Camp bookstall

Dear person organising our camp bookstall,

You might find the following helpful:

The Good Book Company re: camp

10ofthose.com

"Ever thought about having a bookstall at your camp? 10ofthose could help - we can provide a range of biblical and relevant books, Bibles and tracts on sale or return and all at discount prices for your camp. For more information please email john@10ofthose.com or call the office on 01257 278570."

The thoughts of The Vicar's Wife

Camp bookstall

When it comes to organising our camp bookstall (Danehill 1 for 11-14s), we might get some good hints here.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

Bookings are now open for The Best Week of the Year: Danehill 1 Venture 2011. A fantastic life-changing Christian holiday for 11 - 14 year olds.

Son as Camp Adjutant

I wonder if we might think of the relationship between Father and Son as somewhat analogous to that between the Overall Leader of Camp and the Adjutant?

Exactly what heresies that initially suggests to your mind will of course depend on how your camp is run and on the sins and foibles of overall leader and adjutant!

The Overall Leader and the Adjutant are ontologically equal, yet the Overall leader has a functional authority. The Adjutant exercises rule on behalf of the overall leader and runs all things for him.

Another way of saying this might be that the Son is the Executive Officer of the Trinity who carries out all the will of the Father in the power of the Spirit.

Danehill 1

Please pray for the 50 11-14 year olds and 30 leaders who will be at Danehill 1 CPAS Venture from Saturday for The Best Week of the Year.

Our Camp Training Day

Here are some plans for what we'll hopefully be up to tomorrow:

By 10am Arrivals, name labels, coffee etc.

10:15am Welcome, introductions, notices, apologies etc., opening prayer

Songs: You’re the Word of God the Father

Now In Reverence and Awe

10:30am Bible teaching and prayer

11am Our aims, vision, ethos, values, ways of working etc.

11:15am Coffee break

11:30am How camp works: a “typical” year, week, day

11:45am Making the most of our “8 Days Around The World” theme

12pm How to lead a dorm Bible study on Mark’s Gospel

12:30pm Personal work and the Two Ways to Live gospel outline

Song: Praise God from whom all blessings flow

1pm Lunch

Song: The Splendour of the King

1:45pm Making the most of dorm time

2:15pm Working with 11-14 year olds: what makes Pathfinders tick?

2:45pm Financial matters

3pm Afternoon tea break

Changes to dorms

3:15pm Time in dorm groups (led by overall dorm leaders)

3:45pm Child protection

4pm Admin & Any changes to the camp handbook?

4:30pm Time in “teams” / sorting stuff out with individuals / groups / speakers and overall dorm leaders

5pm Any questions, any other business?

Song: How Great Thou Art

5:15pm Prayer time

5:30pm You are free to go if you need to!

Evening Meal followed by clean up!

John's Gospel for Danehill 1 Leaders

Here are some jottings for some of the things I plan to say at our camp training day in the morning:

An introduction to John’s Gospel

with some learnings for Danehill 1 2010

and some things I’ve been wanting to say about Camp!

The key to John – reading the last page first – 20:30-31 – the purpose of the Gospel

Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to be one of the first disciples in that upper room…

Doubting Thomas – seeing is believing - 20:24 / reading is believing - 20:29!

John (and the Scriptures) give us “more blessed” / happy access to meeting with the risen Jesus today for ourselves – we are more privileged than the first disciples because we have a Bible!

so it is to the Scriptures we must go, and to which we must direct the Pathfinders

The purpose of John (and the Scriptures) is that we should:

(a) (begin to) believe in Jesus (for the first time) AND / OR ?

(b) go on believing in Jesus

which is our purpose for the Pathfinders – remember both:

(a) those who are not yet Christians and

(b) those who are already believers

We are about: Conversion & Discipleship; Evangelism & Nurture; Mission & Maturity

Belief / trusting Jesus brings us real “life” – quality & quantity of life, now and for ever – 10:10; eternal life, knowing God - 17:3

The authority of the Bible – Scripture cannot be broken – 10:35 – Jesus appeals to the exact words

The point of the Bible is to come to Jesus in faith – 5:39-40 – not just academic knowledge etc.

Meeting Jesus (for the first time or afresh, being transformed by him) – people who meet Jesus in John e.g. Disciples, Nicodemus, Samaritan woman, Royal official, paralysed man, crowds

A new vision of the greatness of Jesus – The Christ, The Son of God, Word (1:1), I AM (way, truth, life, resurrection, door, good shepherd, light of the world, bread of life, true vine), signs, glory etc.

Jesus is the ultimate answer to all our needs and all the Pathfinders’ needs

The example of John the Baptist – The voice - 1:23; We want to cry “Behold, the Lamb!” – 1:29, 35; - Shine our little spotlight on Jesus The Light – 5:32-34 – Witness pointing others to Him - 1:7-8 – Humility - 1:15, 27, 30; - Jesus must become greater, we must become less - 1:30 – rejoice if the Pathfinders make much of Him and little of us

Humble self-sacrificial service – Jesus’ example - wash one another’s feet – 13:14-17

Love - 13:34-35; 15:12, 13, 17; mutual care, thoughtfulness, helping out, carrying one another’s’ burdens – a powerful witness – our lives must match our lips, walk and talk, words and actions

Unity in the truth – 17:20-23; 17:17 – the word of truth; “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love” – distinguish primary and secondary issues; set aside personal preferences, denominational distinctives etc. – CPAS Basis of Faith sets out some essentials

Expecting struggle / hardship / grief - 11:35 / persecution - 15:20 / failures / set backs / misunderstandings, QQ - 8:27; 10:6; 12:16; 20:9 / knowing our weakness and need - 6:5-13

Dependence on the power of the Spirit – new birth - 3:5-8; 16:7-11

The Best Week of the Year!

