|
By Narayan Mitra
SOME 20 elementary students, aged nine to 13, spent a week of their summer
holidays creatively – by attending the Creation Discovery Science Camp in Kamloops July 27 – 31.
Held for seven consecutive years as a church community effort, the camp has
provided ample glimpses into God’s world – its beginnings, and its continuation since then.
The mission has been to educate children about the Creation foundation of the
Christian faith.
The educational and fun camp kept the children engrossed with hands-on science
experiments, crafts and cool projects, and a variety of group activities.
Kamloops Church of the Nazarene member Norma Webster has been volunteering for
four years at the camp, and has seen her children’s faith in the scriptures reinforced as a result. For the last two years, she
has helped with a scripture-related crafts program.
Webster’s 11 year old daughter, Shanon, said the camp has taught her that “God is always with you. Let others in my school believe what they want. I don’t care if they think evolution is real.”
This year’s camp introduced guest speakers for the first time. People with credentials in
their fields appealed to the young people’s minds, as well as their hearts, as they shared perspectives on creation from
both science and the Bible.
Sandra Cheung of Gateway City Church has coordinated the camp since its
establishment. Her efforts have paid off in the lives of her own children, who
she said are active propagators of “the Father’s world.”
The teaching combines science and biblical passages. “We look at [creation’s] scientific aspects, but teach the whole six days of the Genesis story. For
example, the children were taught about volcanic, sedimentary rocks, the
fossils, erosion, layering and liquefaction from the first day.
“Corresponding with the second day of creation, we paid a visit to the local
Wildlife Park to see snakes and rabbits. Two church summer interns plus some
group leaders helped through all these.”
Continue article >>
|
First-year Thompson Rivers University student Adelaide Antonelli has helped in
all seven camps, but this year was the first for her to organize the science
experiments.
“I loved doing it, and thought the kids were a lot smarter than they are given
out to be. Some of them are confused because their teachers tell one thing,
whereas the Bible teaches another. I had the privilege of telling them that the
two don’t have to be against each other.
“By the end of the camp, pretty much every one of them was clear about the
six-day creation, understood that dinosaurs and humans were together at the
same time, and the falsehood of the geological columns.”
Antonelli , a natural sciences major, wants to continue helping out in the
camps.
More than anything else, the need for solid spiritual input into the lives of
the children was not lost sight of by the organizers. Daily praise and worship
times provided the essential spiritual connection, and harmoniously blended
with the end purpose of holding the camp.
September 2009
|
