Today Facebook reminded me that in 2013 I took four church camps in a row. My reaction: What? Gila ka (Was I crazy)? What was I thinking? I find taking church camps very tiring. First, there is usually the travel to a destination away from home. Then there are the many new people you need to connect with. So you work hard to make those connections as meaningful as possible. Of course there are the four or five talks which you pray and hope will speak to the people, and hope that they haven’t heard your favourite jokes before. This is kinda hard now because some will have checked out your previous talks on YouTube. Then there are the many requests for counselling and prayer. Even at meals. And don’t get me started on the unreliable WIFI and eating too much. And no, I don’t do games.
So, yes, I find church camps very demanding. Which is not to say I don’t understand the value of church camps. Away from their usual Sunday services, the church is reminded that she is people and not a place. And away from their usual contexts they are in a position to hear God afresh. And since life in Singapore or KL is very busy, camps are a good place to renew friendships and make new ones. Sometimes God has used camps to bring substantial healing to a church or to lead the church to experience major breakthroughs. So, no, I am not against church camps. But I am thinking that this will no longer be something that I do at this chapter of my life.
The older you get the more you need to be intentional about stewarding your time and energy. I feel that at this chapter of life I want to focus on writing a few key books and mentor (walk with) a few key people. I want to focus on a few areas, like ministry to Third Agers (folks 60 and above), and churches that meet in homes. I think that my ministry of building bridges between young and old must continue. And underlying it all, the promotion of spiritual friendship. I have always been a populariser, making complex ideas understandable for the person in the pew. I think I need to go deeper in the things I teach and write about, and that will need more reading and reflection.
Growing older comes with the growing realisation that I can’t do it all and therefore the need to ask the Lord what I should say yes to and what I should say no to. I sense that I should be saying no to church camps for now. I have already turned down a number of invitations to speak at church camps. I do this with guilt because the pastors that invite me are usually good friends of mine and I hate to let them down. When I explain my reasons most of them are understanding and supportive.
I need to say that I have about four or five more camps I need to do this year and next. These were folks who invited me sometime ago, long before my new convictions about church camps. Of course I will honour my commitments. And I don’t want to be legalistic about this. God may give fresh orders in future. Still, I very much doubt I will be doing four church camps in a row ever again. Well, I may reconsider if the archangel Michael were to come and give me divine orders to do so.