Each year, a group of Faith Presbyterian Church's adventous youth volunteer thier time and talents to help with Work Camp. The group travels to different cities each year to offer support for home renovations, church programs, and general Christian fellowship.
Parents, do your teenagers complain that they are bored during summer vacation,
and going to the mall is getting to be old hat, the pool is just so-so, the arcade doesn't
offer enough challenges? Well, do we have good news for you! Send the little
darling to work camp. I can guarantee, that they will not be bored and they will be
challenged.
Every year a group of fine young people and a few "young at heart" adults of
this congregation set off on an exciting adventure in a faraway place, to make new
friends, answer the challenges thrown their way, and grow spiritually at a work camp.
Yes, the work can be hard, but what a rush. When the job is done, the look of
gratitude on the face of your resident makes you feel good inside because you accomplished
something for a stranger who became a friend. They trusted you, they let you, a
stranger, into their homes and sometimes that in itself is a small miracle. Many of
these people are poor, but proud, and not always happy to let a bunch of strangers help
out, but they hate to see you leave at the end of the week.
Work camp is a great place to grow spiritually. Intellectually, you are challenged
to do things you didn't think you could, or would do normally. You tear down, you
build, you paint, you do roofing, you learn to work as a team and share ideas. You
learn from one another, you build friendships that can last a lifetime.
At the end of the day, you get to spend some time reflecting on the day or whatever you
want. But then it's down to some serious spiritual programs that are planned by the
work camp staff. They are fun. You do a lot of singing. You hear some
real funny stories of things that happened at the various work sites. You get to
hear some real nice human-interest stories also. Every evening is planned to lead to
a climax on Thursday night. That is the most somber program, the most meaningful,
the one where you re-affirm your belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior, that's my favorite
program.
We sleep on the floor on an air mattress in a sleeping bag, in a gym or classroom.
The showers don't always have hot water, and the showerheads don't always work
right. The food, during my experience has been good, plentiful and always lots of
delicious desserts.
So parents, if you feel that this would be a good growing experience for your teenager by
all means let them come to work camp. Work camp is open to all youth age 14 and up.
To be a part of this exciting outreach program, please contact any one of the work camp
committee members listed above or directly to the church at faithchurch@faithchurchemmaus.org.