Finding faith through recreation and renewal: UMC Camps play vital role in spiritual transformation of youth, young adults

The scenery on a colorful fall day at Lake Myers Campground in Byron.

By RJ Walters, Editor

For the Rev. Jeremy Peters camp is “where it all started.”

It was “definitely in camp” where Amy Mayo-Moyle began her journey to being an associate pastor.

And for first-year University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student Nathan Karnemaat, United Methodist Camp “truly changed his life” during his most pivotal years.

There are 10 United Methodist camps around the state with dozens of different programs for youth and young adults to immerse themselves in, but it’s one common thread that ties them all together— the ability to combine personal exploration, foundations of faith and recreation into one unforgettable experience.

A place to explore
A 2009 study by the International Bible Society found that 83 percent of Christians make their personal faith commitment between the ages of 4 and 14.

Peters, an associate pastor at Fenton UMC, said a place like Camp Michigamme in the Upper Peninsula is the perfect place to build on the foundations of the local church by letting young people explore their faith and character.

Rev. Jeremy Peters supervises a soccer match amongst campers.

He said it’s no accident that many “spiritual awakenings happen in a camping or retreat setting more reliably and more frequently than they do in other settings,” considering Jesus’ interactions with his disciples early on are the ultimate example.

“The first thing he does is he takes them away from their day-to-day lives and put them in a different environment or goes out to the country side or up the mountaintop or into the wilderness,” Peters said. “There’s something about putting aside all the distractions and tasks and stress of our ‘ordinary lives’ and moving into a space that’s been sort of sanctified or set aside for the purpose of meeting God.”

He believes so strongly in UMC camp that he started counseling at Michigamme in high school and spent six years as a dean of Bay Shore Camp in Sebewaing.

He said late elementary and junior high youth need strong Christian mentors as they flesh out their own worldviews.

“If you can catch them at that age and introduce them to God and get them familiar with the Gospel there’s a good chance they’re going to make a decision that impacts the rest of their lives,” he said. “I think kids really need some good news at that age.”

That good news is precisely what prompted Karnemaat to write one of his first college papers on the impact Lake Louise camp had on him during his adolescent years.

“The first thing you must understand about Lake Louise is that no matter where you come from, what you look like, or how you act, you are welcome with open arms,” he wrote.

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