Last week, I returned to Columbus after directing a session at Bratton-Green, the summer camp owned and operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi located north of Canton, MS. For 78 years, Camp Bratton-Green has formed children, youth, and adults in the teachings of Christ and the way of God. For just as long, it has held sessions for youth and adult campers living with physical and cognitive impairments. It has hosted groups from around the state and around the nation.
However, when I returned from camp this year, I learned of the tragic news of the terrible flooding in the Texas hill country, and especially the loss of the campers and counselors of Camp Mystic. This hit me hard.
I am a product of summer camps, and especially strong and well-supported youth ministry across the state. I attribute my life of faith, my continued dedication to an institutional church, and my vocation, to programs like Camp Bratton-Green.
For me, camp is one of those places that exists in the world but not of the world. It teaches us how to live the same way. For a week (or more), we step into a different rhythm, one shaped by prayer, play, and presence. There, the Christian life doesn’t just feel possible — it feels natural.
What does it look like to trust, and care, and to give the benefit of the doubt? To interact with love first, rather than self-interest or self-preservation? Camp invites us to imagine how we might live together in a different way, and catch a vision of the world as God is renewing it.
But camp is not just for the young. It is a school of discipleship for all ages — a place where youth and adults alike learn to serve, to receive grace, and to model faith for one another. Whether we are campers, volunteers, or staff, we encounter Christ — not just in chapel talks or messy games, but in the faces of those we live alongside. We meet Him in shared laughter, in late-night conversations, in the quiet moments when we realize we are part of something much bigger than ourselves.
Church camps are more than a place — they are a glimpse of the Kingdom. In the wake of the tragic flooding of Camp Mystic, I am reminded just how sacred these spaces are, how they hold not just memories, but holy ground where God meets us in the ordinary and extraordinary moments of life.
The Rev. Andrew McLarty is Rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Columbus.
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