From June 26-28, nearly fifty youth, young adults, and volunteers gathered at Gretna Glen Camp & Retreat Center in Lebanon, PA, for the first ever CAMP-PASSION, an identity-faith formation and leadership summer camp hosted by Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey’s Filipino Ministry Caucus.
Participants ranged in age from 13-28 and traveled to camp from across New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with a group from a Spanish-speaking congregation even making the trip from northern Virginia. Throughout the weekend, translation was provided so that everyone could participate fully.
The three-day camp offered participants the chance to explore their own identity, faith, and calling as bearers of God’s compassion through worship, creative expression, structured activities, and free time spent around the lake and campfire.
Campers left with a deeper sense of God’s presence in their lives and their connection to one another, with one participant reflecting, “Throughout this camp, we have experienced [God]’s love in so many ways. … His love has been made visible in our lives and through the people He placed around us.”
A Tradition Revived and Reimagined
Though CAMP-PASSION was the first camp hosted by the EPA&GNJ Filipino Ministry Caucus, it has deep roots in Filipino Methodist communities. It was born out of the caucus’ vision to revive and reimagine the tradition of “Christmas Institute.”
Originating in the early 20th century Methodist church in the Philippines, Christmas Institute is a week-long discipleship and evangelistic camp for youth and young adults occurring the week after Christmas.
Continued in the United States by immigrant communities, Christmas Institute is where many Filipino American United Methodist pastors first discerned a call to ministry and had early opportunities to put Christian leadership skills into practice. One of the defining features of Christmas Institute is that it is led and shaped by young people themselves.
Members of the EPA&GNJ Filipino Ministry Caucus wanted to give the next generation of young people—of Filipino or of any background—a chance to have the same formative experience. Despite initial uncertainties about how the camp would be funded, said the Rev. Adrian Mendoza, one of the camp’s organizer’s, we learned “to lift up the vision to God and trust that God will make a way.”
At a Connectional Table visioning day in June, 2025 members of the caucus “started checking our own pockets to seed the funding,” shared Mendoza. When they shared their vision for a camp in the spirit of Christmas Institute with the broader conference leadership, others joined in. Before the day was over, the funds for the venue down payment had been raised. It had been about ten years since anything like Christmas Institute had been hosted in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference.
Grounded in compassion
Soon, planning for the event was underway. Like the Christmas Institute, this camp would center the voices and leadership of young people and create space for them to explore their calling as God’s children.
The Filipino Ministry caucus, headed by the Rev. Adrian Mendoza, the Rev. Roeline Ramirez, and Deaconess Noemi De Armas, alongside four youth leaders,Terrie, Danielle, Kayla, and Kirsten, chose compassion as the foundational spiritual force of the camp’s inaugural year. Through receiving and embracing the compassionate love of God, the organizers hoped that youth and young adults would be inspired and empowered to love God others.
At CAMP-PASSION, participants delved deeply into the Filipino values of Kapwa—the understanding that our lives are interconnected—and Kalinga—the notion that we are called to care and compassion in all aspects of our lives.
These values were explored through the lens of Frank Rogers Jr.’s book The Way of Jesus: Compassion in Practice, which “perfectly encapsulates Kapwa and Kalinga,” said Mendoza.
The schedule for CAMP-PASSION followed the movement of Rogers’ book—first to be grounded in God’s compassion, then move to self-discovery and self-compassion, onto connection with and compassion for others, and finally to compassionate action.
Connecting to God – the source of compassion
Friday evening, campers joined in spirited worship led by the youth praise team and heard the testimonies of pastors Manny Cruz and Willie Tangunan and deaconesses Loi Salazar and Noemi De Armas. On Saturday morning, they grounded themselves in God’s compassionate presence through spiritual practices ranging from lectio divina to labyrinths, body prayer to tactile meditations.
The variety of practices not only helped campers connect with God in ways that were personally meaningful but also reminded them that our whole selves – mind and body – participate in the spiritual life.
