Every summer since 2007 the Hillside Reformed Presbyterian Church has been working with Scripture Union to host a week long day camp with the intent to bring the Word of God to children in the surrounding communities through sports and devotions.
The day starts out in the arena of the John Levi Community Center (which Hillside rents for camp) where the children are dropped off and warm up the day with games like blob tag, octopus and others. After this campers will join their team and move on to their separate sports using the neighbouring Glemmill Park for its soccer field and baseball diamond. Throughout the day the campers took part in four different sports, each day working on new skills and techniques.
During lunch all the teams come together and one of the SU coaches will share a short story along his or her testimony on how God came into their life and has changed them, after that the teams will split off and read a devotional followed questions. For some campers this is the first time they hear the Bible and that’s part of the camp, to bring God’s word to kids in the area who have never heard it before. For kids who have grown up in the church, this helps them to understand and learn more about God and His works.
Some people who are very important in making this camp happen every year are Pastor Matt Dyck, Treena and Bill Lowry, and Megan Chan of the Hillside
RPC. These wonderful people have been helping to run and organize the camp since it started. The people who come and volunteer are also super important, without them the camp couldn’t run as well as it does!
Thanks to Asher Newman from the Ottawa RPC who was a volunteer at this years Sports Camp for this article.
