9 February 2009

First camp in three years

Devonport, Tasmania
Kaleb McKay/Melody Tan

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tasmania has met together for a regional camp-meeting for the first time after three years.

The 10-day meeting was held at the Pine Springs Campground in East Devonport for the first time after it was closed due to occupation health and safety issues. Over the last three years, church leadership and members worked to upgrade the area to make it more suitable for camping as well as user-friendly for disabled people. During that period, church members met over weekends for "mini-camps" and "retreats".

According to Wayne Boehm, president of the Adventist Church in Tasmania, regional camp-meetings are vital in creating a "sense of unity...and fellowship that [church members] in smaller churches don't get throughout the year."

The theme of the camp was "Fuel the Flame", designed to "promote the spiritual disciplines that bring us into connection with God who ignites the flame to be His faithful workmen."