Self-discovery and self-compassion
Centered in God’s compassion, campers broke out into interest groups where they creatively expressed themselves through photo, video, and dramatic storytelling, songwriting, poetry, visual arts, and dance. For many, the opportunity to create alongside others was a highlight of the weekend.
“The artifacts from the interest groups really showed how the participants understand who they are as children of God and what their faith means, especially in times of challenge,” shared Ramirez. “One participant shared being in a dark place with no hope and purpose, but God raised the participant from that place into the journey of faith and hope.”
Compassion for others, leading in community
Saturday afternoon offered a time for connecting with others through individual and team sports and through a trust walk facilitated by the camp and retreat center.
The trust walk brought two blindfolded groups into the woods toward the landmark Big Rock. Guided by a rope and accompanied by leaders, participants each held the rope with one hand and the shoulder of the person in front of them with the other. Whenever contact with the person ahead was lost, the group stopped until it was restored.
Several participants found it to be one of the most meaningful parts of the weekend, with one noting it created a deeper sense of connection to Jesus’ sacrifice for them.
Evening opened into a time of worship during which another call story was shared, this time by Apryl Miller, a lay person who serves as the executive director of Gretna Glen Camp & Retreat Center. As part of her testimony, Miller led participants in a hands-on reflection in which they shaped clay into representations of the God-given gifts they hope to offer the world through ministry.
Through this exercise and the diverse testimonies shared over the course of the weekend, participants learned about how God’s call can take different forms. That evening, those present had an opportunity to take a bold step of faith into leadership as nominations for Filipino Ministry Caucus Youth and Young Adult representatives were put forth. “The diverse-age nomination ensures continuity,” explained Ramirez, “empowering youth and young adults to turn their vision into reality.”
Committing to Compassion
On Sunday morning, participants explored what it looks like to turn compassion into action through a variety of workshops, each led by young people. One workshop focused on leadership in church, career, and among peers, while another, “Finding Your Purpose,” explicitly focused on the many different vocational tracks in the church and church agencies. A third workshop, “RISE,” created space for a theologically grounded discussion of race, identity, sexuality, and equality. Another, titled “CARE” helped participants embody Kalinga through caring for self, attentive communication, relational health, and emotional wellness.
After the workshops, participants journalled about their own commitments to put compassion into practice, noting who are their Kapwa and how they have received and given Kalinga.
“Most shared about learning how compassion extends from God to themselves and then to others,” noted Mendoza. In the post-event evaluation, one participant movingly wrote, “God works through each one of us to show His very own compassion to others. We do not live for ourselves, but we live for His glory. And what this can look like is building each other up …Compassion is contagious. And the compassion that comes from Christ fills and builds.”
Sent out in Kapwa and Kalinga
As CAMP-PASSION neared its end, participants raised hands and voices in one last worship service before heading home. But the camp’s emphasis on Kapwa—the understanding that our lives are interconnected—did not end when the weekend did. Participants are already talking about gathering again for an afternoon of archery, continuing their coffee shop fellowship, and sharing the song and dance they developed at CAMP-PASSION at the upcoming IGNITE youth conference.
A core group of youth leaders is also beginning to imagine what it might look like to make the camp an annual gathering, with future themes shaped by the ideas and perspectives of young people themselves.
For Ramirez, that ongoing momentum is part of what made the weekend so significant. “The camp was indeed a manifestation of a compassionate vision that turned into action, inspiring us to dream dreams and make things happen through God’s compassionate grace present with us all.”
CAMP-PASSION may have been a new beginning for EPA&GNJ’s Filipino Ministry Caucus, but it was also a continuation: of a tradition, of a community, and of a faith that calls young people not only to discover who they are, but to imagine what God might do through them. If the connections already taking shape are any indication, the compassion cultivated around the campfire and at the lake this summer will surely continue to flow through the young people who participated in CAMP-PASSION in the months and years to come.