Fusion Camp // Summer 2012 [After]

I don’t think I’ve ever so readily fallen asleep on the sofa as I did when I got home on Thursday afternoon. I was absolutely knackered. But it was a beautiful kind of exhaustion. It was an exhaustion that was more than worth it.

Fusion Camp was a phenomenally blessed week. Thank you so much to those of you who were praying for us. There was a real sense of God’s presence in all things throughout the week, and I was just so encouraged and overjoyed by how clearly he was working amongst us and the 44 kids we took away. Slightly unexpectedly, we also had a strong sense of K’Naan’s presence, as his World Cup 2010 theme song become our Olympic anthem for the week…

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/10085362″>K’NAAN [Waving Flag]</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/nabilelderkin”>nabil elderkin</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

FUN

A question we often forget to ask in Christian ministry, but one you should never underestimate the importance of, is “am I having fun?” My answer for this past week is an emphatic “YES”. I loved every minute of it; and when leaders enjoy camp, the kids do too.

Sunday afternoon began with our very own Olympic opening ceremony. The kids were divided into teams, and so the competition between Cameroon, China, Australia, Greece, USA and Spain began. I found myself in team Espanol, and don’t think I’ve ever said the word “olé!” so many times in a week. The competition element spiced up the week fantastically, and the points table was in a constant state of flux (for the record, Spain were top on day one).

We got involved in far too much fun stuff to list it all here. Highlights were den building in the woods (which saw one member of Team Greece stung by a wasp on the face and another, rather more sensitive area), swimming, a camp fire sing-a-long, Usain Bolt/Mo Farah/Yohan Blake impressions, great food , cheesy quiz music and the week’s dazzling finale – the great chariot race!

From this…

This deserves a special mention. The teams were given an hour to craft their chariots from a huge pile of cardboard. Points were to be awarded for appearance, speed and durability in the contest later that evening.

A glistening sunset descended on Dalesdown as the teams lined up for the chariot contest. The vehicles were paraded before the kitchen staff to be marked on appearance with great pomp.

Then the races began.

Glorious carnage ensued. It was fantastic. Kids charging around, cardboard flying, leaders

To this!

desperately trying to hold disparate bits of cardboard together. It was magnificent. There were injuries galore. One child may or may not have been run over by a pram. And the spectacular finale was the leaders’ race. My fellow Spanish leader was tending to the droves of distraught and injured Spaniards, so I was given no other option but to run alone. I won by a country mile, but was disqualified. A disgrace if you ask me.

The weather for that evening was absolutely beautiful, after rain in the morning had worried us. Later on, we were told by the owners of the centre that just 5 minutes down the road it was absolutely chucking it down – roads flooded, the works. But the Lord cast a small spot of sunshine over Dalesdown to bless us with great fun on our last evening.

The points awarded on the evening sadly meant that, against all the odds, Greece were the victors of the Fusion Olympics. It was Euro 2004 all over again. Still – good fun was had by all, and all of that fun was a blessing from the God who loves to give good gifts.

What a farce.

FELLOWSHIP

One of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is that you become part of the body of Christ. God binds his chosen people together in a community which serves him, and that is a source of constant, refreshing joy to the Christian. There was a fantastic sense of unity amongst the team of leaders this week, a real evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence with us. Good banter, blessed times of prayer, an attitude of self-sacrifice in all things, it was wonderful.

Our speaker, Chris Hammersley, was unknown to all but one of the team, but he slotted right in and it was a joy to have him with us. For me, as someone who hasn’t been part of the Fusion team for a year, it was great to just be able to slot back into the team as if I had never been away.

The kids were great to hang out with as well. There are always a few kids who get in your nerves in some way, but there wasn’t a single kid who we’d have rather left at home. God blessed us with a wonderful bunch of children and they were a joy to be with.

FRUIT

Like I said in my preview post for this week, the real aim of the week was to point kids to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We journeyed through the book of Acts, and the big question was “Are you part of Team Jesus?” Our memory verse was a classic: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV)

That verse is one of God’s great New Testament promises, and it’s continued fulfilment was seen this week. My small discussion group of four very bright 8/9 year old girls was brimming with questions. It was hard to keep them all focussed and work out if the answers we were giving were actually being taken in, but it was amazing to see kids of that aged switched on enough to ask questions I wasn’t asking until my early teens. It was great to see the knowledge the girls already had, and there were also plenty of opportunities to correct various misunderstandings they had about the Gospel, such as how being “good” doesn’t get you into heaven.

There were reports all round of lots of kids asking probing questions, and there were especially encouraging reports on some of the older boys – a demographic whose hearts are so often hardened and indifferent.

The real encouragement of the week for me was one 11 year-old girl, the younger sister of a good friend of mine from church. She’s not a church kid, but over the course of the week seemed really excited about the teaching and being part of “Team Jesus”. One night, she excitedly showed me some drawings she’d done and that she remembered the memory verse from Week 3 of Kids Club, and on the last night she and another girl stood up in front of everyone in front of the camp fire and sang “To Be Like Jesus“. I don’t know whether she’s on Team Jesus yet or not, but it was clear that the Lord drew her a lot nearer to himself this week than ever before.

It’s stories like that which make everything worth it. The thought that God would use a camp I was involved in to save a young soul is quite simply mental. The eternal ramifications of Christian ministry  are staggering and humbling, and I am currently in awe of the scale of God’s cosmic grace.

Most of the fruit from this camp will not be seen for years to come, however. Some of the kids may make professions of faith in the next few years. Some may not do so for decades, or even until their death beds; and of course, some will not at all. But the Lord has said that his word “shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11 ESV) and so it is with joy that we hand the aftermath of this camp over to him.

This was just a short camp, with 44 kids, at a small Christian centre in Sussex. In material terms, it doesn’t seem like much. But this week, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was declared and we saw its effect on young hearts. The joy of that gospel was shown again to us leaders as we served as well. What a joy to be on Team Jesus!

Team Jesus – still growing.

• Acts
• CEC
• Fusion
• Olympics