Summer: a ‘busy, fruitful time for youth ministry’

Events such as God Camp and the Steubenville Atlanta conference provide opportunities to encounter Christ

By Bee Goodman

Somebody sneaks in pink hair chalk. Another sneaks in a mini airhorn. Another guards a giant beach ball more than twice her size as if it’s her life’s purpose.

Kids do silly things, and in the moment those silly things can be inconvenient, but observing them afterward brings a smile even to the toughest chaperone. Any summer camp is full of moments like these, but there are many moments of grace that happen only when these kids pack up for a week and go away to places like God Camp, a Tau House service trip, the Steubenville conference in Atlanta, or one of the many other youth events that fill the Diocese of Knoxville’s calendar each summer.

“People often assume that youth ministry slows down when school lets out for the summer. I always laugh when I hear that because summer is one of the busiest and most fruitful times of the year for youth ministry,” said Amanda Henderson, diocesan director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry.

As awesome as the diocese’s Catholic schools are, they still carry academic responsibilities that don’t hold the same appeal as a week away at a fun summer event. No uniforms, no homework, no pesky math problems where kids ask, “when will I use this?” for the hundredth time, a question whose absence is a blessing to educators and students alike.

“Throughout the summer, our calendar is filled with camps, conferences, mission trips, retreats, leadership formation, and service opportunities,” Ms. Henderson said. “Youth-ministry leaders often joke that we spend the summer living out of a suitcase, traveling from one event to the next.”

It’s exhausting at times, she said, but also one of the greatest privileges of the vocation. “Time and again, we watch young people return home with a renewed love for Christ, a stronger connection to the Church, and a desire to become leaders in their own parishes,” Ms. Henderson said.

Building the Church as one family

“One of my favorite parts of summer ministry is that I don’t simply help organize these experiences; I get to share them,” Ms. Henderson said. “When we step outside the walls of our own parishes, something powerful happens. Students who may have never met discover they belong to something much bigger than their own youth group.”

“Friendships form across parish lines, barriers begin to disappear, and they begin to experience the beauty of the Church as one family,” she said. Sharing meals, traveling, serving, and praying together for several days create relationships that can’t be formed during a weekly youth-group meeting. The same holds true among parish leaders, who use the summer to encourage one another, exchange ideas, and pray together. “Instead of functioning as isolated parishes, we become one diocesan family sharing the same mission,” Ms. Henderson said.

God Camp

For rising sixth- through eighth-graders, that first life-changing encounter with Christ often happens at God Camp, held this year for the fourth time at Adventure Ocoee in Ocoee, Tenn. The camp has deep roots in East Tennessee, having been sponsored by the Chattanooga Deanery Youth Ministry Office since the 1980s and now organized through the diocesan Youth Ministry Office. Many parishes offer part payment or scholarships to help offset rising costs.

Campers stay in air-conditioned cabins and spend their days on lake-day inflatables, a water park with a wave pool, lazy river and giant water slide, low ropes courses, and outdoor sports. Evenings bring bonfires with s’mores, prayer services, skits, crafts, the celebration of Mass, adoration under the stars, praise and worship, and capture the flag, alongside large-group talks and small-group discussions.

This year’s theme, “Putting on Your Armor of God,” met campers where they are, faith and maturity wise, during some of the hardest years of adolescence, when middle-schoolers are working out who they are within their schools and friend groups. With the help of leaders who have walked that same road, God Camp gives them space to understand that, with faith and the right tools, they will come out on the other side.

This summer, 24 high-school leaders and more than 50 participants took part. Leaders are recruited from former campers through youth ministers, social media, and the high schools, and go through an application and interview process to help organizers see where they are in their faith. This year’s team included Leaders, who served as cabin leaders and led small groups, talks, and prayer, and a Service Crew, who ran icebreakers and handled behind-the-scenes setup, earning the nickname “the hype group.”

“One of the greatest joys is watching leadership multiply. The middle-school camper who encounters Christ at God Camp becomes the high-school counselor who returns to serve others,” Ms. Henderson said. When eighth-graders move on to ninth grade, they often can’t wait to return as leaders themselves.

A wise priest once told Donna Jones, director of God Camp since 2007: “If you teach youth to teach, they will learn.” It’s a saying she returns to every time she plans the camp, which has run continuously since the 1980s and remains open to anyone in the diocese.

“Two of my favorite parts every year are seeing the team come together in one goal and seeing them grow even closer to God in the process in giving of themselves to make sure the middle-schoolers go away feeling unconditionally loved, stronger in their faith, and with new friendships. The second is seeing all the middle-schoolers forming new friendships, growing closer to God by learning new types of prayer, learning more about their faith, and seeing the joy they got from being accepted and loved unconditionally for who they are.” Ms. Jones said.

