News
Click on Link below to see our November 2008 Newsletter
Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers Fall 2008 Update
An Investment in Our Families, Our Congregations, and
Our Youth
Article from Newsletter Fall 2008
The Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge,
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas delivered an inspiring
keynote address on the value of camp and conference ministry to ECCC
National Council members during their annual meeting at Chapel Rock
Conference Center in the Diocese of Arizona.
Here are some of the highlights of his address:
The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas sees camping and
conferencing not as a
sideline or simply another program – it is an integral part of our
life together as a diocesan
family. As such, it takes its place alongside many other
ministries as a “pillar” of our life together.
Supporting our families and transforming lives is a
mindset of West Texas, not simply another
program that needs support.
Our purpose in camping and
conferencing is to nurture Christian faith and discipleship.
We want to develop
Christian spiritual leaders, both clergy and lay.
Servant leadership in a gospel model is taken seriously.
Camping and conferencing is not seen as an expense, but as an
investment in our congregations, our families, and our youth.
It is our philosophy that part of the diocesan budget should always
go toward this ministry. This means we do not expect it to be
completely self-supporting. It is important for the diocesan
family, through our financial stewardship, to
underwrite this ministry as a commitment to the people of the
diocese. Providing diocesan operating funds to support these
ministries means that everyone is being supported in their
formation. The amount is not the important thing; the
commitment to support it is the crucial thing for the diocese
as a whole.
Excellence is our driving force, because the most important
single spiritual factor in all of this is to
help change lives (transformation
through camping and conferencing), not simply to “put-on” some
weekends and camps for the diocese. We are intentional about
discipleship in Christ. If this is not the goal of a camping
and conferencing program of the Church, then we are off base in what
we are doing. In addition, people of the diocese want to
support this kind of approach and can get energized around this
effort.
The leadership of the diocese (bishops, clergy, elected
diocesan leaders, parish vestries, etc…) is critical to establishing
and supporting this understanding.
Diocesan clergy are integral to our summer programs.
Each week in the summer, two to three parish clergy serve at our
youth camps at Camp Capers. Each week, one clergy serves at
our family camping program at Mustang Island. This connects
the clergy to the program in highly significant ways for both the
ministry and the cleric. I tell the congregation that this is
not a “week of vacation” for the clergy.
We have a serious scholarship fund effort to help all those
who need assistance for attending. We will not let money be
the reason a child or family cannot attend summer camp. In
addition to existing scholarship funds and the annual appeal, I have
started a bishop’s golf tournament in the fall of each year with the
net proceeds (about $13,000-$15,000 annually) going to scholarships.
I have clergy and lay leaders who make this tournament happen,
including getting sponsorships from around the diocese and
businesses of parishioners which cover most of the costs so that the
registration fees in large part go directly to the scholarship fund.
A very important component to our thinking is to strengthen
our congregations, which should be the purpose of
everything on the diocesan level. A diocese is only as
strong as her individual members (both congregations and individual
persons). It is our desire and our focus to help
congregations fulfill their primary purpose, which is to be the body
of Christ at the local level by developing and nurturing disciples.
Camping and conferencing are tremendous assets in this area.
Places of camping and conferencing are places of Holy Ground.
They are places where grace is shared. We have been blessed
and therefore are called to be a blessing to others.
Camps are today’s pilgrimages and monasteries; retreat groups
are today’s pilgrims. As someone once said, our camping and
conferencing program is an effort to connect the “mountain-top
experience” (weekend or week at camp) with the “road to the cross”
(our daily living out of the faith).
Our camping
and conferencing ministry helps define who we are as a people of God
in West Texas, and I cannot commend this ministry to you forcefully
enough as you reach out to people of all ages in your dioceses