Christian Children’s Camp 2024

    This year, our children’s camp took place between July 8-15. By the grace of God, we’ve provided a special and memorable summer experience for 48 children.

   The theme of this year’s camp was – You are Precious. In connection with this, our main golden verse of the week was “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you,” (Isaiah 43, 4).

    On the first day of the camp, we met the children in Nagyvárad, and from here we travelled together by bus to the Mahanaim camp site, in Les. The first day was about getting to know each other and arriving.

On the second day of the camp, the day’s theme was that you were already chosen by God, despite your background. We dealt with the story of Peter’s calling based on Luke 5, 1-11. Peter was also a simple fisherman, yet Jesus called him despite his background. The day’s golden verse that we taught the children was “Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4,19)

On the third day of the camp, the main message was that, whether you believe it or not, you are valuable. The children learned this through the story of Peter walking on water, based on Matthew 14, 22-33. The day’s golden verse in connection with the theme was “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17, 20).

    On the fourth day of the camp, the message was that you are presious, no matter what you do. We tried to showcase this through the episode when Peter suddenly cut the right ear of one of the servants of the high priest who came to arrest Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, because he tried to defend Jesus somehow. Jesus healed the servant’s ear, restored what Peter had done wrong, and Peter was still valuable, no matter what he had done. The day’s golden verse was The following day Jesus (…) found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” (John 1, 43)

    On the fifth day of the camp, the message transmitted was that you are precious, no matter what you say. The story of Peter’s denial of Jesus unfolded before their eyes. Peter had lied that he was not Jesus’ disciple, and in the end, he cried bitterly because of this. The day’s golden verse was “Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips/ And from a deceitful tongue.” (Psalm 120,2).

    On the sixth day of the camp, the message was that God loves me, so that I can love others as well. We also underlined that everyone is valuable. The day’s golden verse that the children got to learn was We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4, 19).

On the seventh day of the camp, it was time to celebrate the Lord’s Day. In the morning, the campers took part in a type of church service specially prepared for children. The invited pastor, Pál Mike, tried hard to make the message child-friendly and to reach their hearts. It was interactive and the campers took part in choosing a king from 7 selected campers, children and co-workers alike. Everyone else had a sticker with which to vote for the candidate they wanted to choose as king. Of course, they chose a strong, handsome boy as king, but even though he had the most votes, God’s will was to choose somebody else. This situation was pointing to the Biblical story of David being chosen as king of Israel, when God chose David, even though he was the most unsuitable for this task. The golden verse that the children learned was  “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16, 7).

    On the eight day of the camp, the day was all about packing up, cleaning up and travelling home.

    The afternoons were always different, including crafts, games (number wars), excursions,  football tournaments, water slide, and station games.

    In the mornings, the staff acted out stories so the children could see what was happening. For the bedtime stories, the staff dressed up in costumes again and presented the story while it was being read. The messages of the bedtime stories always connected to the stories learned in the mornings.

In terms of weather, there was a heat wave during the whole camp, in an unprecedented manner this year. We were especially concerned for the children or the co-workers not to get sunstroke. In this, too, we experienced the presence of God because, thanks to Him, we did not encounter any serious health problems.

    Our camp was more special and more colourful because of the precious input of Exodus Team 14. They served in each programme together with the co-workers, but also took on individual tasks. We are very grateful for Team 14, that we were able to count on them, and that they persevered in their tasks. It was indeed special to experience that, although we have different mother tongues, we come from different cultures, yet we have the same Heavenly Father, and we can serve God together as a community. We are grateful to have experienced the joy of serving together.

   The way in which the co-workers can work together is especially a miracle, as there is an age gap between us; we have different interests, and different jobs. There are the teenagers who are still going to school, and then there are those who are working, as well as those who are already retired, etc. Despite all these, the team can serve as one. It is also significant that the co-workers are sacrificing their holiday, their free time for the camp, they are serving voluntarily and from the heart. This means all-day work and fatigue for them, and yet, they are carrying this often not-so-easy service with joy and perseverance.

   We would like to offer our special thanks for the financial support team as well, as it is impossible to organize a camp without financial resources. Such a camp has a lot of financial implications, even as we try to implement the camp with thoughtful, cost-effective solutions.

   That is also why we are grateful to God. Without Him, the camp would be just impossible and unimaginable. First, we are grateful to God for entrusting us with this special service, and we hope that this work will not be in vain. Even in our current team, we have some of the youth who is now serving and had previously participated in the camp as a child, now they are no longer just enjoying it, but serving as well.

Thank you!

SDG!