The Case for Phone-Free Church Camp
- parentswhofight
- Sep 4
- 6 min read
This summer, our youngest child finished his 6th and final year as a student camper at The Pursuit Camp, a multi-church camp here in the Nashville area that has been going for a solid decade. As is the case every year, it was the best week of his life.
But me? I was in mourning.
This summer marked the very last year of phone-free camp for my son.
Can he choose to go six days without any screens on his own as a young adult in some other context? Sure, in theory. It's just that he won't have the motivation of hundreds of peers unplugging at the same time for nearly a week in any other context I can think of. He can return to Pursuit Camp as a leader next summer, and I know he wants to, in which case he'll use his phone less (the wifi is horrible, and there is no signal). But he'll still need to be online for leader communication, alerts, etc. It won't be a complete unplug.
Think of it—the gift that Pursuit Camp gives him every year is an experience that can't be duplicated in virtually any other context.
Even in schools that are phone-free, most will have computer access during the day, and phones and video games would still be a staple of the after-school life for the majority of adolescents. Though we rejoice about new policies that provide a brief hiatus from phones during the school day, this in no way compares to zero screens for 120+ hours with hundreds of peers (and, as in our son's case, your very closest friends on the planet).
Truly, no principal and no parent has the power and authority to keep hundreds of kids off all tech for days on end. It's a gift that only a youth pastor can make happen.
MISSING OUT
Several years ago, I was helping a family install a new router at their home to filter the Internet and block dangerous apps. During set-up, as the mom and I casually held conversation, she asked me for advice. It seemed her 12-year-old daughter was quite frustrated because she wasn't allowed to go to church camp with her friends.
Why? The mom knew that phones were allowed at camp, and several teens had been exposed to pornography through student phones in years prior. The parents did not feel comfortable sending their daughter to her first overnight camp in this environment. This young girl was feeling the sting of missing out, and was naturally upset by it.
The girl felt trapped between her parents' view and her pastor's view of how safe or dangerous technology might be in a camp setting. The parents didn't feel supported by the youth pastor, and it's possible he might've felt the same way toward them.
I went home quite burdened by this family's predicament. I mentioned the situation to my 9th-grade son, who is normally very reserved. His response surprised me. With a good deal of animation and incredulity, he said, "Mom, you have to talk to that youth pastor and change his mind! Not having phones is the best part of camp!" I knew he meant it.
At that point in time, he was one year into his 2.5 years with a Gabb phone, a simple talk-and-text-only device. At camp, nobody cared if you had (or didn't have) an iPhone or Snapchat. Everyone was in the same boat. You met new kids in line at the snack shack or during team competitions. No one ignored you while scrolling. No one took embarrassing photos of you to laugh at later with their friends. Everyone ate three meals a day with eyes up, laughing and connecting.
WINNING MINISTRY MOMENTS
The social benefits of phone-free camp can be experienced in any retreat setting, even secular ones. But a Christian camp with the aim of bringing students together to experience God's presence and grow in their walk with the Lord has an even greater responsibility to keep distractions at bay. We should be motivated to provide a spiritually healthy environment for maximum fruitfulness.
BRAIN: If we rely purely on the data of brain science, we can easily draw the conclusion that students will be more focused on what they are learning when phones are not present. If you're going to teach them life-changing principles from Scripture, I'm guessing you want them to have the best chance to actually listen, learn, and engage in the lesson without distractions (texts, notifications, etc.). We also know that note-taking by hand increases content retention. And by the end of a week without screens, they are undoubtedly feeling the positive brain effects of long-dopamine rewards (those epic camp games) instead of rapid-fire dopamine from scrolling and swiping.
FREEDOM: Personal times of ministry are a staple at the camps our family has been part of, often in the context of a response time after a service. It might mean students are coming to leaders for prayer over a specific area, or they might be praying for one another. Whether or not your church camp includes this element, you can be sure that the majority of adolescents in a camp setting are struggling with strongholds that are linked to their phones. We've prayed many, many times for students trapped in pornography addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, and even just comparison. They want so badly to be free! I can not imagine going to war for them in prayer and then watching them pull out their phone to light up TikTok on their way to the cabin.
HEARING GOD'S VOICE: One of the most-repeated testimonies from our phone-free camps is how unplugging from technology helped students hear God's voice more clearly. When we quiet the noise of our phones' digital input, we're able to experience greater stillness in our thoughts. We pause more, we process the things happening around us by default instead of blocking those micro moments of reflection. We experience less anxiety and greater peace. Our hearts are more available to receive and more in-tune with the Holy Spirit. This is how life was meant to be lived! This is exactly why we dedicated an entire chapter to Sacred Gatherings in our new book, Next Gen Tech Reset.
PREVENTING WORST-CASE SCENARIOS
There are plenty of horrifying stories where phones in the hands of students have been used to harm peers, even to the extreme cases of filmed sexual assault or creating deepfake nude images with basic photos of a classmate. Schools have faced their share of litigation for not doing enough to protect students while on school property.
Churches also face tremendous liability when hundreds of phones are in the hands of immature adolescents. In the digital age, it feels prudent that camp safety policies should include solid technology protocols to protect students from any potential harm.
It's probably true that phones at camp very rarely escalate to criminal behavior. But how many times have kids bullied each other through phones at camp, stirred up drama in friend groups, numbed out in isolation while scrolling social media, or exposed one another to pornography? Church camp should offer a break from that kind of chaos.
THIS GENERATION DESERVES MORE
The research is clear that the students in our youth ministries right now have been ravaged by the impact of addictive technology, more than any other generation before them. How could we not give them every possible opportunity to experience mental and spiritual freedom from the constant pull of screens? What would be a good enough reason to withhold this kind of peace? If we want them to experience REAL LIFE, we must provide plenty of context for them to do so. What if they grow up without being able to recall any significant time away from their phone? As the most targeted, exploited, and digitally traumatized generation, they deserve the opportunity to experience God's presence and power in sacred, set-apart gatherings. Let's courageously give them what they are truly longing for. And may it mark them forever.
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act." Proverbs 3:27
