Planning ahead for Camp

Every January we are required to hold a meeting of the commission that runs Ardennen Bijbelkamp - our Bible Camp. Our club is officially known as “Shield bearers of the Faith”, but in short we always use “ABK” which is an abbreviation of Ardennes Bible Camp. This official meeting is necessary to do all of our official stuff, but we also use it as a time to encourage one another. 

This year we are looking ahead to some bigger changes. As always we encourage everyone in the church in Belgium and The Netherlands to remember that camp belongs to all of us. Until recently, everything that was done at camp was done by members. Even the renovation in 2012 was financed by gifts from the various churches. So we want to continue encouraging one another to take part in this mission and opportunity. 

In 2024 we expanded the number of camp events held at the camp and made some of the camp moments formally a part of camp. We have 4 weeks in the summer (3 youth weeks and a family week) and two weekends - one in the Fall and one Winter camp. But we have added two weeks of VBK (Vacation Bible Camp) and a week for young adults. It is exciting to see how camp can be used. 

Some quick stats on 2024: camp was used 30 times with 463 campers and 1372 overnights. There were 39 volunteers helping with the various activities. Although the number of campers and times camp was used ar not records, everything has been steadily increasing throughout the years (even the years of corona rules). 

One of the challenges continues to be how we can encourage use of camp while keeping it accessible for all those who want to come and still cover the costs for running camp. Last year, with high energy costs, we were quite a bit behind covering costs. This year we have gotten closer after raising our prices (which had not been raised in more than 10 years). In the coming year we will continue to see how we can best serve the churches and Christians in Belgium and the Netherlands. 

One of the biggest bits of news this year concerned our plans for further renovation. We plan to tear down and rebuild anew the kitchen and bathroom section, bringing everything up to modern standards. This section of camp was the first section to be an actual building. Since ABK started in 1965 - his building has been serving quite some time. 

But the city had at first blocked our plans. They do not want tourism growing any bigger than it already is and feared that we might be growing too large. After first finding a good translator from the church in Verviers who could help with the meeting being held in French, we were able to explain things and move forward with our plans. It may be this year that we finally get to get going on this renovation (which has been in the planning for 3 years). But we may wait until 2026. We would love your prayers for these plans. 

Camp remains an amazing way to help our young people, reach out to families, train members of the church, and offer opportunities to encourage one another and serve. Many of you have helped in various ways throughout the years with this wonderful place. Thank you for your prayers, your financial and physical help and your participation in so many ways. 

You can always find lots of pictures of previous years at our site. 

And you can see even more at the camp website (in Dutch, but you can figure it out): www.bijbelkamp.eu