2-Night Mini Camp Experience
Delicious Meals
Comfortable Cabins
Group Games & Activities
New Friendships
Creek, Pool, Waterfront
Spiritual Formation
An Experiential Christian Community
Parents know that for their child to truly become something – an athlete, an artist, a mathematician – it takes more than just knowledge; it takes practice. At Glisson, we know how to have fun; our passion is forming faith and character in the process.
Our 2-night Mini Camp sessions are designed to give first-time campers an immersive experience of practicing faith with a small group of counselors and fellow campers in ways that translate to everyday life back home. We put 100 years of experience into crafting an environment where every moment – whether splashing in the creek, singing at chapel, playing a group game, or sharing a meal around the dinner table – is about safely forming faith and friendships.
Your child will stay in a cabin, eat delicious meals in the dining hall, and enjoy classic camp activities. But the truly life-changing element is experiencing this entire mini-adventure with their small living group. Here, they are accepted and loved for exactly who they are, encouraging them to confidently live out their faith in new ways.
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Village Mini Camp is exclusively for rising 2nd–6th graders, with living groups storted by grade (typically the same grade or one grade apart). Village is also offered as 5-night session for Elementary, Mid High, and Senior High grade levels. And if you’re looking for outdoor adventure, check out our Outpost program.
How do I know if my child is ready for overnight camp?
For some kids their readiness for camp seems obvious: They’re the ones who never meet a stranger, who are never overwhelmed by new situations, but who thrive in everything new.
If that’s not your child, it doesn’t mean they aren’t ready for camp. Your parental uncertainty about sending them away from home is natural – it’s about keeping your kid safe. Somewhere on the continuum between safe and unsafe is uncomfortable. And since as parents we’ve noticed that our children are sometimes uncomfortable in new situations, those make our parental safety instincts perk up. Those instincts make good parents wonder about sending their kids to camp.
Our camp specializes in discomfort that’s safe. It’s the space of safe discomfort that enables us to grow, in fact, it’s only when we’re uncomfortable that we grow as human beings. If we’re comfortable we aren’t challenged enough to grow. If we’re unsafe, we’re unavailable to grow. Creating experiences and safety that help campers grow has been our work for 100 years now.
Your child may or may not be ready for camp – yet! But that readiness happens in the first few hours of their camp experience as the discomfort of meeting new people in a new place with new activities begins to fade. It’s the first growth point of many in their camp experience, and we’re honored to be a trusted partner with Glisson families in creating growth opportunities that can only happen away from the comfort of home.
Growing Together in Faith
Living Group Experience
Village is organized into “living groups” of two counselors and up to 12 campers who do “nearly everything” together. Over the course of a week and a wide variety of contexts – activities, chapel, meals, campout – living groups build and experience Christian community in ways that help translate faith to everyday life.
Morning & Night Chapel
Chapel services are interactive, age-appropriate, and planned by a mix of staff and campers. Morning chapels help to frame-up ways to live out the day’s theme in the camp day to come. Night chapels help to reflect on God’s love for us and extending that love to everyone.
Village Activities
At Glisson, summer camp is about more than just fun – it’s also faith-forming. Our goal is for each camper to have a transformational experience of Christian community.
Activities that are safe, age-appropriate, and fun are a huge part of that. Even more important than activities, though, are the relationships formed during and after those activities (as well as at chapel and meals).
Because our focus is on forming faith and friendships, no two Glisson sessions are exactly alike; each living group has its own unique schedule. And because we have more activities than we have activity blocks in that schedule, living groups can’t possibly do every activity in a single camp session.
Our counselors are trained to plan their group’s schedule with traditionally popular activities in mind (e.g. creek hike) while also factoring in camper age and the weather (i.e. forecasted conditions as well as having a “rain plan”). For Mini Camp, every activity is designed to be successful for our youngest campers.
Please note that some activities are age- and/or program-specific, including but not limited to “the blob”, which is limited to rising 7th graders and older, and certain elements of our Challenge Course that are only available for full-week sessions. Additionally, Mini Camp living groups do not go on an overnight campout.
If you have any questions about activities, please reach out to us at [email protected] or 706-864-6181.
