Seven Lessons I Learnt From Our Recent Church Camping Event

Fire. Stars. Burgers: everything that makes for a great camping weekend away. Not to forget the quintessential English countryside, complete with rolling grassy slopes, green fields, looming oak trees, and miles of hedgerows. Of course, there’s always the other side too: injuries, screaming kids, stroppiness, short tempers, and weariness. This was the setting of our recent annual church “Dangerous Camping” event.

For the record, there’s nothing dangerous about it — it’s just a catchy name to capture the essence of being outdoors, running through fields, prodding at a bonfire, and doing fun activities. I’d say that’s pretty edgy. The event, organised by Saint James Gerrards Cross and Emmanuel Chesham, invited dads and their children in school Years 3–6 (ages 7–11) for a weekend of camping.

This year I got to take both my girls — one in Year 4 and the other in Year 6. Although I had my hands full in both the literal and figurative sense, the weekend stretched me in ways I trust God will use: to make me more like Christ, to intentionally and meaningfully disciple my children with eternity in mind, and to deepen my relationships with other dads. All in all, it was worth every penny, and worth every second.

Truth be told, I don’t particularly like the activity itself, but I absolutely love what it creates. The parts of camping that I’ve grown to love and deeply value are the people I get to spend time with and the lessons I learn along the way. And to be fair, we had it quite easy considering all the delicious food was so graciously prepared for us. What a blessing!

Reflecting on the weekend, here are seven things I think it did for me:

1. It caused me to think about my pace

Between my wife and me, the pace of life often feels like “Go, go, go.” School runs, work, more school runs, church midweek activities, family events, school events, and after-school clubs. Sometimes, this can feel relentless, exhausting, and overwhelming. Because of this pace, family worship often feels crowded, rushed, and on the verge of being squeezed out. While camping doesn't fix the issue of life's pace, it forced me to slow down (at times) and reflect on what's important to God. During the camp's quieter moments, nothing gives me greater delight than sitting with my Bible and meditating on a particular passage.

2. It challenged me to develop an eternal perspective

An honest confession: camping isn’t my thing. It’s physically draining, uncomfortable, and requires a huge amount of planning and packing. From a short-term perspective, its rewards can feel limited. But when I view it with an eternal perspective, I can’t begin to imagine the good that could come from it. As a Christian, the Bible reminds me that we are to "...look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)

3. It helped me develop some important life skills

One of my genuine camping fears was setting up a large tent and getting it right the first time. When I first started, my camping skills were as useful as a chocolate teapot. I could barely understand the instructions to put away a pop-up tent, let alone set up a two-room, four-person tent. Which angle do the tent pegs go in? How many pegs are enough? How do I get the huge tent back into that tiny bag? Pretty much everything about camping slows me right down. For many, camping skills have been accumulated over years of doing it. For amateurs like me, it feels like trying to start a fire using two wet sticks and sheer optimism. Thankfully, camping exposes this but then places me in a relaxed environment to begin learning. Priceless, in my opinion. And doing it alongside other dads—who are probably just as anxious—not only makes it fun but reassuring too.

4. It confronted my sinful nature

By the end of day one, everyone is a little exhausted. Most kids have been at school all day and dads have been at work. As the weekend goes on, tempers run short, patience wears thin, and attitudes begin to emerge. If there’s any event in the church calendar that reminds me to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), it’s probably this one. My flesh is prone to find reasons to complain, grumble, and lose patience with my kids and others. And so, I'm thankful to the Lord that camping enables deeper sanctification. C.S. Lewis' words echo loudly, "Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is?"

5. It created an environment to deepen relationships

Camping in a field forced me to share space. I’m not only sharing a tent with my kids, but a field with both friends and strangers. This created the perfect opportunity for deeper, more meaningful conversations that are otherwise drowned out by the noise of everyday life. One thing my girls and I enjoy is settling in for the night in cosy sleeping bags. I love the giggles, the jokes, and the inevitable farting noises that make us all laugh. It's just so precious, and it deepens bonds by creating memories.

6. It helped me see the real servants among us

There's a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting together the camping weekend away, and we were truly blessed to have a team of servant-hearted helpers who prepared food, activities, and communications to ensure everything ran as smoothly as possible. They did this out of a genuine desire to make it as easy as possible for the dads and their kids to get the maximum spiritual benefit out of the weekend. In my opinion, seeing this is incredibly precious; it models a Christlike service that is profound for both the dads and their kids to witness, and while the fruit of their efforts had an immediate impact, the full spiritual impact is something eternity itself will reveal.

7. It corrected my over-reliance on comfort

Finally, I really like sleeping in my own bed. I really like long, hot showers. I don’t like feeling cold or wearing thick outdoor socks to bed. And I definitely don't like having to walk across a soggy field in the pitch black to use the toilet. Sleeping on an excuse for a mattress for two nights doesn’t exactly fill me with excitement. But again, as a Christian, I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in Luke 9:58: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” If I genuinely seek to be like Jesus and model Christlikeness to my children, what physical comforts am I prepared to live without, even temporarily? I think if I'm going to be involved in raising the next generation of godly disciples who love Jesus and live for Him, I'm going to need a little comfort-compromising grit.

So there we have it: seven lessons I learned from our recent church camping event.