Making the Case for Support...
Why Blue Springs anyway? We're glad you asked!
od uses moments to reveal Himself. We all need a place where those moments will have a chance to be experienced.
More souls have had a significant faith-shaping experience at Blue Lake than at any other venue in our Conference. Since its founding in 1951, almost 500,000 participants have attended more than 4,200 events. Almost every United Methodist organization in the Panels Conference and many ecumenical groups have utilized Blue Lake. The number of those called to the ministry while at Blue Lake is significant. The encounters that generations of United Methodists have had there lie deep in their souls, and are often held up as part of the fundamental building blocks of their very being.
Making Disciples for Jesus Christ
Blue Lake extends the reach of the local church. Participants in programs at Blue Lake form unique communities that inspire faithful practice of the Christian life. Children, youth and adults find camping and retreats to be powerful faith-forming experiences in the context of Christian community.
Camp provides a kind of laboratory for the practice of one’s faith in concrete ways. Whether camp is a person’s first exposure to the Christian faith, or a continuation of learning and development, the experience of camp allows young and old to grow and be challenged in their life decisions. Blue Lake provides a doorway for people from all backgrounds to connect with the United Methodist Church. It creates leadership opportunities for those seeking ways to minister to the world.
Living in a Christian Community & Facing Our Fear of the Stranger
Camp is a great leveler. At camp we meet face-to-face, live with, and overcome our fear of differences with persons from diverse backgrounds beyond our local community. It is a simple temporary gathering where economic differences fade and where prejudices can be challenged as new friendships are formed in an intentional Christian community.
Camp clearly focuses our attention upon the needs of children. Christian camping has proven to be a setting where the needs of the poor can be addressed, while offering them a new vision of hope.
Additionally, congregations facing issues of significant transition and rebirth can be vitally supported in that process through retreats and camps. These “isolated temporary systems” inspire persons to explore and rehearse new ways of living in community, new avenues of working together, and new means of responding to God's call.
Developing Spiritual Leaders
It has been the tradition in Christian camping and the passion of staff and volunteers to work with God to identify, nurture, and call persons to lay and ordained spiritual leadership. There is no better setting to equip disciples for mission and ministry in connection with mission agencies and local opportunities to serve in the world.
Teaching Creation Care in an Environmental Treasure
The value of Blue Lake is inestimable. The beauty of the outdoors helps create an environment where people can gather in faith and focus on their spiritual journeys. Benefiting from fifty-six years of sacrifice and commitment by many kind and generous souls, Blue Lake enjoys an ideal camp location surrounded and protected by the 96,000 acre Conecuh National Forest. Today it would be an expensive endeavor, indeed, to buy 300 such acres in the middle of a national forest.
Rich with wildlife and fauna, Blue Lake and the surrounding forest is a rare preserve offering a study in the diverse eco- systems of the region. It is a natural haven that inspires a sense of awe and wonder at God’s work, and serves as a perfect backdrop to teach proper stewardship of God’s gifts to us.
A new day is dawning at Blue Lake
There is a growing, developing vision for the future of this ministry. Blue Lake has an opportunity to make a significant stride forward toward fulfilling its mission, but time is of the essence. Blue Lake’s leaders realize that they must proactively go to those responsible for nurturing spiritual leaders and offer creative support and partnering. It is vital to the well being of the denomination and the wider community.
- Successful United Methodist conference, camp and retreat ministries are becoming close working partners with their conferences, districts and churches.
- Conference, camp and retreat ministries are partnering with church start-ups to provide significant early defining experiences for new congregations and their leaders.
- Christian camps are hosting creative program offerings for families, children, and youth such as basketball camps, multi-day wilderness hiking and camping, parent/child introductory one-night sleepovers, mountain bike excursions, women’s conferences, men’s weekend fishing retreats, meaningful retreats for clergy and their spouses, and events for the young at heart.
- Camp and retreat ministries can be very effective partners with the Church by being much more intentional about identifying and nurturing persons for spiritual leadership, especially youth and young adults, as once was the case.
The vision for the future of Blue Lake includes a pristine setting; the exemplary modeling of Christian hospitality by a professional staff and well-trained volunteers; and, most importantly, the ministry’s unique capacity to combine the transforming elements of the Christian life. These elements, competently presented, make Blue Lake priceless.
With your help, Blue Lake will continue to build communities that represent the kingdom of God, nurturing them in Christian love, and helping them grow into capable and committed leaders for our church and world. The opportunities to reach out to diverse populations of the Alabama – West Florida region, coupled with the environmental wealth of the property, work together to make Blue Lake a true treasure of United Methodists in this conference.
