Welcome to the official website of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sydney. The Greater Sydney Conference covers the area from Wollongong in the south, to the Hawkesbury River in the north, and from west of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains to the Pacific Ocean in the east, including the islands of Norfolk and Lord Howe. More...

Two Weeks of Camp – 50 Weeks to Recover

Every year, we as a Youth Department, look forward to Supercamp and hopefully the kids do too! However, as applications neared the deadline late last year, we were beginning to worry about extremely low numbers. Yet as with every camp, we know that God will make sure that the juniors (9-12 years) and teens (13-17 years) that need to be at Crosslands for the week-long event full of activities, fellowship and worship, will be there. This might be why numbers tripled in three short days. Either that, or parents remembered to make sure they got their own holiday in January sorted! Needless to say I had a shock (and a lot of work) when I got back from holidays.

With numbers bursting for Teen Camp, 105, and large for Junior Camp, 84, camp kicked off under the banner of Urban Warfare. This was the theme for each of the activities as well as the focus of the worships. We explored how our everyday life is a battle field between good and evil and that we need to make the right decision just like a General in the Army (only this time it’s God’s Army and the war is in our everyday lives). Juniors showed their desire to commit their lives to Jesus with 34 requesting baptism and 43 wanting Bible studies. At Teen camp 43 campers had already made a decision to follow Christ through baptism and a further eight indicated that they would like to join the ranks by getting baptised. Twenty-three teen campers also declared they would like to start Bible studies.

Activities such as Urban Wipe Out, (imagine lots of watered down paint), Urban Stake Out, (variation on Capture the Flag but nowhere is safe) and tasks, like pulling mini buses around an obstacle course, all helped to make camp a memorable experience. PT (Physical Time) was much loved and hated. Bright and early, Monday till Thursday, campers and staff alike could be seen running up and down the dreaded hill, and doing sit ups and push ups until the muscles ached. In the words of our fearless drill instructor Damee Kea, “If you complain, you will do more! If you are late, you will do more!” Other words you were likely to hear throughout camp were those of Ephesians 6:12 as campers memorised the verse to receive their very own Supercamp dog tag.

For more photos and videos from our photographer, B1 & 2 and our camera man check out sydneyadventistyouth.com.au

By Stephanie Arnold