Hey Guys...

Welcome to State Youth Camp 2016 (or SYC16 for short). For those that were involved in the pilot camp last year, welcome back and for everyone else I am excited that you are checking us out! This year we have a lot planned, some great speakers, workshops, performers, sports, and more activities than your teens will know what to do with!! We will be gradually releasing these details as camp gets closer, so stay connected and get excited!

If you have any questions or are searching for more information please don’t hesitate to get in contact:

Andrew WarnerBYM State Youth Camp Directorstateyouthcamp@nswactbaptists.org.au0413 588 799

Vision...

Baptist Youth Ministries NSW & ACT has sought to develop a state wide Youth Camp as one of the key ways that we can support and resource both our Baptist Youth Pastors and Youth Ministry Coordinators and the ministries they lead. We believe that a centralised event provides:

A significant place for the discipleship of teenagersStronger youth ministry in our churches through shared resources Healthier pathways for leadership development Greater relational links between youth pastors and churchesIncreased connections to existing Baptist Association agencies and activitiesBetter understanding of the strength and diversity of our movement

Why a Camp?

Churches have long recognised the benefit of spending time together in a camp or retreat context and recent research has reinforced this fact. McCrindle Research, in partnership with Christian Venues Australia, recently conducted a study on the impact of Christian Camping and concluded that “9 in 10 church attenders made the decision to become a Christian before the age of 30” and that “there are a number of factors that influence a person’s faith decision, from people who have a significant role in shaping one’s faith to activities that people become involved with.” Additionally, they found that attendance at a Christian camp “…has an impact on the age at which someone is converted with a strong correlation in the data between young people coming to faith and their attendance at Christian camps…” with “…those who came to faith at 10-19 years, the importance of camp was acknowledged by 44.9%.” (Social Change, Spiritual Trends: Christianity in Australia Today, McCrindle Research, 29)

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Social Change, Spiritual Trends: Christianity in Australia Today, McCrindle Research, 32

The State Youth Camp Philosophy

SYC is not just Entertainment.It’s an Encounter with Jesus - It’s a place young people meet with Jesus and it’s a place where young people are introduced to Him. Outward Focus - This means that it’s not just about you and your group – it’s also about the kids in your community you are called to reach out to. Please encourage this ‘outward’ thinking amongst your young people.

Expectancy Creates FaithThe more excited YOU and your leaders are about camp, the more your kids will be and faith levels will rise. Faith leads to action and works!Start this journey now with your youth community. Have them think of someone they would like to bring and start praying – fervently! Nearer the time, have your young people pray specifically for camp.

You are Participants, not Spectators…In PrayerIn Action and In Encouragement.

We work hard to give you this weekend so that you can be with your young people. You won’t have to do the organising but don’t take the spectator seat because of this. You are being served so you can serve your young people.

Dates: 23-27 September 2016

This year we have made the decision to take camp off the October long weekend, and instead create a long weekend on the first weekend of the September school holidays. This year those dates are Friday 23rd September to Tuesday 27th September. Make sure this goes into your youth ministry calendars now!

Venue: Cataract Scout Park

We are excited to announce that we will be holding our State Youth Camp at the Cataract Scout Park near Appin.

For those who have not been to the site before here are some approximate travel times:

Sydney (Epping) 1½ hours Coffs Harbour 7 hoursSydney (Campbelltown) ½ hour Dubbo 5 hoursSydney (Sutherland) ¾ hour Newcastle 3 hoursCanberra 2½ hours Wollongong ½ hour

Accommodation - Camping

All participants (both young people and adult leaders) from local youth ministries will be camping.

Groups have the option to either bring their own tents or to hire them. Your group can hire tents, for the weekend, at an additional cost - either hire large ‘marquee’ style tents (house entire groups) or hire individual (4-5 person) canvas tents. Due to administrative and space-related restrictions, the hire of tents is either an ‘all in’ or ‘all out’ scenario for your group. If this is something your group might like to explore then contact us for more information.

