Canadian Mennonite
Volume 13, No. 19
Oct. 5, 2009


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Director of camping ministries resigns

Bob Wiebe found working with family, youths a blessing over the last 18 years

Story by Evelyn Rempel Petkau

Manitoba Correspondent

Winnipeg

Bob Wiebe, who is retiring from his position as director of camping ministries for Mennonite Church Manitoba, is pictured in his Winnipeg office.

Some jobs become a way of life. After 18 years as director of camping ministries for Mennonite Church Manitoba, Bob Wiebe considers it an unexpected blessing that his work was often a family affair. All three of his now-grown children “spent significant amounts of time at camp, and Verna, my wife, has been very supportive,” he says. “It was almost like we were doing it together.”

When Wiebe steps down from his post at the beginning of November, he will give himself a “mini-sabbatical” to rest and discover new pursuits.

During his tenure, Wiebe’s task of overseeing summer programming, winter retreats and guest group rentals at the three Camps with Meaning facilities—Assiniboia, Moose Lake and Koinonia—remained constant but grew increasingly complex.

“It became more of a challenge to find enough resources and people,” he says. “There were more regulations and insurance-type concerns. It has become an environment where there is a heightened awareness of risks.”

Despite the challenges of trying to find enough suitable people to put together a program every summer for each of the three camps, trying to take in enough revenue to balance the books annually, and devoting more and more time and re-sources to marketing, Wiebe always found the enthusiasm and passion of the youths and young people contagious. This, together with the people who cared, prayed for and supported him and his ministry on a regular basis, kept him going.

“The camps were an ideal way in which to work with youth and young people,” Wiebe says. “A tremendous shift of responsibility happens. We entrust the youth and young adults with a big responsibility and they rise to that challenge. It becomes their program as much as it is mine or the conference’s.”

Recognizing the treasures in the programs he inherited, Wiebe worked hard to enrich them. He observed how the sharing of faith stories by the young leaders has “gathered a new life of its own over the years.”

The Bible curriculum has developed into a creative, very biblical- and Anabaptist-based resource that is used on a five-year rotation. New nature centres have been built at each camp and draw upon an ever-widening pool of resources.

During their training week, staff engage in team development activities, which involve group dynamic exercises that identify strengths and weaknesses in the group and force them to work together to accomplish tasks.

“This has become an increasingly important part of the camp experience for the staff and something they value,” says Wiebe.

Wiebe has overseen the implementation of several new programs: the servant-in-leadership training program; a four-week summer day camp program; birding, quilting and scrapbooking retreats; and major renovations and additions to Camp Koinonia’s kitchen.

But Wiebe sees the need for changes within Camps with Meaning.

“We need to expand the circle, to reach out to a new demographic,” he says. “At the same time as Manitoba schools and our Mennonite population are in general decline, the aboriginal demographic is increasing and there are lots of new Canadians coming who haven’t experienced camp. We need to find meaningful ways to connect with those demographics.”

“We also have an opportunity to move ahead in the creation care department,” he adds. “We could do more in the year-round program in creation care.”

Camps with Meaning offers unique features when compared to other provincial camps: It is owned by MC Manitoba and it has a long-standing program for adults with disabilities, among them.

“Through our community building and emphasis, striving for cooperation rather than competition, and in our written and unwritten curriculum, we always try to reflect our Anabaptist theology,” says Wiebe.

Kristy Letkeman began working with Wiebe in September as she moves into the position of interim program director for the next year.


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