Belonging and Connection: Might It be Simple?
Reflection Roundup reports from conversations couched in relationships. Here, readers will find boots-on-the-ground and “live from the field” items important to Christian leaders. As always, listening broadly draws together differing perspectives from which we can learn but with which we may not concur. This month’s post reflects conversation with students at Abilene Christian University who chose to spend their summer in service at Camp Barnabas in Purdy, Missouri. Their reflections, when laid alongside those of members of my church who are involved in a focused, congregational Listening Project, yield some instructive commonalities.
“Once again Jesus went out beside the lake…” (Mk. 2:13).
“As he walked along…” (v. 14).
“While Jesus was having dinner…” (v. 15).
Much of Jesus’ ministry took place while he was just hanging out. At the lake, walking along, and having dinner. Five students from Abilene found this to be true this summer while working at
Camp Barnabas, a camp in Missouri which began in the early 1990s. Paul and Cyndy Teas bought the land near Branson’s Table Rock Lake, after an immense amount of prayer, for a handshake. [4] It is here that their daughter Kayman, along with thousands of differently abled people, spent her summer weeks thriving alongside students and missionary volunteers of all ages.
Each camper who comes to Camp Barnabas is paired with a missionary volunteer for the week. Everybody has somebody, and the job of that “somebody” is to take care of their camper in every way. If they like to sit, they sit. If they like to clap, then by all means, let’s clap! Observation and willingness are the names of the game. Along with enjoying the many activities together, receiving support from the extensive medical infrastructure of the camp, and sharing what the gospel means to them, these pairings hang out together in the most common ways, which is key.
Camp Barnabas offers the “best of the best” for the campers. Those whom life often casts aside, or for whom the world at large is uncomfortable, can find what they love, what brings them joy, and even a personal challenge here, if they so choose. One young staffer, Alexandra, described the joy of helping the campers do something they were excited to do while working the climbing wall. “Wow! I’m so cool for doing that!” was the response she heard over and over from campers. “Everyone can do it with a cheering squad,” she reflected.
These ACU students experienced joy that comes from a source that, in worldly terms, does not make sense. It shows in their faces: their eyes sparkle, their laughter bubbles. It is pure. It is holy. Camp is sacred ground, leaving those who spend time there rooted in what is most real. They feel belonging—to one another, to camp, and to Christ—because they created space in their lives for someone else to belong during their time at camp.
After a few years of traveling to Camp Barnabas on summer mission trips with our youth, members of our church began wondering and asking how we might bring the perspective and spirit of camp back home. This message of belonging and connection can be one our churches struggle to follow through on. I know my church does, so we began listening over a year ago, interviewing individual church members. We found reaffirmation of timeless truths like the fact that serving alongside one another brings people together. But one compelling bit of data indicates a new connection between camp and church: the value in just hanging out.
One of the strengths of my home church is our Bible classes. People come to class, and some have been coming to class together for forty years, which is great! But how might we leverage this to facilitate even greater connection? Jeremy, a single young adult interviewed by the Listening Project, had some good suggestions. We could meet at tables instead of in rows, maybe even gathering at tables with those of like interest. Movies? Manga? Exercise? With creative energy bubbling, he proposed topics such as prayer, hospitality, and service, developed in classes that run for a few weeks at a time. Here people might find connection around both a topic of spiritual growth and simply hang out together, simultaneously discovering common interests of all varieties. At church we want to know and be known. Part of Highland’s “Restoration Vision” includes “The Know and Be Known Pathway.” Sometimes that’s just things that we like, things that make us people, what we talk about by the lake, while sharing a meal, or walking along the road.
Sometimes connecting on a real level means the simplicity of just “being people” together. Back at camp, one student established a strong connection with the young ones for whom she cared naturally by spending lots and lots of time together doing what kids like to do. If you’ve raised young ones, innumerable thoughts come to mind when considering boys ages 4 and 6, especially when remembering and reimagining what the world looks like from their eye level…
…and keep imagining, this time our Father in Heaven, arms open wide, while reading this last story shared by Elijah, Camp Barnabas photographer, as he shared a story that encapsulated his summer. During a “last night of camp” party, Elijah’s lens found a camper who proceeded to spout love:
Mom, I love you!
Brother, I love you!
Everybody, I love you!
Thank you!
I love you, I love you, I love you!
The bottom line for this camper was belonging. He was grateful, and he wanted to share it.
At some point, life offers all of us a circumstance that leaves us differently abled. Camp Barnabas has given leaders and ministers at our church the insight that sometimes it is just hanging out. Willingness added to a little bit of awareness might really be all it takes. This leaves me wondering, what strength of your congregation might be leveraged as a growth area when reimagined?
Resources:
The Siburt Institute for Church Ministry offers Intersection, a focused-conversation webinar on September 19th, on the topic, “Trauma-Informed Evangelism.” Intersection is hosted by Carson Reed and Randy Harris; they will be talking with Charles Kiser. Register here; sessions are recorded and will be available after the fact at the same link.
For more information about the “Know and Be Known Pathway” portion of our “Restoration Vision,” visit the Highland Church of Christ website.
The Highland Church of Christ staff is publishing an article in Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry, fully outlining our current Listening Project. Watch for this piece by Ashley Crisp and Ashley Stirman in a future issue.
For more information about Camp Barnabas, visit their website.
1. Heno Head, Jr., Camp Barnabas: Champion for the Challenged (Monett, MO: Gymstone Press, 2003).
