5 Reasons You Should Bring Your Youth Group to a TEAMeffort Camp

Youth Ministry is exciting and exhausting. The students are energetic, spontaneous, and always up for a good time.

As their leader, you try to maximize these qualities by planning cool activities that they’ll want to participate in and invite their friends to. But, even if you hit the mark with one activity, there is always another one coming.

On top of that, there is pressure to come up with the next creative series to keep them engaged. There are the things you lie awake thinking about at night, like how to bring more unity to the group since you know cliques have formed. You see the statistics lived out in front of you about how their devices are changing them and how attached to and influenced by social media platforms they are.  

You know you are fighting for their attention and are burdened that they don’t see the gospel as just another thing they’re entitled to.

TEAMeffort has been working with youth leaders for 30 years now and we understand the highs and lows of youth ministry and the burn out you’re trying to avoid. We are here for you!

We exist to give you the support you want by planning a meaningful summer camp for your youth group.  You will be freer to focus on being with them and disciplining them in a way that otherwise might not be possible.

Although there are many reasons you should bring your group to a TEAMeffort camp, here are the top five:

Nothing unites people like a shared experience. If that shared experience also requires them to rely on each other to get a difficult job done, the unity is sure to increase. This is the report we get most often from groups after their week of camp is over – that their group is closer than they’re ever been and that they are friends with people they used to think they had nothing in common with.

Camp will help those cliques to disperse and your group to see how much they need Jesus and each other!

Camp is the perfect first step in distancing the students from relationships that might be having a negative effect on them. It can also open their eyes to the addiction they have to their devices. Stepping away from the routine of their day-to-day lives will give them an undistracted look at themselves and their hearts so they can see some changes that might need to take place.

We see article after article about the detrimental effects social media has on teens’ mental, spiritual, and physical health.

To look at it from a different angle though, the teens interviewed in this video (also below) describe some of the positive benefits they experienced even from a short social media detox (starting at 1:15).

TEAMeffort camps bless local communities through various types of service. Groups may complete projects such as repairing and renovating homes for families in need, building mission and ministry facilities, leading children’s outreach programs, working at homeless shelters, responding to natural disasters, and reaching out to individuals and communities through Christian service.

We cover all the logistics including your tools, materials, and knowledgeable project oversight so your group can work together, finding the blessing in blessing others.

They will have the opportunity to see (in a unique way that stretches them out of their comfort zone) that true, joyful living is experienced in giving themselves to others.

We know you work hard to give your group relevant teaching. But wouldn’t it be amazing to have that teaching planned and presented for you so you can give your full attention to your students' spiritual lives and discipleship?  

We will pour into your youth group through nightly chapel services with heartfelt worship, messages, testimonies, and youth group discussion time. You will leave knowing better how to lead your group and encourage them in taking those next steps they need to continue following Jesus.

Like physical growth, spiritual growth is a process that takes time and occurs over a period of years. Obviously that dynamic change doesn’t occur immediately in one week of camp. But, there is a reason we often hear students describe their time at camp as “life-changing.”

The experience is significant enough that it effects the trajectory of their lives. Some get clarity on what they’re living for, why they matter, who God is, his purpose in their suffering, and the importance of prioritizing a vibrant relationship with him through his Word, prayer, and relationships with other Christians.

As we look back at our Christian lives we can see a similar pattern: sometimes we took two steps forward, then one step back. Sometimes it was one step forward and five steps back.

Camp provides the opportunity for students to take a leap of growth so they can go home and capitalize on that Jesus-fueled momentum.

To register for a camp now, call (800) 989-1507. Or you can visit us online at teameffort.org for more information. We’d love to answer any questions you may have!