Easter Camp
NORTH | CENTRAL | SOUTH | INTERMEDIATES
Over ten-thousand young people meeting Jesus every Easter!
We were all young once. We can remember wanting to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, something that was fun, adventurous and crazy! For many thousands of intermediates, teenagers across the country, this is that place.
Easter Camp is packed full of worship, world-class communicators, live music, sports competitions, seminars, creative arts, talent quests and many other fun and engaging activities.
So, why do we do this? Because there are many teenagers in our society who feel misunderstood and confused about many of the issues they face in life. At camp, we want to create a space where young people can belong to a community, through a local youth community. Together, young people can learn about the issues they face and the challenges they will come across in life. In challenging these young people mentally, physically, spiritually and socially we hope to provide them with tools for life and a hope for the future.
History of Easter Camp
In the 1910s “The Baptist” magazine reported that young Baptist men were the first to run and attend Easter camps. By Easter 1921, young women had caught up with the idea of Easter camps and ran their own – at a cost of only 2 shillings. In the late 1950s, some daring person suggested females and males could be at the same camp and they combined both camps. By the 1970s, Baptist Easter Camps were being run in most districts of New Zealand with “sophisticated studies, workshops and polished concerts”.
The focus of these early camps was to have young people leading other young people, resulting in most youth communities having dance, drama and music teams with each contributing to their local events. The 2000s saw huge growth as smaller district camps united into larger combined gatherings. Baptist Youth Ministries were responsible for running the events to enable youth leaders to be free to focus on building community with their own groups.