Camp Widjiitiwin – the way camp was meant to be… relational,
central, natural, reaching out, a loving community focused on Christ. It’s like
coming home, it’s my camp!
When camp is over at the end of the summer and the campers
and staff all go home it isn’t so much the waterslide, ropes course, games or
archery that campers will remember the most. It’s the people, the cabin leaders
and staff that the campers will look up to as heroes and an example of what it
means to be a Christ follower. Our goal is to find and bring to camp the best
Christian young people to lead and work at Widji.
Widjiitiwin is:
·
Relational – it’s all about
relationships. The ones between camper and cabin leaders and other staff,
between campers and between staff. We focus on building a solid relationship
with each camper, knowing their names, learning about who they, becoming
friends and discovering how we can help them develop as people. One thing
missing for many kids and youth is someone who will listen. We’re there for
them.
·
Central – We practice centralized camping
where we are together as a community many times during the day. We’re together
at all meals, two all camp games every day, chapels and evening games or
program. We do camp together!
·
Natural – Widji is in a natural environment
of Muskoka, Ontario along a river that shows us the Creator in the wonder of
His creation. From the deer family that visits us morning and evening, to the
skunks, raccoons and the occasional bear wandering through camp to being able
to see an amazing expanse of stars you can see God.
·
Reaching out – going out beyond our
circle of influence to teach others about the good news of Jesus and that He
came to die for us to be reconciled back to God. We’re not pushy about our
message, but seek to show how Jesus makes a difference in our lives as we live
them out with the campers for a week or more.
·
A loving community – we love kids and
youth, we want the best for them and believe that through camp we can create
life-changing experiences.
·
Focused on Christ – we exist to be
ambassadors for Christ to children and youth. It’s our job to demonstrate the
gospel message through all the activities, programs and people at Camp
Widjiitiwin.
Themes aren’t unique to Widji, but they are
becoming bigger and bigger here. Themes have become an integral part of camp.
We’re building bigger props and incorporating theme into all aspects of camp
including our Friday theme days.
We do a lot of more traditional camp activities and we’re
together as a whole camp a lot. We have at least two all camp games every day,
we’re together for camp chapels, we have a weekly camp pastor to speak at
chapel and who is available to campers and staff. Camp pastors also are a
somewhat unique feature at Widji. He does a morning thought at breakfast to set
our day in the right direction. We have our own unique game called Widjiitiwin Basketball
that is a combination of football, basketball, soccer and rugby.
It’s like coming home, it’s my camp!