Sommercamp in Rumänien
26. Juli 2019
Die Methodistenkirche in Rumänien ist nicht nur eine junge Kirche, sie bietet auch ein attraktives Angebot für Kinder und Jugendliche sowie für Erwachsene. Das Run the Race Camp 2019 Anfang Juli war ein Highlight für alle, die im Sequoia Park in Rumänien dabei waren. 60 Teilnehmende wurden über das Wochenende in fünf Gruppen eingeteilt, die gemeinsam als Gruppe teambildende Aufgaben in Workshops und auf einer Schnitzeljagd lösten. Dieses kirchliche Angebot wurde von Pfarrer Rares Calugar, Superintendent der Evangelisch-methodistischen Kirche in Rumänien und seinem Team gründlich und liebevoll vorbereitet.
Gegenüber den Vorjahren wurde das Angebot innerhalb des Camps erweitert. Neben den bewährten Sportaktivitäten wurden neu Musikateliers, Bastelaktivitäten und Englisch angeboten. Dies geschah in Umsetzung der theologischen Botschaft, dass alle mit ihren speziellen Gaben von Gott geliebt sind und einen wichtigen Teil zum Wesen der Kirche beitragen. Die kirchliche Arbeit in Rumänien wird auch mit Hilfe der Spendengelder über Connexio und die EMK möglich. Herzlichen Dank an alle, die so Ferienfreude teilen.
Originalbericht von Pfarrer Rares Calugar (in englischer Sprache):
Run the Race Camp 2019
Our fourth annual Run the Race camp was the first weekend in July this year. We gathered over 60 people connected to the United Methodist Churches in Romania – children and youth from families and city centers, as well as young adults and slightly less young adults – for a fantastic camp adventure in Sequoia Park. We split up into 5 teams – our “home base” for the weekend. With these teams we completed numerous team building tasks, went on a scavenger hunt, and participated in workshops to earn team envelopes which would be needed for worship on Sunday morning.
more than sports
Our goal for this year was to fellowship, build relationships – old a new, learn and grow, and worship together. A planning team from the church gathered in the weeks prior to camp to dream, plan, and pray for this weekend. We decided to focus on identity and our place in the Body of Christ. Historically this camp has been geared towards sports competition, and many children really love this part of camp. However, we decided to expand our endeavors to offer crafting, English, and music workshops in addition to the beloved athletic offerings. We also had karaoke night after worship the first evening for people to have fun and show their enthusiasm for multiple genres of music. The intentionality with which we did all of these additional activities was to go hand in hand with our theme – everyone has a place in the Body of Christ and everyone has a special something to offer. We wanted each and every participant, young and less young, to interact in ways that highlighted who God has created him/her to be.
On our last full afternoon there, we set out on a 4 hour hike from Sequoia Camp to the sequoia tree at Sequoia Park. The task for the journey was for each team to complete a photo scavenger hunt along the way – looking for certain items or structures and highlighting the creativity of the team as all but one team member needed to be in every picture with the object/idea they were representing. To say we ended up with some VERY creative interpretations would be a great understatement!
who we are in God’s eyes
Our final morning of worship included the culmination of all of the envelopes. Each team earned envelopes for certain tasks and Sunday morning was finally time to open them! In each envelope was a word or phrase that when put together with other envelopes, created a Bible verse about identity, purpose, and who we are in God’s eyes. Each team creatively presented their Bible verse (after figuring out what it was and trying to put it in the correct order – more difficult than one would think…).
Ultimately, the conclusion from camp this year was… we need another camp next year! I would say that is all the indication we need that it was a success!“
Bericht und Foto: Pfarrer Rares Calugar, UMC Romania: https://www.umc-cse.org/en/countries/romania.html
RH/Connexio