Hello Blog Friends!
Here is our 2026 wrap-up post ,witrh comments and photos from five of the six Day Camps. We will be sure to do an update to the post if we receive further content. Hope you enjoy reading…
Day Camp #1
The first 2026 Day Camp took place the last week in June, right after elementary schools had closed. This house church, in the Eastern Townships region of Québec, has been hosting Day Camps every summer, for many years and always attracts a group of especially high-energy campers.
This year was no exception, so the Coordinator, Jen, reached out to a Montreal-area church, that also hosts our programs and that has a large youth ministry. This church was able to send 4 young volunteer helpers, enabling the small local team to manage this very active group of campers.
On a recent Sunday, these young people gave short testimonies at their own church, describing their experiences. Here is an excerpt from one of these talks-
“Throughout the camp, God taught me many lessons that helped me know Him more deeply. He gave me the opportunity to share His love with the children so that they could know Him better as well. God helped me grow closer to Him. He made me a better person and encouraged me to be someone who encourages others. There were many challenges during the Big Games. Some of the children became hyperactive and had a hard time concentrating. However, God helped me remain calm and gave me the wisdom and courage to encourage them to focus, be kind to one another, and play with respect. Through His guidance, I saw them improve, and I was reminded that God can work through us even in difficult situations. When it was time to leave the Church, it was difficult for me to say goodbye to the children, they were sad, and so was I. However, I trust that this is not the end, and that, in God’s perfect timing, we will meet again and hopefully by then they will also love God too.”
Jen was sent copies of the testimonies and here is part of her response-
“Wow thank you so much for sending this! What a blessing it was to have each of them with us, helping us run the camp, but mostly believing together! And for us the highlight was the amazing response of yes to Jesus being each camper’s friend! I love each one of you with all my heart!”
Here are photos from Day Camp #1
Day Camp #2
The second Day Camp, took place early in July in a suburb south of Montreal. For several years, this church has chosen to host the “Backyard Program”. We asked the Parish Priest, who coordinates the camp, if he would write a short article about it for the upcoming issue of , our Diocesan Newspaper. With his permission, here it is-
Day Camps in Brossard
For one week in July, St. Joseph of Nazareth Church was celebrating our Saviour’s birth…sort of. Our church obtained the Crosstalk Ministries Day Camps program for 2026. The theme this year was ‘One of Us’. We looked at 5 stories from St. Luke’s Gospel that teach us about the events surrounding Christ’s birth and infancy. From the visit from the angel Gabriel, to the angels beckoning the shepherds (while they were watching their flocks by night, of course) to go to Bethlehem to see the Christ child, to 12-year-old Jesus talking with the teachers, children were presented with a snapshot of Jesus’ early years. Campers were shown how God watches over us and protects us.Day Camps normally run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We decided to go with a condensed version of the program, the Backyard package. This is a 2-hour version of the program, designed to keep our young ones interested, invested and cared for. We would start each evening with a meal, hoping to foster a strong sense of community, as well as giving parents a break; we knew that our 6 p.m. start would make it difficult to get home from work and think about supper. Then, the fun begins. We would spend 40+ minutes teaching the children hymns/songs of praise (including Christmas carols; Jesus’ birth, remember?), prayer, all centred around the Scripture passage for the day. They would then be divided into smaller groups for devotion, followed by creative activities. After a snack, we would enjoy one or two games. Thus far, I have described 2 of the 4 ‘Cs’ of Day Camps; Community and Creativity. We must now focus on Content. During the devotions, the children are encouraged to read the Bible reading for the day. They are then encouraged to participate in a time of prayer and discussion, making sure that everybody understands what the reading is about. Every year, Crosstalk Ministries provides a video of people taking part in a liturgical dance. As this is a form of prayer, it is done in such a way that virtually all of the children are able to learn how to do it, with special attention given to the meaning behind the song of choice. This is another opportunity to share God’s message with the children. Community, creativity and content, all at once. God is good. The 4th C is Challenge. We would like the children to accept Jesus as their Saviour. As you can imagine, this is hard to do in 5 days! It is up to the community presenting the Day Camps to continue to foster what was learned during this very special week. We vow to continue to draw on what we learned, thus providing a more complete picture of who Jesus is and why we need Him in our lives. In my experience, the Backyard package accommodates smaller numbers; there were 9 children present this year. The children are all in it together, from start to finish. They take part in the same games, devotions and activities. I have noticed that this proximity encourages them to look out for each other. They all help each other, find time to chase balloons together, and share stories. They all know each other pretty well by the end of the week. I am always amazed by the spiritual impact of this week of Day Camps. The singing, the questions asked, the answers given, all point to the Holy Spirit working in the lives of these children. I find the Crosstalk Ministries Day Camps to be a valuable resource in nurturing the faith of our children.
