United Church B.C. Conference Camping Futures report

We are fervently opposed to the proposals in the United Churchs B.C. Conferences A Future for Camping Ministry report. This report recommends the sale of five existing camp properties: Moorecroft, Mackenzie, Hurlburt, Koolaree, and Rock Lake. The remaining three camps, Grafton, Fircom, and Pringle, would be renovated to accommodate higher volumes of campers. The deadline for responses to this proposal is June 1, 2005.

This report is available for viewing from:
http://www.bc.united-church.ca/Healthy_Congregations/camping.htm

Our objections to this proposal are as follows:

1. The timeline for this process is far too condensed. To request that camp volunteers take time during the busiest part of their year to formulate feedback for this monumental decision destroys any semblance of a democratic process. Quality decisions need time, reflection, and data.

2. This report does not meet a sufficient standard of concern for our youth, or of fostering a sense of community. The report is indicative of a retreat within sheltering wall instead of going forward to provide a worthwhile nurturing of our communities children. Since the young have little say, it is incumbent on us to remember that they are the future of our churches, camps, and communities.

3. We believe implementation of these proposals would reduce accessibility to the camp lifestyle for children. There will be fewer camps, and thus distances between campers and their nearest camp experience will increase dramatically. The proposed increases in camp populations will not be able make up for the losses.

4. The value of a camp experience is in the degree to which it differs from the campers regular existence. Upgrading facilities past the minimum requirements for safety, health, and accreditation does not do a service to campers. The camping futures report proposes massive, unwanted changes to the few camping facilities that are left, threatening their character, and increasing their on-site population. This will reduce the effectiveness of the camp experience.

5. Local committees and societies, familiar with the history, culture, personalities, and facilities, are the people best able to make decisions about their camps. Members of these committees have sacrificed their personal resources, energies, talents and time to their camps. Decisions made by officials from outside organizations should not be implemented except with the approval of those local groups. The United Church B.C. conference is claiming an authority over local efforts, programs, and facilities that it is not entitled to.


We therefore propose:

1. That the timeline for submission of alternative proposals be extended, and no decisions related to the sale of camps be finalized, until at least September 2006. This allows for more data gathering and reflective, prayerful development and examination of alternatives.
2. That the United Church B.C. Conference devise a strategy that does not sacrifice existing camp facilities, but rather attempts to address the challenges that they face.
3. That the expression of camping as a core ministry of the United Church be realized with the inclusion of input from sources beyond the United Church, with a vested interest in, and experience with, camp programs.

Only by honestly, courageously and creatively addressing the problems faced by camping organizations and churches can we move forward. The current proposal is an attempt to avoid, not to correct, the challenges that the Creator has put before us.