Greetings Region of Ohio,
     Every day we are in prayer for our region.  We are in prayer for all those who are church leaders, both clergy and lay.  We pray for those who belong to our congregations. We pray for healing and hope for us all.  We also pray for our leadership, that we may be guided by the Holy Spirit to do what is safe and faithful.
   

 Every day we also take in new information about this Covid-19 situation, and we make adjustments to our daily lives in many ways. These recent updates and projections have now shifted from looking at our response to the virus in terms of days and weeks, to looking ahead in terms of months. That shift has caused us to look at how we will need to approach our camping program at Camp Christian.
     

embers of the Regional Staff, the Regional Church Council, and the Camp Christian Committee (CCC) have been staying up to date with all of the mandatory changes laid out by Governor DeWine. We know that we must comply with the best practices for the safety and health of those who come to Camp Christian.  We also know that opening Camp at all is still at the mercy of this health crisis. But we know too that some people need Camp now more than ever.
   

As a result, we have come up with a creative contingency plan for this summer that allows us to still be able to offer summer programs for the youth and young people of Ohio.  To offer a safe and faithful camping experience this summer, we have laid out the following: 

• Our programming will have to be postponed and we will begin the Summer Camp season in July.

• Our summer programming will have to be condensed and we will offer one week for each of the age groups:
  • CYF Conference will be July 5-11, for youth in grades 9-12
  • Chi Rho Camp will be July 12-18, for youth in grades 6-8
  • Otter/Ribbit Camp will be July 19-25, for children in grades 2-5
  • Advance Conference will remain July 26 – August 2, for young adults ages 19-29
  • (Grandparents Camp is looking to reschedule sometime in the Fall)

• The schedule and programming for each week will be slightly different than in past summers, and the details of those programs will be made public once the directors and leaders of the various weeks have a chance to organize and plan.

     In addition to safety and health concerns, we are doing our best to be fiscally responsible with our regional resources.  In order for us to be able to afford to open Camp, even in this postponed and condensed format this year, WE NEED to total 405 attendees throughout the month of July, an average of a little over 100 people per week.  In the coming weeks we will need attendees to RSVP (payment to be made at a future date) here https://www.ccinoh.org/events_details.aspx?id=455 so that we can have a good idea of how many campers we will be serving this summer.  

It is essential that everyone who is planning to come RSVP’s by April 26th.  If we do not have enough RSVPs, we will not be able to open Camp at all this summer.

    We want dearly to believe in faith over fear and to operate out of a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity, which is why we have put this contingency summer camp plan in place.  However, we know that things are changing rapidly in this climate, and we want you to know that we will also take steps to ensure everyone’s safety first and foremost. The Regional Staff and CCC will continue to meet in the coming weeks and months to continue to discuss our shared passion for camp ministry while putting health and safety at the forefront of all of our decision making.

    Please continue to pray for one another and to pray for this region that we may be guided by God’s wisdom and discernment in this process.  Thank you for your support, patience, generosity, and most importantly, thank you for your love of Camp Christian and every young person who has ever found a home here.

    Peace and Blessings,

    Camp Christian Committee & Regional Staff

Please direct all questions to Rev. Alan Dicken, our Regional Program Director, at adicken@ccinoh.org.