The following testimony was written by one of CCI Latin America’s new and upcoming writers, Lorena Mendoza, she lives and serves full-time at Camp Kewiña, Cochabamba, Bolivia. 

Is It Worthwhile to Organize Camps? 

Is it worthwhile to organize camps? Why not give more priority to other activities, such as fasting, prayer vigils, conferences, and picnics? 

In October in the city of Montero, Santa Cruz, a group of 22 young Bolivians attended the first level of CCI LA’s camp training called: "Building Relationships". This course includes 150 hours of training, both theory and practice. 

One of the activities that was carried out was analyzing the validity of camps. We set up a “pretend” or simulated conversation. The instructors played the role of a church’s Board of Elders. The students were divided into small groups and given time to prepare their arguments advocating for camps. 

The following are the arguments of the Board of Elders as well as the arguments and research of the young people. An instructor played the role of narrator. She described the situation and asks: “Today you are all in front of the church Board of Elders, who have drastically rejected holding a camp because they see that there is no fruit in it. How would you defend your position on the importance of camps?” The Board is eager to hear your arguments. 

With tension in the air, each small group of students in the course played their role as advocates. One group argued saying: “Sometimes a person will go to a camp first before going to a church.” 

The Board of Elders objected, saying that camps are a waste of time and that the programs should focus on young people learning to pray, study the word, and not just play. 

Another group of students also gave their argument in favor of the camps. Their argument was based on a real and valid survey they’d conducted among all the participants in the course. They discovered something that surprised everyone:

- 11 young people, had accepted Jesus into their hearts at a camp.

- 7 young people held leadership positions in different areas of their churches. They were motivated to take on this role through their service in camps.

- 4 young people were beginning their service in the church as children's teachers and support in the teenage group.

- All 22 participants, without exception, had had a radical and profound change in their lives after attending a camp.

The participants concluded by saying: “Dear Board of Elders, this data shows the importance of doing camps. You can see that most of the ministries have leaders who were trained in camps. Dear Elders, if the church stops doing camps, years from now the church will not have young leaders to continue the work of the Kingdom in our church and our society.” 

All were surprised and nodded in acceptance of this argument. 

The CCI LA training manual for the "Building Relationships" course mentions: “Through decades of experience and thousands of transformed lives, it has been proven that camps create a very conducive environment for the following:  Presenting the gospel, growing and deepening the four relationships that were broken when sin entered the world (Genesis 3), and camps help strengthen family unity, and develop leaders.”

As this information mentions, one of the results of camps is the development of leaders. 

That afternoon during the course, the 22 young people discovered this great truth: Camps form leaders and, at the same time, give continuity to the leadership of several churches. As instructors, we are committed to continue yearly training courses and practice camps so more young people can serve in camping.