July 25, 2010
Reported by Chen Wei-chien
Written by Lydia Ma

How are church summer camps for teens different from other summer camps? The answer is that teens will often gain a deeper understanding of God's love and what it means to love others through church camps.

Tainan Presbytery's Fu-Chiang Church and Happy Christian Homes co-sponsored "Life Encounter Camp for Teens" from July 1315. High school youths got to help disabled children and learn about the joy of serving others. Children from Happy Christian Homes also benefited from this camp as they mingled with regular youths.

Fu-Chiang Church's pastor, Rev. Tsai Cheng-tao, brought 36 youths to Happy Christian Homes to be trained by social workers and other instructors before each teen was assigned to help one child living in the home. For three days, they pushed wheelchairs, spoon-fed children, assisted during physical therapy sessions, helped during arts and crafts lessons, etc.

According to Happy Christian Homes' Public Relations Director, Chen Jin-shiou, the camp enabled these teens to step out of their comfort zones because they had to overcome initial nervousness and fears and learn to accept one another. Participants also learned to understand the needs and feelings of disabled children through serving them for a few days and the experience turned out to be very fulfilling.

One youth at this camp came away thanking God for his health and said he was grateful he could use his healthy body to serve God. Another youth learned to appreciate being able to do with ease some of the most basic skills humans possess, such as reading, writing, and speaking.

"I feel God is really awesome. But sometimes it seems God is unfair to these children," said Su Wen-hsin, another youth at this camp. "Some of these children were born with brain damage and others have speech or physical impairments. They still have their whole lives ahead of them, but they are disadvantaged from the outset. Despite this, I also know that God is very real to these kids and God will help them persevere to the very end and not give up."

Taiwan Church News