Grace Camp

At Grace Camp we spend time learning about Grace:
In short Grace means; a spontaneous gift from God to people – "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" – that takes the form of divine favor, love, clemency, and a share in the divine life of God. It is a gift that is most manifest in God’s of love and mercy for everyone.

The whole of Grace Camp is intended to be an “experience” where we model Grace intentionally so that campers lean by living the experience of being in God’s Grace. From all camp expenses paid to other gifts during the week our hope is the week becomes an experience where GRACE becomes real.

Overall, our program is built around the idea of learning how to live in Christian Community. During parts of the day, we gather as family or community. These times include but not limited to morning Chapel, mealtimes, evening games, campfire and or evening program. At other times, students are with their age group when participating in other program opportunities the camp offers.

Staffing:
Each cabin group has two counselors who live and supervise campers during the week. Staff are trained to have a zero tolerance for bullying and have been well trained in recognizing negative behaviors and respond in real time. Each cabin group strives to make their living group safe, fun, and enjoyable.

We also have additional program staff and volunteers to make sure all of our activities are well supervised. With paid staff and volunteers our ratio of leaders to campers works out to approximately 1 adult for every three campers.

We believe it is important for staff to make room for talking about the “fruits of the spirit” with campers. These “fruits” include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The goal is that these “fruits” will be words that will describe their cabin life while at camp. Campers are invited into the conversation of how to do this in small groups. When all cabin groups are practicing the “fruits” during the week it becomes a part of the whole camp experience for everyone.

We also have additional paid program staff and volunteers to make sure all our activities are well supervised. This allows our ratio of leaders to campers to be approximately 1 adult for every three campers.

Using a small group design campers get to know one another and the staff who they are working with. Because our goal is to help campers learn new skills supervision is generally kept at one adult for every six campers. Our staff works hard to be sure our activities and skills are age appropriate and intended for the group they are leading.

Camp places an emphasis on Challenge Course activities or games (where we learn how to work with each other). Challenges are age appropriate and intended to help groups learn to solve problems together. Areas we key in on include listening, problem solving, sharing our feelings, cooperative work and learning to think outside the box. These “games” help us with other program areas all around the camp.

Some of the program areas camp provides include music, swimming, kayaking, Stand Up Paddleboard, field games (such as Gaga Ball), Archery, Arts and Crafts. Each program area includes our programming goals of; Safety, Faith, Relationship Skills, Participation and being unplugged from home. To learn more about our program goals click here.

Christian Formation
A special emphasis is placed on making time for God and learning about Jesus Christ. Camp Chaplains help lead that work with daily chapel and “formation” time. These are central to our camp day and a big part of who we are as we move through a program week.

Transportation: Camp Marshall may be able to help with transportation to and from camp depending on the availability of both staff and vehicles. It is very helpful for families to sign up early. Otherwise, the responsibility for travel to and from camp belongs to the supporting family/guardian home.