April 25, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn. 10-71B{182}
By Rick Peck*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A United Methodist agency is teaming up with Camp Fire USA to offer a new program designed to strengthen family relationships.
The program is called Community Family Clubs, and United Methodist churches in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Mo., are trying it out. The Commission on United Methodist Men is coordinating the effort, supported by a grant from the denomination's World Service Contingency Fund.
Camp Fire USA, formerly Camp Fire Girls, is a 92-year-old Kansas City-based organization that focuses on building caring and confident youth.
The United Methodist Church has had a long relationship with the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the USA, but it has never done much with Camp Fire USA, according to Larry Coppock, staff executive for youth-serving agencies at the men's commission in Nashville. The creation of the Community Family Clubs is a major way for United Methodists to become more actively involved with Camp Fire USA, he said.
"I can envision local churches using this program as a way to minister to local residents long before they begin attending worship services."
Community Family Clubs is a "small group model" that offers coeducational youth development programs for parents and children, said Marian Long, senior program director of the Georgia Council of Camp Fire USA in Atlanta. Using Camp Fire USA curriculum, the concept involves the entire family in asset-building activities and experiences.
The clubs consist of at least 10 families that meet monthly, work on at-home projects, participate in field trips or special events, and engage in informal activity nights. The model is designed to increase opportunities for parents and other caring adults to volunteer in activities that allow them to interact positively with children and teens. Community Family Clubs are flexible and can be held in schools, churches, corporations and child care settings.
Greg Ferguson, director of expansion for Camp Fire USA, said the new program gives United Methodist churches an excellent way to reach out to their communities. "Many families attracted to (the clubs) will meet other families affiliated with the church and may become involved in the church because of those friendships," he said at a recent workshop for United Methodist Men.
New Hope United Methodist Church in Atlanta served as pilot site for developing the program. The church participated in activities that helped it in numerous ways, especially by bringing new families into the congregation, Long said. The congregation began to see the club as a mission, one that provided the church with avenues to establish Christian education. This club is "extremely" diverse in its family composition, she said. It consists of one nuclear family as well as others led by grandparents, aunts, uncles and foster parents.
A monthly club meeting includes early-bird activities, a family meal, a large-group session and age-group programs. Some activities are designed to help young people embody the signs of maturity as outlined by the Search Institute, a Minneapolis-based organization that promotes the well-being of adolescents.
The clubs are designed to help young people develop:
- empathy, sensitivity and friendship skills;
- comfort with people of different cultural, racial and ethnic backgrounds;
- relationships with three or more non-parent adults;
- appreciation for music, theater or other arts;
- ability to resolve conflict nonviolently;
- ways to plan ahead and make choices;
- high self-esteem and a sense of purpose; and
- optimism about the future.
Ferguson said the Community Family Club in Dallas has already divided into two 50-member groups. Additional experiments are scheduled to begin this fall with United Methodist churches in Lakeland, Fla., Buffalo, N.Y., Los Angeles, Columbus, Ohio, and Seattle, he said. If experiments with United Methodist churches continue to show promise, the effort will be expanded to other faith groups, he said.
For more information, contact Ferguson at (816) 756-1950, info@campfireusa.org, or Larry Coppock at (615)
340-7145 or
Email: Larry Coppock.
*Peck is communications consultant for the Commission on United Methodist Men.
