God On Vacation?

firstamendmentcenter.org: news: "Group provides worship services for campers

ESTES PARK, Colo. — It’s just after 10 a.m. on an August Sunday at the Glacier Basin campsite in Rocky Mountain National Park. The small amphitheater is still half-covered in morning shade and more than a dozen campers have already arrived.

Standing before them are Kyle Murphy, Tiffany Clark, Amanda Top and Kathleen McMahan — four college students who have devoted the past three months to spreading the word of God every Sunday from their makeshift church.

“For me, it’s an affirmation,” said Clark, 21. “I feel right where I’m supposed to be.”

She and her peers at Glacier Basin belong to A Christian Ministry in the National Parks, a group that offers nondenominational church services to devout vacationers in 40 national parks and forests every summer.

Among those sitting in the congregation on the recent Sunday were Harry and Louise Johnson, a retired couple from Illinois in Estes Park for a family reunion. Like many Americans, the Johnsons attend services regularly at home, but have trouble finding places to worship on the road.

That’s where the ministry comes in.

“It’s really nice to have this opportunity where you’re really in God’s creation,” Louise Johnson said. “This is really as close as you can get.”

According to its Web site, the ministry was established in 1951 to provide services for vacationers while training its members to become future church leaders. The organization is based in Freeport, Maine, but most of its 230 members are college students from around the country.

Members are provided with room, board and a part-time job and are responsible for advertising their services and delivering sermons at their assigned post every Sunday.

According to Clark, the ministry work isn’t hard, but other challenges, such as group cohesiveness can be tough, especially for a younger group.

“We’re all very independent individuals with very different backgrounds,” she said. “Sure, we can love on one another and we can try and understand, but sometimes we’re stuck in our ways, and we’ve got to be able to mold and work together as a group.”

The biggest challenge for McMahan, 21, came on Saturday nights when the group walked around Glacier Basin, promoting Sunday morning’s service.

“I come from a less evangelical background in my journey and faith, and I’ve never been comfortable with going up to strangers and telling them they should go to church,” she said.

In addition to social concerns, the group must also take into account political and legal considerations.

According to Rocky Mountain National Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson, any group that wants to conduct religious services in the park must get a special-use permit and abide by all of the park’s rules.

A group, for example, cannot distribute pamphlets or other printed materials from campsite to campsite, and events must be held in an area that campers can avoid if they choose.

“The amphitheater is a separate area, not a place where you’d normally want to just sit,” Patterson said.

She added that the ministry’s gatherings are protected under the First Amendment.

“It’s a First Amendment right, and it’s in the best interests of the park and park visitors who request this service,” she said. “It’s not a situation where people are forced to go.”

Though no one has responded with hostility toward the ministry members at Glacier Basin, Patterson said such situations are not unheard-of.

Clark, too, said she had heard of campers in other parks telling ministry members to leave while advertising for Sunday’s service, but such reactions are rare.

As the summer comes to an end, so does Murphy, Clark, Top and McMahan’s time at Glacier Basin. A final service was to be held Aug. 14.

Murphy, 19, says he’s enjoyed the experience and learned valuable lessons over the summer, but wouldn’t choose to participate in the program again.

“It’s not that I didn’t like it; it’s just that I know there are other things I need to do that will be more beneficial to me and others,” he said.

Murphy said he plans to participate in missionary work for Youth With a Mission when he returns to his home in North Carolina.

One thing the four ministry members at Glacier Basin didn’t count on was how they would be affected by the families they were supposed to inspire.

“So often ... when I’m on vacation, I’m on vacation from everything, including God,” Clark said. “It’s just so awesome to see that people are willing to come and worship God on a Sunday during their vacation.”"

By John Houder
Daily Times-Call, Longmont, Colo.
via The Associated Press
08.21.05

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