For God so loved the Earth, God made the gopher tortoise
Camp and conference leaders explore faith, innovation and Creation care at annual event
“People may not be leaving religion behind as much as they are changing what being religious means,” the Rev. Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean told a group of 125 leaders of camp and conference centers affiliated with the Campfire Collective as part of the annual conference of the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association (PCCCA). In keeping with this year’s theme, “REFRAME: Growing Leaders through Listening, Learning and Responding,” Dean asked if a redefinition of what being religious means is a threat or an opportunity. She also encouraged participants to challenge motivations and ask whether attempts to innovate are to usher in the Kingdom of God or to save an institution.
From Nov. 10–15, directors and staff of camps and conference centers all over the U.S. and Canada gathered at Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, for Dean’s daily keynote lectures, worship and workshops, which addressed practical, programmatic and strategic concerns of camps and conference centers. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was a sponsor of the event. Several of its offices participated by hosting workshops, organizing an exhibit hall presence, and sponsoring a snack reception. Partner organizations like UKirk Collegiate Ministries, the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network, the Presbyterian Youth Workers’ Association and the Association of Partners in Christian Education each offered workshops as well.
During her keynote talks, Dean lifted up the story in Acts 28, Luke’s account of Paul encountering the church on the island of Malta after he has been shipwrecked, as a model of hope. In a time when it is popular to compare the decline of mainline denominations like the PC(USA) to the Titanic, looking to a Bible story about being shipwrecked is not a bad idea.
Miatta Wilson, associate for Christian Formation in the PC(USA), said she took away several lessons from Dean’s reading of Acts. “The same ship that broke apart saved them. Paul and his followers found themselves on an unknown shore,” said Wilson. Dean also emphasized how the openness and kindness of the people in Malta saved those who were shipwrecked as much as they were saved by Paul and his followers.
According to Dean, ministry in Malta looks like ministry in our secular age, where Christians find themselves on unfamiliar terrain, with unfamiliar tools and resources and among people unfamiliar with our ways and us with theirs. In addition to her keynotes, which stressed the need to admit what has been lost in the wreckage, pay attention to the needs of those encountered and be open to finding a saving faith together, Dean offered a series of workshops on creativity and innovation to help participants see what they did not see before and incubate new ideas in their contexts.
“Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean was a huge highlight for me,” said Ruth Arnold, assistant program director of Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas. “The content she shared was so legitimately useful as opposed to simply being encouraging or inspirational.” Arnold believes camp offers the healing of a third space away from the confines of home and church. “Camp is an integral part of child development in a messy, difficult world,” she said.
Dean’s metaphor of arriving at an unfamiliar shore is a good one for what camp and conference centers have always been. Summer camps and short-term retreats in times set outside of busy schedules and in places submerged in the natural world have always been liminal spaces where children, youth and adults can connect more deeply with God and God’s Creation. If anyone is up for the task of exploring the new terrain, it is those who have been running camps and conference centers, tending to the fragile ecosystems on their acreage, and fostering wonder among campers and retreat-seekers.
While some workshops trained leaders in the management of land, staff, programs and fund development, many topics demonstrated visions of ministry and worship that interpreted the change in defining what being religious means as an opportunity rather than a threat as workshop presenters centered the voices of the wilderness into their decision-making and their worship.
“Our primary ministry is to the land, and everything else is secondary to how we care for the space that we're in,” the Rev. Kent Busman, director of Fowler Camp and Retreat Center in the Adirondacks, said during a workshop called “Loving the World.” The title was inspired by a Creation-care reading of the John 3:16-17 that posits God sent Jesus to save the cosmos, not just the human souls in it. “How we care for the space that we’re in will be reflected in how we care for the people who come there to visit, to be with us,” said Busman.
Fowler was started by the Reformed Church in America after land that had been logged off was set aside for preservation in 1892. After 38 years as its director, Busman has come to understand the calling of the camp to listen to the land and its needs first. He has been inspired by how well nature has responded to the preservation of the Adirondacks. He noted that the moose, the osprey and the eagles have come back. Instead of building for people and recreation, he’s centered the needs of the natural environment and created programs around fostering wonder and serenity in the search for God’s love and peace. Taking the asphalt road out of the middle of camp made car and truck access more difficult, but it returned the land to the forest, and the calmer traffic made room for children to freely roam and play.
Protecting these natural spaces and making them accessible to children at camp has restored the wonder and attention of young campers in an increasingly stressful world, Busman explained before asking participants, “Where or when have you made room for something else to thrive in our spaces where you’ve not just bulldozed something down to build a building?” One person replied, “The gopher tortoise!”
“Wow, didn't see them coming. Tell me about gopher tortoises,” Busman said, only to learn from a workshop participant that gopher tortoises, though they are only 9 to 11 inches long, dig burrows of 400 square feet where other species can seek sanctuary during fires. Because of their outsized impact (in this case, positive), gopher tortoises are considered keystone species in wildernesses of the Southeastern United States. The respondent explained how creating a sanctuary for gopher tortoises in her camp had created a safe space for other species as well. In loving the gopher tortoise, their camp could better love the natural world that God had entrusted into the camp’s care. Other workshop participants responded by considering how they and other keystone species are called to make space for the thriving of others.
Sarah Werner, author of “Rooted Faith: Practices for Living Well on a Fragile Planet,” taught workshops on how camps and conferences centers can integrate outdoor worship experiences into their ministry. “Worship with young people is a valuable experience that requires creativity to be meaningful to a new generation of campers, and my workshop gave participants tools for meaningful outdoor worship,” said Werner, a leader of Olentangy Wild Church in Columbus, Ohio. Thanks to a special sponsorship with the PC(USA)’s Office of Christian Formation, she was able to offer four workshops over the course of the week that helped participants reframe worship for a new generation who may be as unfamiliar with church as they are with nature.
Resources from Werner’s workshop, as well as recordings of several other workshops like those facilitated by Busman and Dean, are available on the 2024 event page of the PCCCA’s website.
Although Werner is not directly affiliated with a camp or conference center and was attending this conference for the first time, she enjoyed participating. “I really enjoyed spending the week with other folks who are committed to creating spaces of love and belonging for people of all ages at camp,” Werner said.
Next year, in lieu of the PCCCA/Campfire Collective annual conference, the Great Gathering of the Outdoor Ministries Connection will be held at the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center from Nov. 9–13, 2025.
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