Church Offers Free Summer Camp for Children, Promotes Personal Growth, Leadership Development

Youth Camp
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Hope Mission International Church in St. Louis is providing a free summer youth camp for children going into the third to eighth grades that will occur twice a week. The church aims to encourage young people in their community to enhance their personal growth and leadership skills.

Church's Free Summer Camp

Hope Mission International Church places an exceptional value on giving back to the city of St. Louis; nevertheless, in recent years, they have diversified their efforts to include a more international scope. Hope Church maintains its involvement with communities all over the world through the participation of its members in mission trips that deliver essential resources and services, such as the construction of churches and Bible schools, as well as the distribution of food. During each journey, they reportedly prioritize addressing the mental, physical, and spiritual requirements of everyone they come in contact with.

According to a report from MSN, on Monday afternoon, Jun 19, Bishop Michael Robinson drove a golf cart through the areas close to Hope Mission International Church, which is located on Maffitt Avenue. He was going door-to-door in the neighborhood, handing out fliers to inform people that the local church was hosting a free summer camp for third through eighth-grade kids. As mentioned, the program starts at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and free dinners are served to the whole family at 7 p.m. Robinson thinks that determining the community's needs requires first developing a relationship with every family member.

Moreover, the church leader was reportedly motivated to establish the camp this summer by the recent violence that has taken place. The camp's program strongly emphasizes the student's personal growth and the development of leadership skills, community involvement, and skill enhancement. On the other hand, the Greater Pentecostal Church of God, located on West Florissant Avenue, hosts another summer camp that provides participants with many options. Accordingly, Bishop Terence Coleman is the church pastor and former Union carpenter.

In 2019, he established the Carpenters Kids Camp. Young people are introduced to skilled laborers through the camp, and at the end of the camp, attendees will participate in a service project for the local community. Coleman and Robinson mentioned that they participated in programs similar to the ones they run now as children, which is why they believe their programs have the potential to make a difference. "It's time to get these programs back in place. Create these safe spaces throughout our city because it did work for us," Rev. Robinson asserted.

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Significance of Youth Camps on Children

Young people can fully submerge themselves in their faith while engaging in exciting new experiences with other children who share the same religious background as them at camp. They are free to investigate the natural world and uncover the splendor of God's universe. Miracle Mountain Ranch stated that a child's devotion to the Lord could be helped to grow for many years by providing them with a theological environment rich in Bible study, prayer, and church services. According to The Effective Camp Research Project (ECRP) findings, children who participate in religious camps had over three times the likelihood of continuing to practice their faith five years into the future. It is compared to children who did not participate in camps with a doctrinal framework throughout their formative years.

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