In Alexandria, Minn., Luther Crest Bible Camp participants study parts of the ELCA “Caring for Creation” social statement. They enjoy Bible-based nature activities, as well as other use- ful skills such as snowshoeing, water conservation, outdoor survival and sustainable gardening.


Camps care for creation


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Teaching sustainability Sustainable living can be a fairly abstract concept for adults, let alone fi rst-graders. Yet Waypost Camp in Hatley, Wis., has found a way to help even the very young understand and explain this concept through practi- cal activities. Every morning aſt er breakfast,


campers enjoy an activity such as baking bread (they make 95 per- cent of the bread at the camp, from


Campers at Waypost Camp, Hatley, Wis., learn about sustainability by doing. They make 95 percent of the bread for the camp. They compost and recycle. And they plant, tend and harvest their own food in Waypost’s garden.


COURTESY OF WAYPOST CAMP 24 www.thelutheran.org


COURTESY OF LUTHER CREST BIBLE CAMP


ou might be surprised at the many ways ELCA camps and outdoor ministries not only bring campers of all ages closer to creation but also help them care for God’s world. Here’s just a sampling of their eff orts, thanks to Lutherans Restoring Creation (www.lutheransrestoringcreation.org), which helped gather these stories.


breadsticks and pretzels to ham- burger buns), composting, recycling, aquaponics or gardening. Waypost director Sara Damrow


said campers of all ages are “excited to make their own bread … plant, tend and harvest their own food in the garden … share food with other communities [and] take care of the camp by recycling what we use, and creating soil for our garden with compostable food waste.”


Lutherlyn’s Terra Dei It begins like the story of the three little pigs. In 1995, Camp Lutherlyn in Pros-


pect, Pa., built a house out of straw on its property. But far from falling


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