This summer, God gave our department of Christian ethics a wonderful opportunity to hold a camp for children from the Rivne region, Volyn, and Khmelnytskyi in the village of Polyana, Transcarpathian region from July 14 to 20, 2024.
We studied the Epistle of James according to the author’s textbook by Ruslana Kovalchuk, camp coordinator, and teacher of the school subject “Fundamentals of Christian Ethics”.
Children’s Christian camp “Living Faith” gathered 55 participants (44 of them – children 10-14 years old, 10 – team and driver). Among the participants were six orphans from the social center for minors in the village of Oleksandria of the Rivne region, as well as children from the Klevan special school for visually impaired children, refugee children from the East of Ukraine, children from the families of fallen soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, participants and prize winners of the regional and all-Ukrainian Olympiad “Young Bible Scholars.”
The team included believers of evangelical churches, in particular, four teachers with extensive experience working in Christian camps. The vast majority of camp participants are children from Orthodox families, only some have parents who are evangelical believers. The vast majority of children were in such a camp for the first time.
From the very first day, the atmosphere was friendly and pleasant. We managed to explain the essence of living faith. We rejoiced in daily communication with our God through prayer and study of His Word, glorifying Him in singing, in all our activities during the camp and even at home after returning from the camp.
At first, it was difficult for the children to get used to the camp discipline. It was very strange to them that after the end of the day at 10:00-10:15 p.m., they had to stay in their rooms and not walk wherever they wanted. In addition, we agreed that they would not take their phones to the morning classes and the morning and evening worship, then we monitored how children kept rules and we saw positive results. Every day, the children performed tasks that brought them together, united them, and encouraged them to be creative, formative, and outgoing. We studied the Epistle of James, one lesson and a “golden” verse per day, on the following topics: 1) Faith and the Word; 2) Faith and works; 3) Faith and wisdom; 4) Faith and humility; 5) Faith and prayer. The key verse of the camp was James 2:1b: “…have faith in our Lord of glory, Jesus Christ.”
Also, the Lord blessed us with a very good atmosphere thanks to the musician brother Taras from Rivne. He set up the equipment, speakers, and guitar with high quality and set our hearts on fire with singing for God’s glory.
One of the tasks of the teams was to tell people about God’s love and give them a heart postcard during the excursions. For the first time, the children encountered how people react to words about God’s love and faith in God during the war.
We invited sister Maria, who is originally from Kherson and now lives with her family in France, to the camp. She brought with her good watercolor paint, brushes, and picture frames and gave a wonderful drawing lesson. Everyone, both children and adults, was delighted! She was also our photographer!
This year, the Lord orchestrated things in a way that the mentors and members of the team were young people who had previously participated in our camps and repented and were born again before our eyes.
We thank our Lord God who continues to use us as instruments of His grace. We are grateful to all our friends from Ukraine and abroad for the prayer support and help in holding the camp!
Arkady Slyoza
In their reviews, the children wrote about their impressions of the camp:
“I learned about God that He is merciful, loving, and forgiving.
I learned that the Lord is very close to me, and always supports me.
I took the following lessons: not to be hypocritical; do what you promise; ask the Lord and it will be given to you; do not envy others.
What I liked the most was when we sang, rested, and prayed to God. Everything was great. I liked everything.
My advice: to spend more time with God, and sing more. And that the mentors will relate to us more.
Thank you very much for this wonderful camp!”
Nastya P., 13, Rivne
“We learned that our relationship with God can be changed both for the better and for the worse, and the choice is ours.
That our relationship with God can be better than with our friends, parents, and other relatives.
That our language needs a helmsman. If we do not control our tongue, we can kill someone morally.
Things I liked: our trip to the water park and the Polonyna Flower; many new friends; cool counselors.
Things I disliked: not enough time for your own things; noisy neighbors; they rarely took us to stores to buy chips and salted peanuts.”
Sasha L., 13 years old, Shepetivka, Khmelnytskyi region.
