On Thursdays, the Champs meet at the camp. Since we were there for two weeks, we got to be part of this twice: once as observers and once as contributors.
The Champs program is a young adult discipleship program designed to prepare young people to be cabin leaders for the camp, but also to grow them as Christians in general. Using curriculum for the Navigators, these young adults get to learn and put their learning into practice. They are given a depth of Biblical knowledge, encouraged to write their testimony (and present it), and put in positions of leadership.
One of the cool things about doing ministry in one place over a period of time is that you get to see these kids grow up into adults. The current Champs leaders are all former Champs. There are graduates of the Champs program working at the camp and others who have gone into church leadership. Some of them are in the ACTION Pastor’s College. Numerous times throughout the two weeks we would meet someone and Kelly would say proudly: this is one of our Champs graduates.
Even if he hadn’t said anything, I could usually tell. There was an approach to Scripture and ministry that stood out. In Zambia, young people are taught to file the Bible and to follow the customs. This creates a dilemma, because there are many times that the cultural norms do not match Scripture. For many facing this, going against the tribal culture is much more difficult than going against the Bible.
The Champs are taught that the Bible is the authority (this is actually what they were working on the first week they were there). They are encouraged to think through the things that they have been taught with the lens of Scripture. They came up with some amazing examples of things that they had been told that conflicted with God’s Word. In this, they were learning to build their worldview from the Bible, rather than allowing it to become their secondary source of information.
In the second week, I taught about relationships, dating, and marriage. Beginning with Genesis 2, I laid out for them the Biblical description of how we should think about these things. Then I opened it up for questions, and there were a lot. Actually, it started slow with everyone afraid to ask, but after a few brave souls were willing to stick their necks out, the questions didn’t stop. They had so many questions that we eventually had to call it so that they could go home.
A lot of what they asked me was: we have heard it said, what does the Bible say? While their country had some ideas that were new to me, I did not have a hard time giving them examples of ideas of dating and sex that America has wrong. The issue is not how different our wrongs are, but the fact that we have the same right. It was exciting to share with them the good design that God created and to encourage them to trust His way.
The Champs ministry has had tangible success and continues to be an amazing way for young people to grow in the gospel. It will be exciting to see how this group of young people use their life for the sake of God’s kingdom.
