In the United States we have become used to big groups of kids coming together from our local churches during the summer. I remember growing up in a big church in Texas we would rent out a big campsite and get all together. In Turkey it’s harder for Christian kids to find that community.

Elias, a Bible Mission team member in Germany, went to eastern Turkey this summer for the Kucak Camp. This camp brought together 58 kids from churches in 8 different territories in Turkey.

“You don't have that many Christian people (in Turkey) in general,” Elias said. “You don't have contact with them because they are located 200 kilometers away somewhere and you don't even know about them. So if you go to this camp and you see hey there they are, Christians my age.”

We can take for granted the amount of Christians we have access to. Elias said, “If you want Christian community you can easily have it, there’s teen, youth, Sunday school and multiple services during the week.”

Turkey is a majority Muslim country with 98 percent of the population following the teachings of Islam. However, God is moving powerfully in the country. 

The camp was held two hours from Diyarbakir, a major city in the southeast of Turkey, not far from the Syrian border. Of the 58 children who attended, 10 were from Muslim families.

"They found out about the camps through the churches,” Elias said. "The children from the churches had normal contacts through schools and kindergartens, and they came to the camp." In Turkey when a kid is staying overnight for a trip, their parents have to give permission. The Christians at the camp were very up-front about what they would teach and do, Muslim families still allowed their kids to go.

A major reason for the increased trust was the way Christians have responded to the earthquakes in Turkey. In a previous article we heard testimony of how God was moving in Antakya after the earthquakes there.

Elmas, a Christian who was in the city during the earthquake, said people were coming to Christians for more help because everyone saw the Christians helping in their greatest need.

“The way Christians responded to the earthquake built some credit for the relationship,” Elias said. “The people in Turkey say: ‘hey when everything happened to us, they cared for us. They would ask us how we’re doing and how they can help.’ It was very good for building relationships.”

There was a woman who was interested in a church in Turkey eight years ago, she asked many questions but then pulled away and was very against the church. She came and knocked on the door of the church earlier this summer. The leaders of the church were worried she was there to get them in trouble for something, but she actually had heard about the camp and signed her son up for it. He attended the camp and had a great time, according to Elias.

The Quran has testimonies about Moses and Joseph, so this year's lessons were centered around Moses. “The children from Muslim background had questions about the story of Moses,” Elias said.

“They asked about the differences between the stories in the Bible and the Quran. The camp was a good opportunity to talk with them about these differences.”

With more than 30 leaders plus the kids, the group was too big to do their meetings in the buildings at the camp. Everyone went out in the field by the road and talked about the gospel there! People were dressed in old fashioned costumes and even a pharaoh costume to make the story come alive.

“People walking by saw us in our Egyptian costumes and heard the gospel,” Elias said. Some even stopped and stayed to see the entire story. 

One of the most encouraging things about the camp was how the kids got closer over the days together. Kucak means hug or embrace in Turkish, and this is a place for the kids to feel that connection with other Christians. The kids got much closer to each other over the week together.

"The joy among the children and their willingness to help each other was remarkable," Elias said. "There was no serious conflict, and no child wanted to go home."

Within the leaders there were many between 18 and 26 who knew each other before the camp. Elias said, “they knew each other from their time in the Kucak camps when they were kids. They had stayed close. Now you have one generation growing all over eastern Turkey, coming together once or twice a year."

The leaders of this camp want to use the camp as a platform to teach the next generation and to unite them.

At the end of the camp the children could go in front of the cross and ask for prayer. Elias said, "Seeing how many children understood the truth and wanted prayer was impressive." Then the next night all the children prayed for their leaders.

Elias said, “This was something I haven't seen in any other camp, because usually it's just the leaders praying for the children. But here you have the children praying for the leaders. It was very, very impressive.”

Elias said, “The next generation leadership is important for the future of the churches in eastern Turkey." His prayer request is that God would equip the youth, so they can equip the children to grow in spiritual maturity. 

Bible Mission supports kids camps like this financially, and this year sent a group from Moldova to help in Turkey. Bible Mission is committed to helping the local churches invest today into leaders of tomorrow.

We can pray that God continues to raise leaders up within the young people, and that they then can disciple those coming up after them. It’s incredibly exciting what God is doing in Turkey!

You can follow Bible Mission to keep up to date with what God is doing in eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia! Please share this story to a friend if God is touching your heart!

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Matthew 18:1-3

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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