Bible Camp Fun Nearly 250 Children Of All Ages Are Participating In This Summer’s Week-Long Program

On the first day of Bible camp, Amaryllis Bolster faces a squirmy audience.

Telling the story of Jesus - and keeping the attention of a dozen or so 3- to 5-year-olds - takes patience and faith. Faith that the wiggles will wane by the end of the week.

But on Monday, the children are restless. Plastic “boxes” to build a stable for Jesus are just too tempting; little hands pat them as drums. The noise in the small room at Good Shepherd Lutheran is considerable.

“Put your boxes to sleep,” Bolster urges. Slowly, quiet wins out and she continues with her program.

“This was all new today. They’ll learn what’s expected,” Bolster said Monday morning. “By the end of the week, they’ll all be friends.”

She knows from experience. A retired school teacher who’s been a member of Good Shepherd for at least 30 years, Bolster has volunteered, in two different stints, for more than 15 years for the TriParish Vacation Bible School.

Three Spokane Valley parishes - Good Shepherd Lutheran, St. Mary’s Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection - formed a partnership in 1979 and started collaborating on their Bible camps and other events soon after. The alliance stemmed from the post-Vatican II ecumenical movement, said Diana Anderson, St. Maries director of religious education, and has led to such other events as a joint Thanksgiving vigil service.

“It’s just as much work for 40 children as for 160 children,” said organizer Gretchen Foster at Good Shepherd.

One of the tricks to Bible camp, these veterans have learned, is to have plenty of help. Some counselors wore, on yarn around their necks, laminated copies of the camp schedule. The morning was tightly scheduled, with crafts, snacks, singing and outdoor recreation. The big event comes this evening with an ice cream social, at which the children will perform the songs they’ve learned.

Enrollment stretches well beyond the three parishes.

“We must have half the churches in the Valley represented,” said Sue Newman, director at Good Shepherd. “It’s gratifying to see the churches coming together and saying, ‘We believe in Jesus Christ but the little things we do don’t matter so much.”’

This summer’s weeklong program is reaching nearly 250 children. About 58 children, pre-school or kindergartners are matched up with 38 adults at Good Shepherd. Church of the Resurrection has 40 pre-schoolers and kindergartners. At St. Mary’s, nearly 140 children, grades one through six, play and learn under the guidance of 60 counselors and helpers.

Some of the volunteers are teens. Others are moms, participating during the years their children are involved. A few jump in during their grandmothering years.

What keeps Amaryllis Bolster coming back each year?

“Oh, their smiles.” she said. “And the utter simplicity of their faith.”

, DataTimes