Changing Lives: The Fund for Christian Camping
The West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church
We are outdoor ministries, making disciples for Jesus Christ.
~Board of Christian Camping mission
A Miracle Every Week
A week at a United Methodist camp changes a life for the better. A changed life changes a family and a
community and a church for good.
Five camp and retreat sites
In 2014, our camping ministries engaged more than 12,000 people of all ages. Consistent growth in
participation over the last ten years speaks to the powerful experience of God at camp and its
potential to change lives.
Because we recognize the importance of our camping ministries, we are committed to ensuring that
our camping sites support fruitful ministry, not just today but for generations to come. Toward that
end, we have identified critical needs to be addressed to assure their ongoing success.
Critical Needs
We recognize that camp facilities conceived in the 1950s
and improved in the 1970s do not meet the needs of
today’s campers. Our paths and buildings are well worn
from thousands of campers over the years. Beyond routine
maintenance, the challenge of upgrading and updating our
facilities to meet the changing expectations and growing
number of campers is constant. So, too, is the numerous
requests we receive each year for financial assistance to
attend camp.
The Changing Lives Campaign is just the beginning of
a long-view of restoring and revitalizing our Camping
Ministry. It addresses imminent needs and sets the
foundation for future camp specific capital campaigns.
It is our goal to bring our camps to capacity to ensure we can continue serving families for
generations to come.
We believe that the camps provide the most significant discipleship growth experience for
children, youth and adults, and therefore are a worthy investment in our faith and in our church
community.
Our goal is to raise $450,000 to support the following: $100,000 for the Camp Scholarship Fund,
$250,000 to move four of the five Site Director positions to full-time, and $100,000 toward precampaign planning expenses for current and future camp specific capital campaigns that are
estimated to be in excess of $4 million. Proceeds raised beyond the $450,000 will be shared with half
invested with the current Camp Endowment Fund and half used for scholarships.
Scholarships—Each year generous donors make our camping experience possible for many who
otherwise could not afford camp – through gifts to individual camps or to the conference camp
scholarship fund. However, current scholarship funding falls far short of meeting the actual need and
is depleted by March before most campers even have registered.
While the annual conference underwrites the general camping budget, additional operating costs and
scholarships derive from private funding. We cannot meet our goal of bringing in thousands more
campers who have never been, and who will never go, without increased funds to offer more
scholarships, and ultimately upgrade our facilities.
Despite these challenges, United Methodist camps in West Michigan have grown in attendance
significantly over the last decade, thanks to amazing work by staff and volunteers who have made the
camp experience powerful and meaningful. But it is time to reinvest in our camps.
Individual Camp Ministries—Each camp has its own unique ministry, and those ministries have
major needs that we will begin addressing. We need new program buildings, dining halls, cabins,
restrooms, retreat centers, and more, so that we can keep growing effective ministry. We will be
reaching out for your help to achieve these camp goals in the near future. However, we welcome your
support at any time to help meet these larger capital needs, and are ready to talk with you about
giving and naming opportunities at each location.
Why Support Camping?
A miracle every week
Have you had an experience of encountering God at a United Methodist camp? Do you know someone
who has? You can share that miracle with young people for years to come. We are committed to
providing young people and families with the chance to meet Christ and be changed through the
ministry of camping.
Camping is one of the most effective ways to change a life for the better. It brings a sense of wonder,
peace, and adventure that young people seldom find in their busy lives at home. Camp gives young
people a unique chance to listen for the voice of God, and to make life-changing decisions. It’s a place
of constant miracles, generation after generation.
The Changing Lives campaign for camping helps send children and youth to camp with
scholarships based on need. It also helps keep the cost of camp down for everyone. Please consider
making a commitment to camping.
We encourage you to consider supporting camping on an annual basis, at whatever level is possible
for you. A family pays almost $400 for one child to go to summer camp for a life-changing week, but
that doesn’t cover all the costs of camp. Your support of the annual fund also pays for people to work
in the kitchen and at the waterfront; it provides new roofs for buildings, and new transmissions for
tractors. These are the everyday things that make miracles possible.
The Miracles—A 14-year-old boy was adapting to his parents’ divorce, and was unhappy in his
new school. A new friend invited him to senior high camp at Wesley Woods near Dowling. There he
found a safe place with people who listen.
