As the summer approaches, kids across the country look forward to the pastimes associated with school-free days: lazy afternoons at the pool, family vacations, and, of course, summer camp.
For generations, Christians have recognized that camp environments have unique potential to develop the passions of kids and teens, especially their love for God and his church.
Many PCA members may be familiar with the summer camps offered at Ridge Haven, a ministry of the PCA with locations in Brevard, North Carolina and Cono, Iowa. But many PCA churches have developed and maintained vibrant camp ministries that disciple children and youth while providing valuable outreach opportunities to unchurched families in their communities.
Here are some of those camps.
Overnight Camps with Rich History
Vesper Point and Twin Lakes have both operated as ministries of historic PCA congregations for more than 50 years.
Vesper Point, a ministry of First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, sits along the Tennessee River in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, about 45 minutes from the church campus in downtown Chattanooga. First Presbyterian had an active camp ministry even before the purchase of Camp Vesper Point in 1954. Now, for more than 70 years, Vesper Point has welcomed kids for water sports on the river, beloved hoedowns, and morning and evening worship services with staff testimonies — all working toward the goal that every camper hears the gospel one on one from a counselor by the end of the week at camp.
In addition to seven weeks of camp for 3rd-10th graders at Vesper Point, the staff also runs one week of Urban Camp, partnering with Chattanooga churches to host a camp in the city.
As Executive Director Forrest Walker says, “One week of camp can change a kid’s life and impact their family for generations.”
Walker himself may be evidence of that: he was a camper at Vesper Point in 1991 and 1992, served on the staff from 1995-2007, and eventually returned as camp director in 2022 after a number of years working in education.
Walker also sees it in the relationships he’s made through camp. He recently heard from another friend who called him just to encourage him, saying, “I haven’t seen you in years now, but I want you to know I’m reading my Bible to my kids because my camp counselor impressed that upon me 25 years ago.”
More than 400 miles southwest of Vesper Point sits Twin Lakes Camp and Conference Center in Florence, Mississippi. The camp was purchased by First Presbyterian Church of Jackson in 1970 and originally operated as a day camp roughly 20 miles from the church’s main campus. Over time, the church added buildings that enabled the facility to operate as an overnight camp.
In 2026, Twin Lakes will host six weeks of overnight campers, one week of day camp, and one week of family camp on the property.
Robert Leard, a retired banker and longtime deacon at First Presbyterian, began what he calls his “second career” as the executive director of Twin Lakes in 2024. He says that the summer camp’s goal is “to point children to Christ with every resource we have.”
In addition to their similar histories, Vesper Point and Twin Lakes are alike in a number of other ways: Every summer they hire a similar number of staff (80-100) to serve a similar number of campers (1,300-1,600). In the offseason both ministries operate as conference and retreat centers.
And both camps operate under session oversight from their respective churches. In both cases, the sessions appoint boards or committees to directly oversee the camps, but the camp directors are considered church staff and regularly provide ministry reports to the sessions.
When one considers all of the resources and liability involved in operating a year-round camp facility, hiring summer staff, and hosting hundreds of campers per year, this is an extraordinary commitment for a local church to make. For example, both executive directors mentioned the hardship of the COVID pandemic and the unique burdens their churches faced to support their camps through the period when camp programming could not operate or had limited capacity.
Research for this article revealed that a number of PCA churches that used to own and operate overnight camps released them at some point to be independent partner ministries with their own governing boards.
Leard said that while First Pres Jackson has reviewed and re-evaluated its relationship with Twin Lakes a number of times, the conclusion has remained that the camp is aligned in its “focus on glorifying God by making disciples, with a firm foundation on the Westminster Confession.”
Walker said First Pres Chattanooga continues to see Vesper Point as a vital component of the church’s ministry. He said church leadership sees Vesper Point as “an extension of the church property that just happens to be 45 minutes out into the woods.”
Day Camps of All Types
For other churches, camping ministry looks like developing day camp ministries that operate right in the community where the church ministers.
Camp All-American, a ministry of Perimeter Church in Johns Creek, Georgia, started in 1989 and grew significantly after the church’s current campus opened in 1995. Over the years, church leadership has added many classic overnight camp elements (like ropes courses and swimming pools) to the church property. Their location and facilities allow them to host considerably more kids than many overnight camps can house and feed over the course of a summer.
Stephen Ready, executive director of leadership development at Perimeter Church, worked on staff with Camp All-American from 2007-21. He noted how Camp All-American is shaped by Perimeter’s mission and values, particularly the church’s emphasis on outreach. More than 85% of campers do not attend Perimeter, and less than half of campers attend any Bible-believing church.
Ready says the camp operates with a “gospel throughout” emphasis, meaning that the gospel is not only shared in Bible teaching times, but integrated into every activity and interaction between campers and counselors.
But running a camp ministry does not even require owning property. Resurrection Community Church in Virginia Beach launched its camp ministry in a local park in 2018 even before the mission church began holding weekly worship services in 2019.
Pastor Jimmy Brock has been connected to Summer’s Best Two Weeks — a Pennsylvania-based, sports-oriented Christian overnight camp that has spawned numerous day camps operated by individual churches — since his time as a camper and counselor.
Brock previously started and ran a Summer’s Best day camp at a church in Atlanta. He brought the ministry to Virginia Beach and has been spreading the model throughout churches in Tidewater Presbytery. This summer, seven churches in the presbytery will host at least one week of day camp as the summer camp staff run programming in two locations every week.
As the camp ministry has grown up alongside the church plant, Brock sees how it has shaped the church to have a mission-oriented posture toward the community and a distinct love for the energy and playfulness of young kids. As Resurrection Community looks to the future, one of its prayers is for a property where the church could worship and continue hosting a thriving camp ministry.
Though summer camp conjures images of outdoor adventures and physical challenges, one church model has taken a different approach. Twenty years ago, Ingram Link, the women’s ministry director of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, saw a need for summer experiences for girls who enjoyed creative endeavors but had aged out of the church’s vacation Bible school.
Link started a small art camp in her home. When it outgrew her home, she moved it to the church, and soon other churches were asking if they could replicate what she was doing.
Created for a Purpose offers girls in grades 3-8 an opportunity to use their creativity to paint, cook, sculpt, and build friendships while incorporating worship, biblical teaching, and small groups. The camp serves as a way for girls to invite unchurched friends to hear the gospel.
Covenant Presbyterian Church offers four sessions of Created for a Purpose each summer. Created for a Purpose is now an independent 501c3 ministry but has office space at Covenant and works closely with the church’s pastoral staff. The ministry partners with churches to train, equip, and license churches to offer Created for a Purpose to their church and community. In 2026, there will be 20 locations offering Created for a Purpose camps with over 2,000 campers participating.
Ministry Leaders for the Next Generation
In the process of interviewing camp directors and staff serving in these unique ministries, one theme that emerged was that the campers are not the only ones shaped by camping ministry. Summer staff -– high school and college students hired to run programs and disciple campers — are often impacted by camp just as much as the campers they serve.
Beyond training for their specific roles, every camp has a system for discipling counselors and staff, and each summer they see incredible growth in their staff and counselors.
Over the years that Ready has been connected to Camp All-American, he has seen the long-term effect: he can identify more than 10 full-time staff members at Perimeter whose first touch point with the church was coming to camp, either as a camper or as staff. He views camp as a “leadership laboratory” that not only benefits Perimeter, but develops leaders for churches across the PCA and beyond.
Speaking of the potential for formation and leadership development, Ready says, “This is not just a Perimeter thing.This is ‘Big-C Church’ conversation that we are always having: ‘How are we training up the next generation of leaders?’”