Last week, I took a group of our youth to Passport Camp in Greensboro. The six of us learned about God through worship, mission work, and our relationships with each other. I would like to share some of our experiences from the week with you!
One afternoon, we participated in mission education. We learned about the difficulties families often go through in trying to care for each other, find work, attend school, and find secure housing. This provided background knowledge for the camp’s mission offering, which focused on education for impoverished children in Romania, Kenya, and Appalachia. We talked about how God calls us to care for our neighbors and work towards justice for them.
The youth also had the opportunity to lead in worship one night. That afternoon, we learned about different types of worship and all the ways God is present with us. They created art, wrote a litany, and learned music for the service that night.
One of our group’s favorite experience were the two afternoons we worked at a food pantry in Greensboro. We volunteered at Out of the Garden, a non-profit that provides food and other supplies to their community. We helped distribute food, move boxes, clean up the church, sort through donations, and much more. I was so proud of how hard our group worked and how eager they were to learn about this ministry.
I am so grateful for how I saw this group grow throughout the week. In their Bible studies, they learned about how God is bigger than we can imagine, but still is near to us. They talked about how God is calling them to live out their faith through building relationships with others and making an impact on their communities. I loved getting to laugh with them, worship with them, learn from them, and see how God is doing a new work in them.
Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19