Compassion Camp: What Every Living Thing Needs explores what all living things need to live—shelter, food, water, air, and community—and how we can have compassion for the living earth, especially in our local ecosystems.
Compassion Camp Theme Song:
A Creation Hymn
Compassion Camp Scripture
Each session is centered on Psalm 104 (excerpts below) as our grounding text and stitched together with additional scripture that highlight each session's theme.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills...
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle
and plants for us to cultivate,
to get food from the soil.
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows when to set.
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
O God, what a variety you have created!
Arranging everything so wisely;
the earth is filled with your creativity.
"In my twelve years of doing VBS here at First Pres Santa Monica, I can't remember a VBS program more engaging, lively, meaningful, and loved by children, parents, and staff than Compassion Camp."
-Peter Earhart
Director of Children’s and Family Ministry, First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica, CA
Compassion Camp: One Purchase, Complete Curriculum
Leave behind the hassle of purchasing additional materials.
When you choose Compassion Camp, we've got you covered with everything you need, in one convenient package.
Director's Guide
Your director's guide includes everything you need to run a successful program. Over 400 pages of material, activities, games, sheet music, and more!
Individual Leader Guides
Leader guides are provided for each of the different Compassion Camp components. Including a five-session version of Compassion Camp for youth.
Media Kit
The media kit includes posters, slides, illustrations for each session, the Compassion Camp logo in various formats, and promotional images you can use for newsletters, social media, and your website.
Music & Lyric Videos
Chord charts & sheet music are available in the Director's Guide. Our original songs are available wherever you stream music, and you can find our lyric videos (including instrumental versions) on YouTube.
Overview of Session Themes
Compassion Camp: What Every Living Thing Needs is an earth-care curriculum focused on the more-than-human world. While humans are a part of God's creation, we aim to explore the needs of every living thing for shelter, food, water, air, and community through awareness, gratitude, wonderment, reciprocity, and kinship, and specifically, practice ways humans can have compassion for the more-than-human world regarding those needs.
Shelter Protects Life
Participants will develop their skills of awareness as the first step in compassion by noticing how God provides shelter in the Bible.
Food Energizes Life
Participants will practice gratitude for food by compassionately acknowledging the world God made (as described in Psalm 104).
Water Hydrates Life
Participants will seek wonderment in the power and vulnerability of water by learning about the cycles of God’s life-giving resource and how we need to protect it compassionately.
Air Sustains Life
Participants will explore reciprocity in the function of air by seeing their own breath as the sign of God’s Spirit that breathes in them and how the world’s influence on the air affects what they receive through it.
Community Produces Life
Participants will identify their kinship with the world by understanding their membership in, and connection with, the diverse “neighborhood” of God’s creation.
Session Components
In each session of Compassion Camp, you'll find the following components.
Options for preschoolers: We also include preschool adaptations for the Bible Story, Create & Play, and Compassion in Action, in addition to preschool variations of our Recreation activities.
Gathering & Music
Introduces the session’s theme and is written as a guide so you can have the flexibility to fit your context. The Gathering is also an ideal time to lead everyone in the original music written for each session.
Bible Story
Child-friendly paraphrases of the scripture accessible for all ages, highlighting and celebrating the Bible’s focus on creation’s flourishing. A focus on poetry will strengthen the bond of the more-than-human world. For preschoolers, we include a Bible story booklet and a coloring page with imagining and wondering questions to connect more deeply with the story.
Create & Play
A fun mix of crafts and activities throughout all five sessions to practice our compassion skills and have fun together. Preschool lesson and activities included.
Movement
Physical engagement to connect our minds, bodies, and spirits with God. We will focus on breathing alongside basic yoga poses—friendly for all ages—connecting Compassion Camp’s main themes with our lives.
Recreation
Cooperative games that get participants’ bodies and minds moving and reinforce Compassion Camp’s themes and takeaways. Preschool adaptations included.
