Every summer approximately 700 children, adolescents and adults participate in one of the camps of the Christian Community. Our camps are an"area of work" of the Christian Community in the Netherlands and Belgium. Unique about these camps is that we start with the participant. We believe that this can be most appreciated in a structured environment characterized by a great variety of activities: inner and outer, concentration and relaxation. Besides the 'normal' child and youth camps, we have two sailing camps, a kite camp, an international camp and a camp for the whole family.
The camps are supported by a large group of volunteers who work throughout the year to make these camps possible.
The camps are supported by a large group of volunteers who work throughout the year to make these camps possible.
The motivation to become a staff member appears in the early years. Most of today’s staff members have been participants in the Christian Community camps themselves. The experiences they had during these camps inspired them to be part of the organization. Below you can read the best moments of some of the current staff members.
Remco Pet
Rock Academy, Eindhoven
The summer camps have a lot of great moments in remembrance. For example, the adventurous bicycle trip of three long days to unknown destinations and the campfire at the end of the camp, ...read morethe moment when a lot of the general camp rules fade away, and everybody takes their sleeping bags and exchanges the comfort of tents for a good spot near the fire. During the camp we engage in many active and competitive moments where we enjoy sports and games in the sun, like the evening games in the forest and fields.
Boris de Keyser
Student film directing, Gent BE
The camps provide a platform to meet other youngsters whom you can call ‘Good friends’ after having spend only two weeks together. During these two weeks,
...read more the contact with the others is intense and personal and at the end of the camp you have the feeling you’ve known the people around you for years. My best camp experience was on the IYCamp (International Youth Camp) 2008 in Slovenia. This moment was during a four day hike in the mountains around the campsite, where we separated into several little groups to hike for the first two days. In the evening, we arrived on a small alpine field where we spent the night in the dwelling of two elderly people who welcomed us with all their hospitality.
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...read more the contact with the others is intense and personal and at the end of the camp you have the feeling you’ve known the people around you for years. My best camp experience was on the IYCamp (International Youth Camp) 2008 in Slovenia. This moment was during a four day hike in the mountains around the campsite, where we separated into several little groups to hike for the first two days. In the evening, we arrived on a small alpine field where we spent the night in the dwelling of two elderly people who welcomed us with all their hospitality.
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Jan Henkes
Webdesigner at Jannes & Mannes, Zutphen
The summer camps provide plenty of very beautiful moments. One of these moments was the hike in my first International Youth Camp where we had to find a sleeping place.
...read more There, we discovered that you get to know your fellow hikers by talking and finding your way in a land you had never heard of. Now I am a staff member and I want to give the same experience to the new participants. I am the nurse on the camp, and I organized the excursion. This gives me a lot of energy and satisfaction.
...read more There, we discovered that you get to know your fellow hikers by talking and finding your way in a land you had never heard of. Now I am a staff member and I want to give the same experience to the new participants. I am the nurse on the camp, and I organized the excursion. This gives me a lot of energy and satisfaction.
Sietske Faling
Student Human Geography and Planning, Utrecht
My best memory is the overall atmosphere during the camps; when the evening falls, the oil lamps are lit and spread over the field, a flame of
...read more one of the stoves in the kitchen for some light, and the tranquility returns to the field, I get warm inside. My motivation to return every year as a staff member comes from being a participant myself. The magical and wonderful moments I’ve experienced during those years need to be there for the generations to come.
...read more one of the stoves in the kitchen for some light, and the tranquility returns to the field, I get warm inside. My motivation to return every year as a staff member comes from being a participant myself. The magical and wonderful moments I’ve experienced during those years need to be there for the generations to come.
Imre Ploeg
Bachelor Music Teaching, the Hague
The most inspiring part of the camp for me was the singing, where the whole group is together doing the same thing. Last year I was conducting the choir as a staff member of the International Youth Camp, in Latvia. ...read more It is amazing to see how a group of 70 youngsters are able to learn more than 30 polyphonic songs in less than two weeks.The collaboration between the incredible landscape, a group of inspired young people, delicious food and a fun camp program made it possible to create a higher level of being together, sharing thoughts and singing all these difficult songs. The camps are for sure my most happy parts of the year.
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Judith Noordzij
High school, Utrecht
My best memory of the camps was during one of the Swedish hiking camps.
This camp was moving with a group of youngsters through the high mounts of Sweden. ...read more After a long rainy day we built up the camp. When this was done we started singing. The singing is a tradition we do in all the camps and we do this with the whole group in four voices. During the singing… yes during the singing, the clouds broke open and the sun came through.. With this we could see the wonderful surroundings with his little lakes, mountains and forest land. Absolutely wonderful.
Joas van Ham
University for Humanistics, Nijmegen
The essence of that what makes the youth camps of the Christian
Community one of the most precious memories of my life is the transformation
of a group of 90 human beings who have nothing in common to an ...read more
incredible close community where everyone can be who they really are.
The total acceptance of the person who is standing in front of you,
what in the 'real' world seems so hard, appears to need nothing more
than a tent to sleep in, grass to walk on, a song to sing together and
a shared moment of silence at the end of the day.