Steubenville Atlanta: 50 years of encounter

For high-schoolers, one of the summer’s biggest draws is the Steubenville Atlanta conference, held this year in Duluth, Ga. Produced by Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, in partnership with Life Teen, the retreat-style conference drew thousands of teens as part of a nationwide series of Steubenville conferences held coast to coast each summer.

This year’s gathering carried extra significance, marking 50 years since Franciscan University first began sponsoring youth conferences across the country. The milestone weekend opened with a message from Pope Leo XIV, setting a tone of universal Church unity for a conference built on encounter, prayer, and the sacraments.

This summer’s theme, “Worthy,” carried immeasurable weight for young minds. Every person, young or old, has sought validation from others at some point. It’s easy to forget that seeking others’ approval is an impossible task, like trying to identify one small voice in a crowd of thousands.

Speaker Natalie Garza hosted a women’s talk on friendship, drawing on the story of David and how his desires led to sin that snowballed from a small act of weakness into deadly force against his comrade Uriah. She shared a similar moment from her own life, when her desire to fit in led her to hurt a close friend, a reminder that the wounds of compromised friendship are as old as Scripture and just as present in the lives of today’s teens.

“The teen inspired at Steubenville comes home ready to lead in their parish,” Ms. Henderson said.

What teens actually gain

Ask leaders why a week away matters so much, and the answer usually comes back to time. During the school year, faith formation happens in stolen moments among homework, practices, and everything else pulling at a teen’s attention. Camp removes all of that.

“Spending several days together allows relationships to deepen, faith to be lived in community, and young people to experience the Church in ways that aren’t possible during a weekly gathering,” Ms. Henderson said.

Living alongside leaders for days rather than an hour a week also changes how adults see their teens.

“Adults come to know their teens not simply as participants but as individuals with unique gifts, struggles, questions, hopes, and dreams,” she said.

That kind of attention builds trust, and trust is what opens the door to real mentorship, the kind that keeps going long after everyone’s back home.

Camp also gives teens a safe place to be figured out rather than finished. Middle school and high school are hard years for working out identity, and camp puts teens alongside leaders just a few years older who’ve been through the same thing and can walk with them instead of lecturing from a distance. That peer-to-peer witness often lands where a parent’s or teacher’s advice can’t. It’s also why so many campers come back as leaders.

“These shared experiences don’t just impact the participants,” Ms. Henderson said. “They form the next generation of Catholic leaders.”

There’s a practical side to it, too. A week away from home, phones, and familiar routines forces teens to problem-solve, adapt, and rely on themselves and their community in small but real ways, often their first taste of independence. And the sacraments, adoration, and worship they experience in community, away from distraction, tend to hit differently than a Sunday obligation.

One mission, many paths

God Camp and Steubenville Atlanta are only two threads in a larger tapestry of summer opportunities across the diocese.

“People sometimes ask why we offer so many different summer opportunities instead of focusing on just one event,” Ms. Henderson said. “The answer is simple: every young person is different, and every parish has its own unique culture, gifts, and needs.”

Some teens serve through Tau House, where faith comes alive through works of mercy.

“The young person who serves on Tau House begins to recognize that God may be calling them to a lifetime of service,” Ms. Henderson said.

Others develop gifts for liturgical ministry through One Bread One Cup, while the diocese’s Hispanic young women find community through La Vida en Rosa. Many parishes send teens to Life Teen camps such as Covecrest and Hid den Lake, or to serve through Catholic Heart Workcamp, while countless parishes host their own retreats, mission trips, and service projects.

“The Church has always understood that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to evangelization,” Ms. Henderson said. “Our goal isn’t simply to fill a calendar with events. Instead, it is to provide a variety of opportunities where every young person can encounter Jesus Christ in a way that fits with where they are on their faith journey.”

“We want every young person to encounter Jesus Christ, know they are deeply loved by God, discover that they belong in His Church, and recognize that they have unique gifts to share,” she added.

“Summer youth ministry isn’t simply about filling a calendar with activities,” she said. “It is about forming disciples, developing young leaders, strengthening mentors, building community across our diocese, and creating opportunities for lives to be transformed by Christ. That is the heart of summer youth ministry.

“That’s why, when someone says, ‘You must get a break during the summer,’ I can’t help but laugh because summer is when the real work, growth, and joy of youth ministry happen.”

 

[Top photo: La Vida en Rosa is a girls youth retreat that shares community with teen girls.]