Compassion in Action
These activities help participants think creatively about sharing their compassion and love. These small, simple, and tangible acts help us express God’s deep compassion for each other, ourselves, and the world. Preschool lesson and activities included.
Sending & Music
Similar to the Gathering, the Sending wraps up the session’s theme and is also written as a guide, giving you the flexibility to fit your context. The Sending is another excellent spot to lead everyone in the original music written for each session.
"After reading through Compassion Camp, I felt so much joy and hope. This curriculum meets all children where they are and is adaptable to all abilities and interests. Now more than ever, we need to teach children to look outward into their greater community."
-Ashley Saunders
Children's Minister, Muhlenberg Lutheran Church, Harrisonburg, VA
Compassion Camp is Flexible and Adaptable
Compassion Camp is highly flexible, adaptable, and fun for the entire church (and includes activities for youth). Compassion Camp could be run as a traditional 5-day VBS program or spread out over multiple weeks for an extended program. Churches have also used it for family camp weekends or their entire church-wide fall programming. There are endless options available to suit your needs.
Do you have questions? Check out our FAQ Videos:
WHAT IS COMPASSION CAMP?
WHAT IS THIS THEME?
WHAT'S IN EACH SESSION?
Pricing Information
Compassion Camp is a fully digital curriculum, and it is priced based on the size of your congregation.
Licensing Information
If you plan to run Compassion Camp with one church or group, simply purchase Compassion Camp from our store, giving you a Single-Entity license.
If you want to join multiple churches or groups for your Compassion Camp experience, you'll need a Multi-Entity license. Fill out a form to request your Multi-Entity license here.
1–100 members
$299
101–500 members
$349
501+ members
$449
Download a FREE Sample Session
Interested in learning more?
Want to see if Compassion Camp is right for your community?
Would you like to download the entire first session in sample form?
Need to show it to some of the decision-makers in your community?
Click the button below to download your FREE sample of Compassion Camp: What Every Living Thing Needs. And if you have any questions, you can always get in touch with us here.
Extras
While not needed to run a successful Compassion Camp, we created this additional resource in response to customer feedback asking for more ways to integrate the Compassion Camp experience into their wider church communities.
Compassion Camp Liturgy
Are you looking for a seamless way to integrate Compassion Camp into your worship services? Whether you use this curriculum as a traditional 5-day Vacation Bible School program or you take the themes and spread it out over a few months, this liturgy will give you helpful prayers and litanies to include in your worship service. There is a liturgy for the Sunday before and after you use Compassion Camp and liturgies to accompany each session, focusing on shelter, food, water, air, and community.
"Compassion Camp is the best! I am so grateful for a company making good curriculum that I, as a pastor, don’t have to feel guilty about. Last year, our church used a VBS curriculum that featured a violent image of the atonement and used militant imagery, which made me cringe during every song and lesson. So, finding something like Compassion Camp that speaks to our children about breathing and resting and caring for all of creation—rather than going to battle against it—is such a gift! Thank you!"
-Greg Milinovich
Senior Pastor, St. Paul's United Methodist Church, State College, PA
Compassion Camp is unlike other VBS curricula!
What is Compassion Camp?
Compassion Camp offers a transformative VBS experience that is adaptable for any church or community setting. This unique program aims to cultivate compassion for each other, ourselves, and the world through scripture, original songs, craftivities, cooperative play, compassionate actions, and more!
What makes Compassion Camp unique?
- Inclusive language & progressive theology
- Fresh & modern illustrations
- Flexible & adaptable
- Original music & lyric videos
- Digital & downloadable files
- Geared toward K-5th graders
- Preschool & Youth adaptations
Join our Compassion Camp Facebook Group
With over 2,100 members, our Compassion Camp Facebook Group is an engaging community to share ideas, get support, and communicate with others who have led or are leading Compassion Camp. Join the group and learn more—even before you've purchased Compassion Camp!
Other Editions of Compassion Camp
In addition to our What Every Living Thing Needs edition, we also have two other editions of Compassion Camp available. Below you can download free samples and learn more.
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