For many Mennonite students at EMU, summer camps have played a large role in forming both their childhood and young adulthood experiences. On Nov. 5, the Office of Faith and Spiritual Life hosted representatives from 16 camps for a classic camp-style worship service and exposition. This convocation time served to create a fun environment reminiscent of life at camp, and to inform students of all the opportunities that exist for summer camp employment all over the country. Between sets of camp worship songs complete with motions and panels of camp representatives sharing stories, many attendees felt nostalgia for their own life experiences at various camps.

“For most of my life camp was like a second home for me, because you started to build relationships with all your fellow campers and then…eventually some of the kids like you came back and worked there for a full summer,” said Malachi Cornelius, a junior and Student Chaplain at EMU. He continued, “It was kind of like two different worlds, living in the real world, and then living at camp.”

“Camp for me is a lot about community, and growing in yourself and pushing yourself, and for me, finding my faith and having that strength and being out in nature,” said junior Student Chaplain Rose Short. She has worked for four summers at two different Mennonite camps, and says she did not expect to end up spending that many years working as a counselor. The sentiment of camp being a place to grow in community and in faith was echoed by a number of other individuals who have dedicated much of their time to these environments.

“Its been interesting to hear from many that don’t find church very meaningful… they find their faith community and a deeper understanding of church out in nature at camp,” said Brisa Peacock, Acting Director of Camp Camrec. Peacock made the trip from the West Coast to represent both Camp Camrec, located in Washington state, and the Oregon-based Drift Creek Camp. Traditionally, both of these camps have only run operations during part of the summer, often leaving counselors without jobs during their down months. However, for the first time this coming year, Drift Creek and Camrec will be partnering together to provide counselors work opportunities continuously throughout the whole summer.

For sophomore Noah Yoder, camp means “connecting with nature and the kids and forming lasting relationships. It’s a lot of fun.” This past summer was Yoder’s first summer working at Bethany Birches Camp located in Vermont, but he grew up attending different camps in his home state of Arizona. Yoder said, “You get forced to bond with people when you cook all your meals over a fire.” This highlights the amount of variety between different camps; some are more rustic, like Bethany Birches or the Michigan-based Camp Amigo, compared to more residential camps like Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp in Colorado.

The time of worship, orchestrated by EMU students who have all spent summers working at the various camps in attendance, was a mixture of more contemporary Christian music and also songs from the Voices Together (VT) hymnal. The message conveyed through the lyrics was once again one of the community found at faith-based camps. The closing words of VT #389 entitled “Together,” part of the setlist for the service, especially underscored this with the repeating refrain “bring us together, bring us together, bring us together.”