Crafting Faith at Cre8 Camp

Arts, crafts and faith in Jesus collided at Western Australia’s Cre8 camp for children in years four to six.

Through hands-on activities like t-shirt painting, crochet and even playing with fake snow, the campers were invited to roll up their sleeves and encounter God’s love through creativity.

“Our main goal was to allow the children to discover who Jesus is for them as a way of meeting them where they are,” team leaders, Abbie and Sarah, explain.

Each day, Bible talks and small group discussions revolved around the camp’s theme of creativity, helping conversations about faith flow naturally from the primary-school-aged children.

Introducing a ‘question box’ during small group sessions opened up deeper conversations as campers wrote down their most pressing questions about God. What started as a simple idea in one group quickly spread throughout the camp.

“We just put the box on the table and anytime a camper had a question from their small group or the talks, they could write it down and we allocated time in our Bible engagement sessions to answer them. This led to further chats between leaders and campers,” said Abbie.

The nature of the questions surprised all the leaders with campers asking things like, “How can we trust the Bible?” and “Why did God create evil?”

The campers’ curiosity wasn’t the only thing being challenged. Abbie and Sarah note the questions also prompted leaders to think carefully about how to communicate the gospel and their beliefs to the children.

While the camp was full of glue, paint and laughter, it became clear that the campers’ creativity went far beyond just crafts. Cre8 camp provided a space for artistic expression while learning about God’s love in truly imaginative ways.