Why is Christian Camping effective? This is what we do... but why do we do it? What are the benefits? What's the point? Here are five reasons why we believe camp ministry is worthwhile:   Labels, expectations of others, mindless daily routines, influences of parents, teachers, peers, colleagues, media, and friends are all left behind in favor of a special temporary community with focused purpose: Presenting Christ and nurturing those in the faith toward maturity and Christian leadership. Campers are immersed in a Christ-centered, loving community free to embrace the values and lifestyle of that community. Freed from the negative and constraining power often existing in the permanent community, caught up with the expectation of trying new things, campers are excited about personal change and growth.     A church ministers spiritually, a school educates mentally, the home and peers influence socially, and athletic programs develop physically. While many institutions focus on a certain dimension of the person, camp is designed to minister to the whole person.     Camp is foremost a highly relational experience The activities of daily camp life teach social skills At camp spiritual mentors are always present. They are visual examples of how to live when tired, how to be kind when others are unkind, how to control anger, how to discipline with love, how to ask forgiveness, how to grow spiritually, how to deal with temptation, and how to live in community. Christ is the most significant relationship to cultivate, and the only relationship that brings meaning and healing to all other relationships. The 24 hour living relationship with campers allows counselors in a typical week of camp to have more time to minister to campers than youth pastors have in a year, and as much quality time as parents have in six months. Jesus is our model for ministry, and He discipled His 12 by living and traveling with them in a temporary relational ministry.     The product of heightened senses, total engagement, and readiness to learn - combined with spiritual truths attached to these memory-making experiences - equals life-shaping memories. Because camp is a contrast to everyday life, and because this contrast causes the campers senses to be heightened, time takes on new meaning. Campers live more in the psychological present. Events at camp become more engaging, alive, vivid. Camp is a distinct and intense experience that will forever stand out from other life experiences in one's memory.     A survey commissioned by CCI/USA noted that more than half the people in full time Christian ministry today had made life changing decisions at camp. Camp can provide an ideal place to test one's capabilities and expose weaknesses, to sort out and prove what learnings are consistent with reality and actually work. It's a chance to discover God in a deeper way and to see His faithfulness to His promises realized in tough situations.