To ensure that each youth group has an adequate amount of space, areas will be allocated to each youth group, within the designated camping area. Group Leaders are more than welcome to come in early (in negotiation with us) and setup their group’s tents so that they are ready before the arrival of their youth on the Friday.

Food: Fully Catered

The camp is fully catered, and as such will provide all meals from Saturday breakfast through to Tuesday lunch. We will be providing a “pack and go” lunch on the Tuesday for groups which are travelling home outside Sydney and who will want to get going as soon as possible. There is no meal provided on Friday night, however we encourage groups to arrange an alternative such as grabbing something on your trip to camp or sending a leader out for pizza.

Special dietary requirements will be catered for those participants who specify such requirements in their registration. Please make sure that this information is clearly communicated as part of your group’s registration. It will be too late to register for special meals after registrations close.

There will be some limited food options for purchase in our Camp ‘Village’, such as fresh donuts and milkshakes. Please let your young people know that they should bring some spending money with them if they want to take advantage of this.

Costs: Get in early to save $$$!

The costs listed below are our costs (as BYM) to your church:

You will notice that on the promo material cost isn’t mentioned, except to see their Youth Pastor for more details. This is for two reasons:

To make sure that the local youth ministry is the source of connection and information dispersal for the camp. To allow each individual youth ministry to work out what they will charge based on their own situations. Some will have the capacity to subsidise the cost for some or all of their kids. Others have decided to add other costs such as transport or even a youth group t-shirt onto the price for camp. What you end up charging your young people is entirely up to you.

Day Visitors

No day visitors are allowed at SYC - this includes parents and other adults who are “coming for a look”. People who attend selected parts of the programme often unknowingly disrupt the community atmosphere of camp. Unexpected visitors create issues for our Site Security team who are responsible for the integrity of the site and the wellbeing of a very large number of young people.

We do, however, encourage Senior Pastors to come and visit their youth, at camp, for the day. This must be pre-arranged prior to camp to arrange for both security and meal allocations.

Standard Registrations (before Sept 11th)

$190 per young person

$175 for each additional young person from a single family unit

($15 discount)

$120 for each adult leader

Early Bird Registrations (before July 31st)

$160 per young person

$140 for each additional young person from a single family unit

($20 discount)

$120 for each adult leader

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Registration

All registrations must be come through a group booking, for your Church’s youth ministry. Booking forms can be found on the BYM website (www.baptistyouthministries.org.au). Numbers must be finalised and received by BYM before each cut-off date:

Sunday 31st July for Early Bird Registrations; andSunday 11th September for Standard Registrations.

Your church will be invoiced for those numbers shortly after each date. The invoice must be paid in full within two weeks for the Early Bird Registrations and before the start of the camp (Friday 23rd September) for the Standard Registrations.

Additions to your group’s number (after the final cut-off date) may be negotiated with BYM if there is still space in the camp. No withdrawals or reduction in numbers will be accepted after the cut-off dates.

Your group will be registering individual participants (names, ages, dietary requirements, etc) as part of the registration process. If a group wishes to transfer an early bird registration to another young person after the cut-off date, your group will be charged the difference in price.

Refund Policy

We understand circumstances change, and as such the final registration cut-off date has been made for as late as practically possible. As stated above, no reduction in numbers will be able to be accepted after the cut-off dates, due to commitments to the caterers and the venue. Should an event occur which prevents your entire group from attending the camp post this date, an application for a refund (or part thereof) must be made in writing to Baptist Youth Ministries. Approval for refunds is at the sole discretion of BYM and it should not be assumed that any refunds will be given. No discussion will be entered into once a determination on your situation has been reached. Your registration and payment confirms that you have read and accept this policy.

Sunday 31st July for Early Bird Registrations and

Sunday 11th September for Standard Registrations.

Key Leader - Essential

We insist that every youth community attending State Youth Camp is led by a mature and responsible adult. This person must stay on-site the whole weekend, and sleep in the camping area among their youth community. This is often the Youth Pastor or Youth Ministry Coordinator for your church. This is the person through whom communication with the camp happens, both before and during the camp event. There can only be one key leader per group.

