wfn.org | United Methodist Men forms program with Camp Fire USA

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 25, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71B{182}

By Rick Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A United Methodist agency is teaming up with Camp
Fire USA to offer a new program designed to strengthen family relationships.

The program is called Community Family Clubs, and United Methodist churches
in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Mo., are trying
it out. The Commission on United Methodist Men is coordinating the effort,
supported by a grant from the denomination's World Service Contingency Fund.

Camp Fire USA, formerly Camp Fire Girls, is a 92-year-old Kansas City-based
organization that focuses on building caring and confident youth. 

The United Methodist Church has had a long relationship with the Boy Scouts
of America and Girl Scouts of the USA, but it has never done much with Camp
Fire USA, according to Larry Coppock, staff executive for youth-serving
agencies at the men's commission in Nashville. The creation of the Community
Family Clubs is a major way for United Methodists to become more actively
involved with Camp Fire USA, he said.

"I can envision local churches using this program as a way to minister to
local residents long before they begin attending worship services."

Community Family Clubs is a "small group model" that offers coeducational
youth development programs for parents and children, said Marian Long,
senior program director of the Georgia Council of Camp Fire USA in Atlanta.
Using Camp Fire USA curriculum, the concept involves the entire family in
asset-building activities and experiences.   

The clubs consist of at least 10 families that meet monthly, work on at-home
projects, participate in field trips or special events, and engage in
informal activity nights.  The model is designed to increase opportunities
for parents and other caring adults to volunteer in activities that allow
them to interact positively with children and teens. Community Family Clubs
are flexible and can be held in schools, churches, corporations and child
care settings.

Greg Ferguson, director of expansion for Camp Fire USA, said the new program
gives United Methodist churches an excellent way to reach out to their
communities. "Many families attracted to (the clubs) will meet other
families affiliated with the church and may become involved in the church
because of those friendships," he said at a recent workshop for United
Methodist Men. 

New Hope United Methodist Church in Atlanta served as pilot site for
developing the program.  The church participated in activities that helped
it in numerous ways, especially by bringing new families into the
congregation, Long said. The congregation began to see the club as a
mission, one that provided the church with avenues to establish Christian
education. This club is "extremely" diverse in its family composition, she
said. It consists of one nuclear family as well as others led by
grandparents, aunts, uncles and foster parents.

A monthly club meeting includes early-bird activities, a family meal, a
large-group session and age-group programs. Some activities are designed to
help young people embody the signs of maturity as outlined by the Search
Institute, a Minneapolis-based organization that promotes the well-being of
adolescents.

The clubs are designed to help young people develop:
7	empathy, sensitivity and friendship skills;
7	comfort with people of different cultural, racial and ethnic
backgrounds;
7	relationships with three or more non-parent adults;
7	appreciation for music, theater or other arts;
7	ability to resolve conflict nonviolently;
7	ways to plan ahead and make choices;
7	high self-esteem and a sense of purpose; and
7	optimism about the future.

Ferguson said the Community Family Club in Dallas has already divided into
two 50-member groups. Additional experiments are scheduled to begin this
fall with United Methodist churches in Lakeland, Fla., Buffalo, N.Y., Los
Angeles, Columbus, Ohio, and Seattle, he said. If experiments with United
Methodist churches continue to show promise, the effort will be expanded to
other faith groups, he said.

For more information, contact Ferguson at (816) 756-1950,
info@campfireusa.org, or Larry Coppock at (615) 340-7149 or
lcoppock@gcumm.org.
# # #
*Peck is communications consultant for the Commission on United Methodist
Men.

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United Methodist News Service
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