Extending Kinship Through Christian Camping in an East African Nation

Abstract

Christian camping is rapidly growing as an experiential education ministry in the Global South. Whereas most scholarship and resource development has historically taken place in the West, programs like Church-based rites of passage in Kenya expose sparsely documented camp ministry contextualization elsewhere. This qualitative study explored the experience of Kenyan Christian camp practitioners through focus groups and semi-structured interviews (N = 37). Four themes emerged from analysis, describing camps as reforming the East African Revival, extending faith-based kinship, discipling intergenerationally, and facilitating transformation. Christian camps in Kenya are temporary communities that also redeem some traditional rituals for whole-person formation.