Now What?
There are many ways you can engage in a conversation with your camper when they return from Good Earth Village. The following sections are a few suggestions for you to discover what these kids have experienced, and how you can help put into practice the lessons learned at camp.
Post Camp Discussion Guide
Within 10 days of camp, ask your child for an hour or so to talk with you. You can do this while playing catch, fishing, painting a picture, washing the car, or any other activity you enjoy doing together.
Ask questions about what they learned, not what they did. The easy stories to tell are the ones that deal with what your child saw, ate or did. The hard, but more meaningful interaction encourages your child to tell you what they learned and how they changed. Ask how they saw God’s Spirit moving at camp – or ways they believe God may have been at work.
It may also help to cover 3-5 questions at a time, spreading them out over two or three purposeful conversations.
Questions you can ask:
- What did you learn about yourself?
- What did you hear about the Holy Spirit?
- Did you or your group act on something you talked about in Bible Study? What did you do?
- What did you see people do at camp (outside of worship times) that showed their faith?
- Do you believe God’s Holy Spirit is working in your life? How does God act in people’s lives?
- What do you notice our family doing to keep up our relationships with God, here at home?
- Was camp a safe place to talk about faith? …to pray? What about it made it safe?
- What did you notice at camp that reminded you of church? How was it different?
- At camp, did you ever want to change how you think/act at school? …at home? …at church?
- If everyone lived out the things you learned at camp, would you notice a difference? What would change?
- What if you and I were the only two (or three…) Christians in the world… Do you think God could still change the world if we were the only ones who lived out our faith in Jesus? (Reassure your child that, “we are faithful to God, and we are in this together – God is always faithful to us, even when the world is tough.”)
Your encouragement of your child to put into practice the lessons they’ve learned at camp will make those lessons stick and help foster lifelong faith development. Thanks for getting involved.
Bible Study Questions
The following are questions that you can use to discuss virtually any story in the Bible. Pick a story, read it together with your child, and talk about these questions:
explore God
What was God doing?
grow faith
How was someone in the story gifted to work with God?
engage the world
How did she/he hear and answer a call from God?
Do you see God working in this way today? In our community?
Are you/we gifted in any way to work with or on behalf of God?
