Working the Ground in God’s Vineyard: Covid-edition By Elina Lo
A white screen buzzing from the projector. A motley group of hooded young adults hunched over laptops. Keyboards click-clacking away. That’s how it was running camp from the church vineyard— a camp that was happening in various homes with several youth groups all at once. It had travelled down the grapevine that several churches were pausing their camps for the year because of the pandemic. With the five-person restriction, it didn’t seem like camp was going to happen for our youths either. But somehow, a team was formed, a plan sketched for a Youth Service (YS) virtual camp across the island, and the theme selected: “Five Alive”. We had no idea what to expect, but with heads bowed in prayer, we dived right in and trusted that God would come through in our time of need. The following days of camp were a rush of coordinating with gracious parents who had opened their homes for the youths, and pinging messages back and forth to ensure the youths had reached their game checkpoints safely. There was a whole storyline setting the youths in the fictional city of 2035 Leopolis, challenging them to make decisions as a team and to reconsider what being the Church of Christ really means.
I must say, I had a hard time keeping the cords together while communicating with the youths only through phone and text. Had they gotten the message? Were they on the right path? Yet, this reminded me of my own walk with God: communicating through prayer and the Word. It’s difficult to trust in His instruction when I can’t see Him, but His Holy Spirit has shown me more times than I can remember that His Word is trustworthy and true. All I have to do is hold on to Him and keep going— one step at a time. After all, who better to trust than He who knows all things from beginning to end? As the white screen flickered to life, a smiling face popped up. The figure stepped back and waved. It was a video message from our youth groups. “Thank you, Camp Comm. We really had fun and learned a lot...” I sat back and smiled. This camp had taught me plenty— about unity, about serving in humility, about the importance of the church community. I‘d heard this many times, but now I’d really seen: that in order to grow in faith, you have to first go in faith. Now, fellow members on the camp committee have also stepped out to become leaders in the youth ministry, embarking on another fruit-bearing journey in faith, by God’s grace. On our last day in the vineyard, jokes were cracked, laughter was shared and hands were held in prayer, as we praised God for a camp that couldn’t have happened without Him.
, h t i a f n i w o r In order to g . h t i a f n i o g t s r you have to fi 11
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