We Are The Lord’s—Whispering Hope Methodist Church Family Camp

 

For centuries, we have been “doing church” a certain way. We enter a specific building, we sing songs to the Lord together, and then the preacher gets up in front and everyone listens to him deliver the message from God.

While this method has indeed proven to work, sometimes it’s nice to change things around a little. With this in mind, Whispering Hope Methodist Church decided to invite Ms. Vylma Ovalles, the current Executive Director of the Alliance of Christian Development Agencies (ACDA), to facilitate a “dialogue education” approach for their recent family camp that was held from 6th to 8th September at Peacehaven, Genting Highlands.

 

 

Instead of heading off to listen to someone speak to us even more for another two and a half days, the Whispering Hope family had the opportunity of gathering together as a true church family, to listen to one another, to share with each other, and to get to know their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ better.

Throughout the course of the camp, Ms. Ovalles introduced different activities and resources, all geared toward relationship building and peer, interactive learning. The focus was not on one person delivering a message, but on God speaking to each individual, and the individuals subsequently learning from each other’s thoughts and experiences.

 

 

Themed “We are the Lord’s” from Romans 14:8, the sessions revolved around knowing who we are in Christ, understanding God’s promises to us who belong to Him, and learning to truly live for Him alone.

 

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

(Romans 14:8)

 

On the first night, Ms. Ovalles focused mainly on how we view ourselves as individuals. She guided us through a variety of activities that aided us in zoning in on the condition of our hearts, thinking about how we identify ourselves, and then, at the end of the night, reflecting on a passage from Scripture.

During the discussions, the topic of personal identity and how God knows each of us by name came up. Some commented on how some names are given due to circumstances or places, while other names are given in hopes that a person would grow into the meaning of that name.

Others talked about how remembering someone’s name causes that person to feel significant and recognized, and others still, brought up the concept of being a unique and special individual, distinct from everyone else.

 

 

Keeping these things in mind, we were able to draw the connections between God’s promises to us, and how we can be confident that we belong to Him. The conclusion for the evening was that “We are the Lord’s because He created us.”

Something created belongs to the creator, and therefore, being created by God, we belong to Him. One participant commented, “I am not my own. What a relief!”

Indeed, knowing that we belong to God lifts an immense burden from our shoulders. We do not have to walk through this life alone, because we have a God who has promised to always be there for us as long as we remain in close fellowship with Him!

 

 

Day two of camp consisted mainly of relationship building and bonding through fun and games. After many hours of planning and preparation, the camp committee beautifully executed an elaborate game that successfully catered to the different age groups present, all the while encouraging a good balance between teamwork and healthy competition.

Even so, all the excitement and outdoor activities were not enough to hinder us from a time of gathering together for worship and learning more from each other. In between the games and meal times, Ms. Ovalles continued to introduce us to other intriguing and thought-provoking exercises, this time focusing on Ephesians 2:1-10.

 

 

Emphasizing how we were once dead in our trespasses and how we have been saved only by God’s grace, the activities helped us to reflect on the past that is behind us, and the present and future, in which we are no longer bound by sin. Going back to our theme verse of Romans 14:8, we were able to think about how we can now concentrate on living for Christ.

Once again, the thoughts and insights that were shared by our brothers and sisters were of invaluable significance. We had the privilege of witnessing one another’s creativity through different expressions of gratitude and appreciation to God. Some people wrote songs and some wrote poems, while others drew pictures and diagrams that depicted their understanding of God and His work in their lives.

 

 

The activities of the last day brought about a memorable conclusion to the family camp. By simply studying the words found in Romans 14:8 together as a community, the unraveling of Scripture showed itself in a most poignant manner when different individuals spoke up about how the simplest phrases like “we live” and “we die” spoke to each of us differently.

Hebrews 4:12 talks about how the Word of God is living and active, and that was exactly what happened during that final session of camp. The members of God’s body shared about how certain words in a simple verse ministered so specifically to each person’s heart, and the result of such sharing was a beautiful display of a personal God who loves each of us deeply, knows each of us better than we know ourselves, and takes possession of that which belongs to Him!

 

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Esperanza Ng