Ordination

• Congratulations, you are officially unofficially ordained as a pastor to the youth of Union Chapel! You will not make a meaningful connection with every single student. So with this in mind, you are encouraged to focus on pastoring and connecting primarily with the students in your small group. But if you see someone walking off a cliff, please, by all means do something ;)
• Lead from your personal intimacy with Jesus. You cannot give what you do not already possess. (see the story of the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-16). Make space to connect with Jesus leading up to and at camp, whatever that looks like for you.

Small group dynamics:

• Set the tone by expressing a desire to create a safe environment where things can be shared in confidence (so long as nobody’s in immediate harm)
• Implement a rule where you go around the circle, having only one person speaks at a time, so that everyone “gets to play”
• Encourage active listening and express gratitude when someone is done sharing.
• Feel flexibility with discussion questions. No need to cover all the questions, or always stay on topic if your group is really interested or passionate in talking about something else.
• No need to have all the answers. It’s okay to express your own limits in knowledge and even your own doubts.
• When in doubt, turn to wonder. “Tell me more about that”…”I’m curious how you came to think that”…”I wonder why that is…”…etc.

Jelly Talks

• Jelly Talks are used as a tool for meaningful conversations at camp. The idea of Jelly Talks were introduced to me (Ben) as a freshman in high school at a summer camp with New Heights Church. This activity came at a pivotal point in my own life story, and I still look back on the meaningful conversations I had via the Jelly Talks as being catalysts to my decision to follow Jesus. Here’s how they work…
• You will be given a supply of colored jelly bracelets. Students are encouraged to approach leaders in order to share a bit about their life/story. You can jelly whenever time allows, but the best time will usually be during the 5-6 hours of free time in the afternoon.
• Don’t give them out easily. Be slow to hand out jellies in order to encourage authentic connections. In other words, maybe don’t give out a jelly simply because a student told you what their favorite color was over lunch. But also please (obviously) don’t be emotionally exploitative! I trust you on this.
• Students must have a jelly talk with all of the leaders in order to have a repeat jelly talk with someone.
• As much as we’d like to keep this conversations confidential, if something highly sensitive, inappropriate, or concerning is shared with you, please report to the camp director (Ben).

Other advice

• Avoid forming "leader clusters". This is not said to discourage making meaningful connections with the other leaders (especially your small group co-leader), but rather to keep us from missing the reason we’re at camp: to connect with students.
• Address them as "students" or “friends” instead of "kids". Imagine how different it feels when someone older than you treats you as a friend rather than a subordinate. Language goes a long way!
• Learn and use students' names. For some reason, when someone calls us by our first name it scratches our itch for belonging/being seen. And on the inverse, many of us have felt the impersonal effect of being called “dude” or “you” by someone. The students (and you!) should always have name tags on, but if they don’t then please remind the students in your small group to put theirs back on.
• You may get really tired. That’s normal. There were moments in Jesus’ ministry where he and his disciples were so busy they didn’t even have time to eat. Sometimes discipleship feels like the cross and that shouldn’t come as surprise. BUT…you are a human and you also have limits. You are welcome to slip away for half an hour or so during the day if you need to take a nap or exercise, or hang out in the leader kitchen and enjoy some refreshments. Just please touch base with your co-leader before doing so.