and playing with sticks and tripping and falling and having all of those other memories. Eventually, the hope is to maybe do some Bible lessons and songs around campfires if we get it earlier in July." Part of the challenge associated with summer camp type events for church members is the fact that most farmers are either cutting hay or harvesting.
Rebecca went on to explain that the event has the potential for great spiritual impact and community growth for attendees. "I think there's value in it. But it has to be intentional. You can be just as alone out here as you can be in town if you're not being intentional about spending time around a campfire, or engaging in games or going over to someone else's camper and and being a part of that. I think it can be a good place to bridge those gaps that you might not get when you're just in your comfort zone in town or out in the country."
The original Big Sandy Church of God Family Camp functioned as a retreat for members, but also doubled as vacation bible school for kids in the community. The tradition of camp in the Church of God is older than the local church's events. Church of God Anderson is the particular movement the Big Sandy church belongs to, which began during the camp meetings of the Second Great Awakening. This led to the tradition of holding camp meetings annually, which the entire movement still practices today. The Montana Church of God holds its annual family camp in August in Hungry Horse, a town in the mountains not far from Columbia Falls.
One of the challenges associated with this year's family camp was the county wide fire ban in effect that prevented attendees from having camp fires for gatherings. "This year was harder, because with no fires, that is really what feeds my soul is sitting around a fire and listening and visiting. Without that, I just sat around an empty fire pit the other night and just prayed by myself. I was like, 'Well, this is good.' But it wasn't what I had hoped for. However, it's not always about me, like there have been other people that have had great conversations or walking by and hearing people talking. And that's what it's for."
In the future, Rebecca hopes to see the organized components expand to include more group activities, with a focus on community and spiritual growth. "A structured morning routine of breakfast, then some kind of Bible Lesson, game time, hikes, music in the morning so that there's some structured time for the kids to learn and that kind of stuff and then have free time in the afternoon. And then campfire worship in the evenings. That would be my ideal. I don't know whether we'll ever get there, but I'm hopeful."
For now, the attendees I spoke with expressed joy in the time spent with their friends and family away from the regular pressures of life. Kids can play in a setting where everyone is keeping an eye on them. One father explained that spending time with the family without the distraction of electronics or work is the value of the weekend. The emphasis on time together without distraction. For me, as a pastor and family man, I find the time spent with my kids without the pressure of work to be one of the biggest blessings. I also enjoy being in a place where I am able to study and reflect without phone calls or the other daily distractions that make study difficult.
For the members of Big Sandy Church of God, the camping weekend is a blessing that is still growing and evolving. Only God knows what He has in store for the future of these weekend excursions.