We're planning a great week for 11-14 year olds at Danehill 1 this year from Sat 24th - Sat 31st July. If you'll be the right age in the summer, or if you know anyone who will be, check out our website here or the CPAS Ventures website and get your booking off to us ASAP!

We'd also love to hear from any Bible believing Christians who might be interested in serving as leaders.

Excellence & mistakes okay

We want to have a culture of striving for excellence but also allowing people to make mistakes. We want to be thinking about how we can improve, but there are times when it is adequate to do an adequate job. We mustn't be oppressively perfectionistic: anyone can have an off-day and that's okay. Neither should we misconstrue perfection as necessarily exactly-what-I would-have-done.

How Not To Lead a (Camp) Bible Study

We had the pleasure and privilege of having some young people from the church Mark serves on camp. I hope we didn't do too much of this sort of thing to them, though I recongnise I've done that kinda thing many a time and probably will many times more!

Camp Culture

One of the drums we want to beat on camp is the importance of training to what we're about and our desire to explore our gifts and become more effective in ministry.

As a result, everyone admits that they are a work in progress, not the finished article. We all minister as weak sinners. We always want to celebrate and encourage the good, wherever we find it. Constructive criticism is welcomed. We want to do it better next time. We know that we love and care for each other and are on the same side, rooting for one another, and that Jesus loves and cares for us, is on our side and intends even the tough things for our good. Therefore, we are not crushed by hearing, say, that we need to speak up a bit, try to get more eye contact, stop shuffling about or show how our points come from the text more clearly, or whatever.

It is fine for us to conclude that we've tried such and such a ministry a couple of times and given it our best shot, and perhaps its not us. We don't all have every gift. We are a body. We work together in mutual dependance. It's not a competition. No one is trying to beat anyone else so as to make themselves look or feel better. We all say "he must become greater, I must become less". When one is honoured, all are honured. We carry one anothers' burdens and mourn together.

That's something of the theory, anyway. Of course, being sinners, we mess up even this all the time. But we know something of what we're aiming for.

Buy a new belt!

I was encouraged that the main crit. from my talk on camp seemed to be that I ought to buy a new belt!

Apparently I strode onto the stage, positioned my letcern, and pulled my trousers up.

I've been doing Weightwatchers Online since the end of May now in a pact with my mother that if I lose lots of weight she'll give up smoking. I've lost 1 st 5 lbs so far, though not without the odd blip and blow out. I don't know how my mother's nicotine consumption rate is. Today I feel moderately determined.

To all Danehill leaders

Today, the following was pushed under the door of the leaders' room at Camp:

To all Danehill leaders,

you are all amazing, and you have changed my life! Thanks for a
lifechanging & amazing, super fab brill week!

love __________ x

(from Buckland with love)

God the Supreme "Judicial System"

The true and living God is not only the perfect and supreme judge, we may also say he is the supreme judicial system:

(1) politician / legislator - he makes and defines the laws

(2) police - he controls the word, restraining wrong and promoting good

(3) jurry - he gives his true and just verdicts

(4) judge - his sentances are true and just

(5) prison guard / governer / executionor - he exectues the sentance

Of course, Jesus is also the perfect loving and merciful judge who pays for the crimes of others by his atoning death, he takes our sentance on himself, satisfying out debt.

HT: DR on Danehill 1 Camp

Regeneration / Ressurection Illustration

Another idea from camp, this time stolen from DJ:

In the film Shrek, Princess Fiona kisses Shrek on their wedding day and is transformed into a troll, just like him. She is given a new life and a new relationship - and made like Shrek.

Similarly, the Christian believer is given new life and a new relationship at his regeneration and resurrection and is made like the Lord Jesus.

Not bad, eh?

What I missed on camp

I was too slow on the uptake to notice that this was an acronim:

Shove off
I'm in charge
No to your ways

What I learnt at camp

Despite 3 years of supposed study, my NT Greek is far from what it should be, but yesterday, Dave Mackie pointed out that in Romans 3, the words for sin (hamartia) and righteousness (dik-) - e.g. in vv22-23 could be used in connection with javlin throwing, according to the Liddel-Scott-Jones lexicon. A javlin that had fallen short (cf. v23) could be described as "sin" (falling short) and a javlin that had reached its target could be described as "righteous".

Off to camp

We're off to Danehill 1 Pathfinder Venture camp today and would value your prayers.

For great fun, health, strength, safety, and for the making of disciples of the Lord Jesus, for great love and unity in the truth for the team, for leaders to grow and serve and go back to their home churches more equipped for ministry, for members to grow in their faith and for some to receive Christ Jesus as Lord for the first time - and lots of other things you can no doubt think of. Oh, and sunshine for our trip to Eastbourne beach on Monday.

Ventures in Times Online

As we prepare to head off to camp for The Best Week of the Year at Danehill 1, thanks to the mother in law and Mrs Lloyd for pointing out this report on Ventures in Times Online. I guess Atheist Camp (which sounds much less fun) may have promoted this good publicity.

Camp Themes

I run a Christian summer camp for 11-14 year olds. Each year we have a theme which is intended to add a bit of fun and creativity into the proceedings.

This year its spies.

Some previous years / other ideas include:

The Wild Wild West

Under the Sea

In the jungle / animals

Olympics / sports

Around the world in 8 days

Music

Musicals

Movies

Fairy tales

Superheros

Any other suggestions?

If we were really organised, we might have a 4 year plan that was repeated and honed, but it might get a bit dull for some of the old-hand leaders who love a new challenge!