Youth Leaders & Group Supervision

All young people who attend the camp (as a part of your group) are the responsibility of your ministry and its leaders. It is expected that you will provide an appropriate number of male and female adult leaders to supervise the young people in your group.

A leader must be 18 and have left school. All group members who are 18+ and no longer at school are considered leaders and must be attending camp as such.

LEADER TO PARTICIPANT RATIO:

Accepted - 1:10 One male/female leader for every 10 male/female youth is a sensible ratio.

Recommended - 1:7 One leader for every 7 youth is preferred.

e.g. Youth X has 19 male members and 12 female. They would need 2-3 male leaders and 2 female leaders

While the organisers of the camp will make every effort to ensure that the camp and its activities are safe for your young people, it is understood that your group’s leaders will also attempt to ensure that your group’s young people interact with the camp and its’ activities in a safe and respectful manner.

All adult leaders with your group will need to comply with your church’s Safe Spaces policies, including having completed a Working With Children Check (WWCC). As you register your leaders you will need their WWCC numbers and birthdates, this is so that BYM is able to perform a crosscheck.

Please also indicate on your group’s registration if any of your group’s adult leaders have a current Senior First Aid Certificate or other appropriate medical training.

Camp Parents - Suggested

We strongly encourage groups to invite a married couple (or a few couples for larger groups) to come along to camp as your youth community’s ‘Camp Parents’.

Camp parents are there to support and encourage your Key Leader and other Youth Leaders during the weekend, to act as a ‘spiritual’ mum and dad for your youth community, make people feel connected and comfortable and be available for a chat or to pray.

This is a significant role for your group during camp, particularly if your youth ministry’s leadership team is made up of mostly younger leaders.

What do Young People need to bring

to Camp?

Most of what participants need to bring to camp is pretty straightforward. These include such things as:

tents (unless your group is hiring them), air mattresses or stretchers, sleeping bags, pillows, plates, cups, cutlery, warm clothes, old clothes, sports clothes, shoes, swimmers (for water activities not swimming), towels, camping chair, toiletries, personal medication (eg asthma puffer), pen, notepad, Bible.

It is the expectation that individual youth groups will provide their own list of essentials for their teens to bring to camp.

Misconduct by Young People at Camp

The campsite and our camp is a drug and alcohol free event. Please communicate to your young people that anyone caught with drugs or alcohol will be sent home (no exceptions).

Other prohibited items also include items such as lighters and matches, glass containers, as well as anything illegal in NSW. Anyone caught with these items will have them confiscated (will be returned after departing camp).

Misconduct (including, but not limited to):Theft, Vandalism, Sexual activity (including online, sexting, possession or taking of indecent images) Violence, Abuse, Bullying

Any young person found to have been involved in any form of misconduct will be send home (no exceptions).

In the event that a young person is to be sent home, the parents will be contacted and they will be removed from Camp. If the misconduct is of a criminal nature then Police will be contacted. Please see the Policy documents on our website for more specific information.

OK, so you’ve read through the QuickStart Guide to SYC and you think you and your youth ministry will come to camp this year… where do you start?? Here’s a handy list of everything that needs to happen and when:

Read this booklet (oh look, you are!). It’ll hopefully answer some of your initial questions about camp. If you have further questions – email us stateyouthcamp@nswactbaptists.org.au

Hop onto the BYM website (www.baptistyouthministries.org.au) and find the leaders area for camp. Register your group for camp and download the various promo flyer and permission forms that you will need.

Start promoting the camp to your leaders and young people.

Figure out how many leaders you will need to bring to camp for your group, making sure you have enough male/female leaders to match your group’s demographics. Don’t forget to recruit some Camp Parents for your group too!

Collect all camper and leader registrations and use the group registration form to register your group’s members (this includes things like dietary needs and WWCC details). Remember to do this before the various cut-off dates otherwise your group might miss out on the discounts!

Your group’s invoice will be generated and emailed to you after your group’s registration is received. Make sure you pay your group’s fees on time.

Get to camp with your tents and supplies… and don’t forget to bring your young people!

Checklist: Where to Start...