The key event of July and the whole summer for the Christian Floorball Club SKY was our team-wide children’s camp.
In our ministry, we have developed the following camp strategy: in the winter, we hold a camp for teenagers and youth, and in the summer, for children. And now it was the turn of the children. This was the largest camp in our history, because in total there were up to 80 people in the camp, together with the team.
This year, we also tried to attract older boys and girls who play floorball, are close to us, but do not yet know Christ personally, to the camp leadership team. It was not easy at times, but this is how we want to influence their hearts, build closer relationships with them, and show them Jesus.
There were children aged 8 to 14 years old in the camp. The core of the camp consisted of those who play floorball, but there were also those children whom we met at the Power Camp, which was held in June at one of the schools in Rivne. And there were also children who learned about the camp from their friends. The vast majority of children are from non-believing families. However, all those who play floorball in the team already know a lot about God, because they study the Bible at every training.
This camp, like the winter camp for youth, was called “Unbreakable”. We studied the Book of Daniel, but simplified the lessons a little to make them accessible to children. The main emphasis was on the loyalty of Daniel and his friends to God. And in the evening, the sermon spoke about the even greater loyalty of Christ and His love for us, who was not afraid and voluntarily went to death on the cross, taking our punishment upon Himself to give us salvation and eternal life. At the evening campfire, this theme was continued, and a girl from the camp leadership team also told a testimony about how God had brought her to Himself.
In addition, as always, there were many competitions and games during the day, contests in the evening program, and just good communication with the children. It was often not easy with them, but together we learned to love them and build deeper relationships, because Jesus loved us even more and gave us a relationship with Himself, which we did not deserve.
After the camp, we invited the children to a Sunday meeting at the church, where we showed a general camp video, immersed ourselves again in the atmosphere of the camp, and shared our impressions and God’s work in it.
Then we gathered as a leadership team to eat pizza together and discuss the camp. We analyzed the camp, pointing out the pros and cons in each area, in order to use this to improve the camps for the next year, as well as to discuss our workload at the camp and why we are doing all this. It was a good and fruitful time for all of us.
We thank God and all those who prayed for this camp to be held, and all of you who pray and support the floorball ministry. We ask for your prayerful support for an even deeper knowledge of Christ by the members of the leadership team, for the spiritual birth of those boys and girls who are near us and already helping us, as well as for deepening relationships with children and teenagers from the team during the summer, and for God to work and change their hearts.
Vitaly Bakunets
