The Children's Mission of St. Paul and St. James - Light and Peace Summer Program

Light and Peace Summer Program is open to children aged three to ten, and features communal worship, storytelling, art, playground time, snacks, and trips. A hybrid of day camp and Vacation Bible School, it operates during the afternoons (1:30 to 5:30) for three weeks every July.

Every Friday evening, the children’s families join us for a celebration, featuring children's artwork, performances and other projects. These weekly celebrations draw large crowds of family members to enjoy the presentations and share supper with the children and staff.

Summer Program can accommodate 32 children. We develop our own curriculum, based on Beulah Land, with Bible stories and crafts chosen to fit a particular theme such as “heroes,” “promises,” or “journeys.”

Each year, we select stories to reflect that year's theme and, at the same time, reveal the story of God's people as a coherent narrative, beginning with creation and the story of the People of Israel, moving through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the beginning of the Church, our life as a community of faith, and the promise of the Kingdom.

Projects and free play give the children the opportunity to work with the stories themselves--to wonder and puzzle about them, and test them against other stories they have heard, read or seen, whether from books, TV, and other media, or from family and daily life, or their own inner thoughts and feelings.

Our trained Summer Program counselors include the year-round staff plus several others who often come back for several years in a row. We also have a top-notch corps of preteen and teenaged volunteers, many of whom were in our programs as children and don't want to leave. A few of these volunteers have now graduated to paid staff positions.

"The program was well structured. Everything flowed smoothly, unlike some programs which are not so structured. I have learned how to be a better camp counselor. In previous years I was unprepared and didn't know what to do. But I have learned how to be a better camp counselor." - Summer trainee, age 15

"I learned how to communicate with and teach/discipline children of that particular age group; had exposure to an outreach program which is different from programs I had participated in before; saw positive discipline put into practice. I loved the opening worship sessions we had with the children." - Volunteer (an experienced teacher)

"My child enjoyed going to the program. He said that he wish he could have went all summer." - Parent

"She really liked the swimming. And I think the program made a difference for her getting to know more about being a Christian." - Parent

"I liked today's story because it changed my heart." - Child