Do you keep Sunday special on your childrren's Christian summer camp, observing the Christian Sabbath / Lord's Day?
I am convinced it is our duty to do so. This should include two main elements: (1) Rest (2) Special corporate worship. The whole should be done in a mood of joy, delight, feasting, gratituse and meriment.
Here are some ideas:
Have the main meeting in the morning since Jesus rose from the tomb in the morning. Make it recognisably churchy: include a call to worship, confession, creed etc. Or, perhaps better, attend a good local church.
Give the kids a lie-in.
Have extra free time.
Have the best meals of the week.
Any suggestions / comments most welcome.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
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4 comments:
I had a private email about this and this is adapted from my reply:
I'm glad you're so keen on camp.
And I think I agree with everything you say.
I basically think camp needs to be an informed benign dictatorship. That is, I think the leader needs to decide but he ought to listen and consult and ultimately can only lead by consent. He has to take his volunteers with him or camp will be the pits and there'll be no team next year!
I think that one of the problems is that its hard for the planning team to meet except on camp and hard to discuss things well by email etc.
Yes, I agree that some of my views are a little eccentric relative to many English evangelicals today and I would be cautious about trying to impose them.
I completely agree with you about primary and secondary issues and I intend to say something about that in the handbook and at the training day. We want to put Jesus and the gospel and the Bible first, absolutely. We are doing this for the sake of the kingdom and the kids to make disciples of Jesus. As I've said to you before, I think, I am a million miles away from wanting to forbid clapping or raising of hands in the worship on camp although I'd feel a bit silly doing it myself, for example. In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things charity. Absolutely. Of course, this also cuts both ways e.g. on issues like whether all our songs are modern or how much charismatic stuff we go in for on camp, whatever we might do in our churches.
The suggestions on the blog are just suggestions. I don't want to do them!
I think a lie in and more free time would work much better with 14-18 year olds.
Free time on a Sunday may not imply that the rest of the week isn't fun enough: just that once in a while its good to rest etc. Equally good but different?
Even if they don't agree with me on the Sabbath or haven't thought about it much, I reckon most Christians including most people on camp would be quite pleased if Sunday were a bit special, don't you? For example, it would be fine to have girly shopping trip as an option on Mon but not on Sun, don't you think?
Hope that helps?
Very happy to discuss anything about camp at anytime. Don't worry about hurting my feelings!
Marc,
I don't think your views on the Sabbath are that eccentric, even among contemporary English evangelicals. Perhaps from our background, but I meet more and more evangelicals, of all ages, Anglican and independent, who follow a traditional Reformed line.
RE: camp. On Lymington, Sunday is different: extra 1/2 hour in bed, no tuck shop (Though we do still get newspapers), camp photo, dorm outings/teas (for these the camp leader always reminds senior dorm leaders to be sensitive to differing views of leaders and children on the Sabbath). Many of the leaders will also dress a little less casually than other days.
Thanks, Jeffers. Very interesting.
Always good to know what the posh boys are doing - we seem to have copied you guys in most things.
Anyone know what they do at You-earn? (Is that original, by the way, I'm rather proud of it?!)
I'm really pleased to see a return to keeping the Sabbath in this hectic world. But my dear fellow believers, please let's get it right. The Bible Sabbath is Saturday. I know you may think this is awfully petty but it's set in concrete isn't it when God writes it Himself in stone? Please check it out - Sunday is the creation of the Roman Catholic Church as a mark of its authority. It's a man-made commandment. What's the big deal you say? The choice between a man-made law or God's law. It's that simple. And it's not rocket science.
Herb Kersten
Gospel Evangelist
http://www.hkea.org.au
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