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I’ve recently had occasion to spend some time at our new South Campus for Grace United Methodist Church.  It’s located in El Dorado Springs Missouri.  As many of you know, Camp Galilee is located there as well.  The El Dorado Springs UMC closed in 2014, and Galilee has been placed in limbo since 2014.

I stood outside the gates of Galilee dreaming and wondering what will become of our beloved campsite?  So much good was done on that site, it’s tough to see it sit silent for the near future.  No sounds of children and youth enjoying the faith filled and Christian atmosphere built by faithful followers and leaders for Jesus.

Sadly, similar to the church, the camp struggled to reach out and had dwindled to just a few churches supporting the summer camp program at Galilee.  In 2014, the number of campers had dropped by half from just a few short years ago.  The writing was on the wall for many of us.  Galilee would not make it much longer.

Our History At Galilee

Grace has been camping at Galilee for many years.  Since we started as a church, children and youth have been frequenting Camp Galilee in the summer, fall and spring.  We’ve held men’s retreats, workdays, confirmation events and our summer camps at Galilee.  In 2009, our leadership from Grace led the largest gathering of campers in the history of Galilee, and possibly, Missouri United Methodist Camping.  With only 220 beds in cabins, we pushed the limits of the facilities by putting up army tents to increase our capacity and had 247 on site!!!

We overwhelmed the staff and the campsite.  We outgrew the capabilities of Galilee, and so we reseeded our leadership and camps into other weeks, attempting to expand the camping program.  For a time we continued to grow and reach out.  But, over the past few years, despite Grace sending more and more campers, other churches started to fade away.  Less campers, less camps and less leadership.  In the end, it was Wesley in Springfield and Grace in Lee’s Summit accounting for 60-70% of all campers.  Two churches alone cannot support one campsite.

The Tidal Wave of Culture

Traditional camping is down throughout the United States.  Children and  youth are filling their summers with sports camps, mission trips and vacations.  For many students, June is “summer school”, which leaves barely one month before sports and bands start back up for the fall.

In a recent conversation with Youth Ministry Institute, one of their leaders remarked that “the day of big youth ministries is over”.  If that is so, it might account for the dwindling numbers of campers to our four camps in Missouri.  In general, over the past 12 years, we have less churches and less campers involved in our summer camp programs.

So, we are faced with the stark reality of consolidation of resources to maximize our efforts to impact the most campers possible.  Some would like to see us stay the same and protect what we’ve known and loved.  I do not fault anyone for wanting to keep the camps open.  However, I’ve been fairly disappointed with some of the negative language surrounding camping.

The Camping Board, Trustees and Mission Council were faced with some terrible choices.  They took the bold and courageous path to try and restart the camping program under a new model.  It might succeed or it might fail.  At least they tried something.  We could have poured more money to serve less campers, but is that really being a good steward of God’s resources?  I know and trust many of the leaders who made these decisions, and even though I do not agree with the “how”, I see why they made these decisions.  I want Galilee to stay open, as do many others.  If Grace was able to obtain the site, upgrade and restart the camp, I think we would, maybe.

 The Local Church

If we chose to chase after Galilee and attempt to utilize the campsite for camping, how would our efforts be any more successful than the past 12 years of statewide camping?  Could we throw in with another church to give it a go?  Is the passion and will to make it happen out there?  And, would it take our focus from our local church ministries, ending up causing us to shift focus from our true purpose and greatest gifts?

Grace has seen extraordinary growth over the past ten years, and especially since we opened our new sanctuary in 2012.  We’ve gone from 175 to 525 in worship.  Our online worship service averages 165 views/300-400 worshippers.  We opened our south campus in El Dorado Springs this January and have seen lows of 5 people and as high as 52 in worship.  Our intention is this fall to launch a full contemporary worship down there and really reach the non-churched, once-churched and badly churched!

Again, I turn my attention to Galilee.  Could the site be repurposed to enhance our efforts in the local church and community?  We possibly could envision extraordinary children’s minstries, weddings, community events all hosted and led by our El Dorado Springs campus.  We could be a blessing to the community in utilizing the property for the greater glory of God and truly reaching out.

Questions abound as many wonder why this was not going on before and if it was, why the dwindling numbers?  Why the deferred maintenance?  And if we choose to keep Galilee or other camps open, are we just swimming against the current, and wasting precious and valuable resources, squandering them instead of building the kingdom?

Too many questions to ponder, and yet, I still wonder if we are done with Galilee.  Is God done with Galilee?  I pray daily He is not.  But I remember the words of John Wesley-

“Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee”

Is it time to lay the camp aside?  I ask the people of Grace to pray and dream about what is possible.  Maybe God has bigger plans than we can fathom.  I encourage Grace to open our hearts and souls to the will of God, and see where He leads us.  I’m a big dreamer!  And I believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Go in peace and go with God.