Every year he comes back to camp, because
that’s the place with a loving community.
Finally, in his junior year, he began to show
the creative and insightful young man who
was hiding inside. He realizes that God was
showing him love all along, and he carries
that love and confidence home. A miracle
happened, and a life is changed.
A ten-year-old girl, whose father is in
prison, and whose grandparents have no
energy left for her, came to Camp New Day
at Albright near Reed City. Here the adult
volunteers are positive and caring, and her
new friends have stories like hers. She found at camp a community filled with friends and safety and
joy. She went home singing songs about Jesus’ love, and now knows how to pray by herself.
Calling and Preparing Leaders for the Church
When young people go to camp, they come home with fresh understanding of how God is at work in
the world. The experience of camp is an anointing, and it helps to create people who are passionate
about ministry, bringing the Lord’s favor to broken and hurting people, creating community
wherever they go. They fulfill this scripture every day. For generations, right through today, camp is
the main place where young people begin to respond to God’s call to ordained ministry. The time in
the wilderness is a powerful catalyst for proclaiming God’s word.
After a young person has the experience of an initial call for God, she starts looking for ways to serve.
It is often as volunteer counselors that young adults learn to recognize their own gifts, and focus their
call. Camp is one of God’s favorite ways to call and train leaders for the church, whether pastors or
deacons, counselors or musicians. It’s a place where miracles happen every week. Every week, every
year, miracles happen at the five camps of the West Michigan Conference.
Thirty years ago, First United Methodist Church in Jackson decided to go to camp at Lake
Michigan Camp in Pentwater. Some took RV’s, others used tents, platform tents, or cabins. They
worshiped together, played together, learned together, watched sunsets together over the lake, and
became a congregation more in love with each other. Year after year they went back, and kept
growing. The week of family camp strengthened their church for ministry throughout the year. It
binds generation to generation. People invite their friends and neighbors to camp, and it has become
an important entryway for new people into the church community.
A Place Set Apart
Jesus began his ministry immediately after returning from a time in the wilderness, taking
time to focus on God. Like a lot of young people who go to camp, he wanted to get right back
to worship. He opened the Bible and read from it:
18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all
in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
When a child goes to camp, and comes home living for Christ, this scripture is fulfilled again.
Transforming Lives
The leadership of the conference, the members of the Board of Christian Camping, the site committee
members, and more, are all committed to the miracle-making work of our camps in West Michigan.
Every week of camp requires dozens more adults, from volunteer counselors and deans, to kitchen
staff, lifeguards and maintenance workers (who are sometimes all the same people!). These
volunteers and staff believe in the miracles they see every week at camp. They give up their vacations
so that they can see lives transformed one game at a time, one discussion at a time, one campfire at a
time, one nervous new camper at a time. You can be a part of the miracle. We are outdoor ministry,
making disciples of Jesus Christ.
The West Michigan Conference operates five camps, each with its own unique ministry. With your gift
you can support all five camps or you can designate a specific camp. Learn more at umcamping.org.
Albright, near Reed City, with its paved paths and easy-to-navigate layout, specializes in welcoming
people with special needs. It provides a safe-feeling place for people who are new to camping. It
also offers children’s camps, retreats, and opportunities for RV camping.
Crystal Springs recalls the glory days of revivals more than a century ago. Near Dowagiac, in the
southwestern corner of Michigan, it still provides creative summer camps for kids as well as
great retreat opportunities much of the year. The grand old tabernacle is a constant center of
activity.
Lake Michigan Camp near Pentwater rests on an incredible, unspoiled section of the Lake Michigan
shore. We plan to continue upgrading and updating the whole camp, to make it more welcoming
for youth summer camps and for the large church family camps that visit every year.
Lakeview Camp in Lakeview is a beautiful and peaceful place for a family getaway on the lake, or for a
church group to come for a retreat together. It has traditionally provided only RV, tent and popup camping, but we have begun adding cabins to welcome those without RVs.
Wesley Woods, near Dowling north of Battle Creek, is our busiest camp in the summer, filled with
children and youth through high school learning about God and having a great time. Retreats
through fall, winter and spring offer opportunities for spiritual growth for all.
Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.