Importance of Our Camp Meetings
By R. A. Underwood
In view of what the spirit of prophecy has said in regard to our camp meetings, and our past experiences in seeing the results that come from them, our conferences should consider well some of these facts before we make up our minds that our camp meetings are too expensive, and must be discontinued. I quote from Volume VI of the Testimonies, No. 34, beginning on page 31, a few of the many things given us at this time concerning the importance and work of our camp meetings:— “The camp meeting is one of the most important agencies in our work. It is one of the most effective methods of arresting the attention of the people, and reaching all classes with the gospel invitation. . . . The reasons of our faith are not understood by the people, and we have been regarded as fanatics, who were ignorantly keeping Saturday for Sunday. In our work we have been perplexed to know how to break through the barriers of worldliness and prejudice, and bring before the people the precious truth which means so much to them. The Lord has instructed us that the camp meeting is one of the most important instrumentalities for the accomplishment of this work. . . . In every city of our world the warning must be proclaimed. All that can be done should be done without delay. “And our camp meetings have another object, preparatory to this. They are to promote spiritual life among our own people. . . . We need to meet together and receive the divine touch that we may understand our work in the home. Parents need to understand how they may send forth from the sanctuary of the home their sons and daughters so trained and educated that they will be fitted to shine as lights in the world. We need to understand in regard to the division of labor, and how each part of the work is to be carried forward. Each one should understand the part he is to act, that there may be harmony of plan and of labor in the combined work of all. . . . If our camp meetings are conducted as they should be, they will indeed be a light to the world. . . . A mistake has been made in holding camp meetings in out-of-the-way places, and in continuing in the same place year after year. This has been done to save expense and labor; but the saving should be made in other lines. . . . “Our camp meetings should be so conducted as to accomplish the greatest possible amount of good. . . . Every camp meeting should be an object lesson on neatness, order, and good taste. . . . Special attention should be given to all sanitary arrangements, and men of sound judgment and discernment should see that nothing is permitted to sow the seeds of sickness and death throughout the encampment. . . . We should ever bear in mind that angels of God are walking through the encampment, beholding the order and arrangement in every tent. . . . “Let the press be utilized, and let every advertising agency be employed that will call attention to the work. This should not be regarded as nonessential. . . . As far as practicable, let the important discourses given at our camp meetings be published in the newspapers. “It is important that the members of our churches should attend our camp meetings. . . . Some will say, ‘It is expensive to travel, and it would be better for us to save the money, and give it for the advancement of the work where it is so much needed.’ Do not reason in this way; God calls upon you to take your place among the rank and file of his people. Strengthen the meeting all you possibly can by being present with your families. . . . Go to the camp meeting, even though you have to make a sacrifice to do so. . . . “None of us should go to the camp meeting depending upon the ministers or the Bible workers to make the meeting a blessing to us. God does not want his people to hang their weight on the minister. . . . “If there was ever a place where the believers should bear much fruit, it is at our camp meetings. At these meetings our acts, our words, our spirit, are marked, and our influence is as far-reaching as eternity.” I have noticed that a number of our conferences are planning the present season to omit the camp meeting. The only reason they give for this is that the camp meetings cost much labor and means. But before we come to such a decision, it seems to me we should weigh well the words of counsel quoted above. If camp meetings are conducted after God’s order and instruction, they are one of the Lord’s most important means of reaching the multitude, as well as being a great help to our own people spiritually. The camp meeting is an educational factor in the various departments of work. Our people come in touch with the Sabbath-school work, the medical missionary work, the Bible work, and nearly every phase of our work, as they do not at any other time during the year. It is a time when all the laborers in the conference come directly in touch with one another and with the delegates from the various churches, with mutual profit. It is a time when our educational institutions are represented, and thus come in more direct touch with a larger number of our young people than at any other time. It is a time when the young can be helped in a special manner, as at no other meeting in the year. It is a time when isolated Sabbath keepers come in touch with our general work, and receive great encouragement. These meetings have a unifying influence upon all classes, and they bring unity into our work at home and abroad. It is a time when the power of God is especially present to witness to the assembling of the saints. We should weigh well the fruits of these meetings, and consider whether we can afford to lose the results attained, before we decide to dispense with our camp meetings. It is true that many of our meetings have failed, sadly failed, in accomplishing God’s purpose; but rather than dispense with the meetings, why not, through the instruction given us, plan to hold them in harmony with this light, and realize the blessings that will be received through them? From a personal experience of a number of years’ labor in connection with these meetings, I know something of the wearing labor that is required to hold them. But I have seen hundreds, yes, thousands, brought to Christ through this God-appointed means. I can call to mind individuals who are now laboring in foreign lands or otherwise engaged in promulgating this blessed truth, who, had it not been for the camp meeting, might to-day be in the world, with their energies devoted to selfish pursuits. I believe that much more should be done to help the young than has generally been done at these meetings. Also much consideration should be given to the point expressed in the quotations above in reference to parents’ work in the home, which will enable them to send forth their sons and daughters, trained and educated and fitted to shine as lights in the world, bearing a part in this closing work of the gospel.