Respectfully yours, Reverend Christopher Belle Priest-in-Charge, St. Joseph of Nazareth Church, Brossard.
And here are some photos from Day Camp #2-
Day Camp #3
Interestingly, camps 3.4&5 all took place during the same week in mid-July. Geographically, in past years, this would have been impossible to accommodate, as our Teams were locked into their travel schedules but happily, nowadays, communities always gat their first choice of dates!This camp took place in Alberta, with 23 campers in attendance. Thankfully, the coordinator promptly filled out the online Feedback Form!
Here are some comments from the Alberta camp-
The best things about this camp- Overall thematic cohesiveness; Scripture based and allowing Scripture itself to speak to the kids; balance of content and craft and song and lots of running around! intergenerational involvement – adult helpers of all ages, teen leaders who rise to the responsibilities they are given, and campers who dream of being big kid leaders in a few years.
This church also made an additional comment, suggesting that perhaps, churches who do have teen volunteers, might offer to send them to help a community that would love to host a camp but lacks the necessary “people power”. As is the case with the Eastern Townships cooperation with a Montreal church, this sort of arrangement needs to be brokered between communities as CTM can only provide the Resource Materials. From an insurance and legal perspective, we cannot take on the responsibility for youth in this sort of context. It is also not feasible for us to send promotional information to new communities in which CTM would promise this sort of arrangement, as it has to come from an initial desire of two churches to cooperate directly. We hope there might be the possibility of having such a “pairing” take place in Alberta, perhaps in 2027.
Here are some great photos from Camp #3
Day Camp #4
This camp took place in mid-July, in a church just north of Montreal. The Coordinator is a member of the DC planning committee, and has also written an article about the camp, so we will let him describe it in his own words!
From July 20-24, All Saints (Deux-Montagnes) held our annual Day Camp. Our attendance was modest (8 children per day) but oh so energetic. We were assisted in leadership by a team of teens, one of whom had enjoyed Day Camp as a camper and wanted to share her enjoyment with a new generation. We enjoyed learning about Jesus’ being born as one of us and stories about Him as a baby and young boy. The songs, the crafts, the liturgical dance, and the small group devotions all contributed to a fun and uplifting week. And the Big Events kept us enthusiastic and having fun together. We are grateful to the many inspired, creative people at Crosstalk who continue to develop high-quality programs for our youngest members.
Jeff Alexander-All Saints Church – Deux-Montagnes
Here are their photos-
Day Camp #5
The final camp of 2026, took place last week, right here in Montreal. This church chooses to take advantage of the “sweet spot” , towards the end of August, when municipal day camps have closed down for the summer as they are largely staffed by CEGEP (Junior College) students, who start their Autumn semester in mid-August, whereas the elementary schools (aka camper fodder!) only start at the end of the month. It is a most successful strateg,y as they had 53 campers registered. This camp is also coordinated by a member of the DC committee, and as she knew this post was ready to publish, she worked quickly to collect more super photos and to fill out the Feedback form.
Here are some excerpts from that form-
With our camp week being in the end of August, the timing was perfect for us. The contents were clear and we were able to collect our materials with no issues or additional clarifications. The way that the folders are categorized is efficient and made it easy for us to find what we need for each element of the camp. The contents are precise and easy to understand
Everyone (campers and helpers) looooved the theme song! Parents were telling us that their children are singing it in the car and at home! We also really enjoyed the Special Event Taken to the Temple!
Our team is extremely satisfied with CTM’s program. We do not have areas that we wish to be changed. Thank you to Valerie and the team for putting your best into the Day Camp Program year after year! How blessed is FFBCM to be partnering with you!
And fially some lovely photos-
So that’s a wrap on Day Camps 2026. The 2027 Application form may, already, be accessed here. See you on Saturday!