WE WERE DEEP in the thick heat of a Virginia summer when my teenage campers gathered to argue one night on the volleyball court.
It was 2011 and I was a counselor at Camp Hanover, a Presbyterian summer camp and retreat center. It was my third summer working at the outdoorsy camp, and prior experience with campers told me this group was at a breaking point. The issue that divided them? Whether it was okay to be queer and Christian.
I had seen this group go through the first of the classic team formation norms (“forming, storming, norming, and performing” developed by psychologist Bruce W. Tuckman). I knew they were itching to storm. Sure enough, as we sat on the cooling sand of the court, stars piercing through the cloud layers above and the volleyball net swaying in the breeze, they finally opened up.
Some had pastors in their home churches who preached against queer affirmation. Some were queer themselves, grappling with their self-understanding in the context of their teenage faith. All of them were questioning what they had been told by adult leaders and were digging through their collective wisdom for answers.
That moment is the perfect illustration of why religious summer camps are important: They provide places for personal and spiritual growth beyond what kids can access in their regular home and church environments. Camp provides space — external and internal
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