For the first time since the foundation of the International Evangelical Church of the Algarve (IECA), two summer camps were held on the grounds of the church.
On August 24 to 29 and August 31 to September 6, a camp was held for children aged 6 to 12 and another for teens and youths.
They were open to children and young people not only from the church family and the immediate area of Vale Judeu but from all over Portugal and some 42 children and 35 young people registered to attend the camp.
The campsite, the tents, outdoor kitchen, shower facilities, the conversion of the marquee into a dining room, leisure and play areas were all ready for when the first campers arrived.
A group of young people from Newtownbreda Baptist Church in Belfast were welcomed, under the stewardship of Glenn Bowden, its Team Leader and one of its youth pastors.
The group had just finished their Leaders in Training (L.I.T.) programme at their home church and were “sent out to minister what they had been taught”.
learning
There were 22 of them in addition to several group leaders to make sure that the children were well taken care of, carefully supervised, received sufficient attention, had fun playing and learning about Christian faith, the Bible and Jesus Christ.
Glenn said that “there were children that had never heard of the Bible or Jesus Christ and they were just fascinated, excited and wanted to know more about that great book and this wonderful man that died for them and the world”.
Glenn’s vision and philosophy about Christianity today is that “faith without works is dead”. His dream about getting young people interested in the church is to “impact the young to go forward impacting the others out there”.
The consensus of the campers was that they had a great time, survived the heat and the food was delicious.
The IECA would like to thank everyone of the many volunteers from the congregation for all their help before, during and after the two weeks.