Brita Trapman
Political Science, Amsterdam
It’s hard to find one best experience of the camp. I will try to share with you a part of the whole picture:
...read more
When I was eighteen I became a staff member of the IYCamp, after being a participant there twice. Now I had the privilege to help build up one of those marvelous summer events. On the one hand it seemed an impossible task to me, so many things had to be done and they all seemed so difficult. But soon it appeared that the whole group of staff members was more than the sum of its parts. Every staff member had his or her own strength that could be used to make the camp happen. ...read more During the camps we worked so hard that at the end we had no energy left, but we could draw new energy from the results of our hard work. During the camps we live close to nature for two weeks. The food is prepared in tents, seventy people wash themselves in the brook, living outside all day and experiencing all types of weather. In nature there is no escape from heavy rain and thunderstorms, but in return we may enjoy many beautiful sunrises and picturesque skies. During hiking and campfires, close friendships arise in short time; many of my current friends I have got to know during these camps. What more can I say? I am thankful for all the good memories of people, nature, mountains, singing, cooperating, playing theatre, caring, cooking, laughing, swimming, loving, hiking, playing sports, and much, much more…
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When I was eighteen I became a staff member of the IYCamp, after being a participant there twice. Now I had the privilege to help build up one of those marvelous summer events. On the one hand it seemed an impossible task to me, so many things had to be done and they all seemed so difficult. But soon it appeared that the whole group of staff members was more than the sum of its parts. Every staff member had his or her own strength that could be used to make the camp happen. ...read more During the camps we worked so hard that at the end we had no energy left, but we could draw new energy from the results of our hard work. During the camps we live close to nature for two weeks. The food is prepared in tents, seventy people wash themselves in the brook, living outside all day and experiencing all types of weather. In nature there is no escape from heavy rain and thunderstorms, but in return we may enjoy many beautiful sunrises and picturesque skies. During hiking and campfires, close friendships arise in short time; many of my current friends I have got to know during these camps. What more can I say? I am thankful for all the good memories of people, nature, mountains, singing, cooperating, playing theatre, caring, cooking, laughing, swimming, loving, hiking, playing sports, and much, much more…
Close
Jan Henkes
Webdesinger at Jannes & Mannes, Zutphen
The summer camps provide plenty of very beautiful moments. One of these moments was the hike in my first International Youth Camp where we had to find a sleeping place.
...read more There, we discovered that you get to know your fellow walkers by talking and finding your way in a land you had never heard of. Now I am a staff member and I want to give the same experience to the new participants. I am the nurse on the camp, and I organized the excursion. This gives me a lot of energy and satisfaction.
...read more There, we discovered that you get to know your fellow walkers by talking and finding your way in a land you had never heard of. Now I am a staff member and I want to give the same experience to the new participants. I am the nurse on the camp, and I organized the excursion. This gives me a lot of energy and satisfaction.
The Act of Consecration of Man
On the Sundays we celebrate the Act of Consecration of Man. The children camps have a children service and the youth camps the Act of Consecration of Man.
These services take place in a big tent and are lead by the priest who is present throughout the entire duration of the camp.
We end the day wit a ceremonial close of day. This is a short version of the Sunday service, where we come together and have a moment of silence to reflect upon the day.
Structure
All the camps make sure there is a good and well-balanced program. The program is based on the principle of breathing in and out. The active program parts are followed by quiet program parts.
Sport and Games
The young people like to go into the fields and play sports and games. We do sports of all sorts; team sports like volleyball, but also ultimate Frisbee and various competition games. This is almost always planned in the afternoon. However, once or twice we do have an evening game, which takes place in the surrounding forest.
During hikes we implement a game which brings the participants in contact with the local people.
Singing
The singing is a tradition in the Christian Community camps. The group sings twice a day and a conductor, who puts together a songbook, leads the choir. The songbook contains easy and difficult songs, with one and multiple voices.
Some of the songs will be used during the Act of Consecration of Man and the close of day.
On the children and youth camps the staff will sing the participants awake in the morning and on the chidrens camp they will sing them to sleep at the end of the day.
Nature and location
All Christian Community camps are held on beautiful campsites. The Dutch and Belgium camps have a designated campsite and the International Youth Camp takes place in a different European country every year.
The sites are completely surrounded with forest and fields. We use the surroundings and try not to damage nature. We do this by using biodegradable soap products and we make sure we don’t leave waste products behind.
Meals
The Christian community camps have a full-sized kitchen. This is located in a tent, where around 4 staff members prepare the food for the entire group.
The breakfast contains oatmeal porridge with bread. At lunch we have a warm meal and in the evening we have a bread meal. Before starting with the meal we do a blessing.
Structure
All the camps make sure there is a good and well-balanced program. The program is based on the principle of breathing in and out. The active program parts will be followed up with quiet program parts.
These are the six main program features of our camps and can be considerd as pillars of the organization.
This chart represents the organization of the Christian Community camps. The board sets policies and holds the big picture of how we shape our camps. The communications task group and secretariat take care of all administration and promotion. The priests take care of the spiritual part of the camps. They are often also part of a task group for the organization. Facility services are all task groups that take care of the materials (tents, etc.), the land and the food. The coordinators of the twelve camps regularly consult and assist each other. Staff members are educated for their duties as a staff member and sometimes for their specific function. The organization offers training sessions for the musicians, sisters and coordinators. We continually try to adapt the structure of the organization to the needs of the participants, staff and priests.
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The International Youth Camp
This year the International Youth Camp will take place in the beautiful mountains of Italy. Individuals, with different cultural identities and nationalities come together to form a unique group full of energy, ideas and adventure.
Located in a remote area, surrounded by nature, the IYCamp provides time and opportunity to share ideas, feelings and experiences.
- When: mo 2nd till mo 16th August 2010
- Where: Italy
- Who: Youth from 16 till 24 years old
More photos and info on IYCamp.com