Camp Wapo 2021

by Bristol Reading

Posted July 2021

Zion had 54 campers, 1st-12th grade, attend Lake Wapogasset Bible Camp this July. Although church staff couldn’t be onsite for the whole week this year at Wapo, Angela Bengtson and I were excited to go for a day visit. Here’s what our day was like…

We spent the morning at Camp Wapo. For COVID safety, Wapo’s daily chapel service was held outdoors this year, but students were just as enthusiastic about dancing and singing! After chapel, campers split into their cabin groups for Bible study. Angela and I each joined a different cabin group of Zion campers to learn with them about the Old Testament prophet Amos. After Bible Study, we played some field games and delivered all the cards parishioners had written for Zion campers. We made sure to visit with as many Zion campers as we could, and of course, snap some photos of them enjoying their time at camp. Over lunch, we got to catch up with Pastor Suzi, former Zion Associate Pastor who now serves as Wapo’s Director of Programs and Retreats. Pastor Suzi is doing great and loving camp life!

In the afternoon, Angela and I went over to Wapo’s second site, Ox Lake, to visit Zion’s middle and high school students. Campers were spending the afternoon on the lake, so we hiked out to join them. We hadn’t packed our swimming suits, but I did get to go canoeing with some Zion campers – who were great paddlers! When we got back to camp, we shared snacks and conversations with campers until dinner time. With perfect timing, a downpour arrived just as we were all sitting down for tacos, but we were still happy for the much-needed rain. After dinner, Angela and I said farewell and headed back to Buffalo. Thanks, Wapo staff and Zion campers for making our first visit to Wapo so fun!

9th Grade Lock-in 2022

From the evening hours of October 7, well into the morning hours of October 8, our awesome Zion ninth graders…

Fall 2022 at Zion!

Our mission is to partner with families for faith formation and connection. We are always looking for ways to connect with you and to be helpful to families as they seek to raise their children in the faith. There is nothing like fall in Minnesota! But, there is also nothing like the busyness that accompanies it. Registrations, new schedules, new routines, new forms to fill out and keep track of, new school supplies to find and purchase, and new anxieties to calm. We started asking: what if the church found a way to curb some of that, instead of participating in it?

We started asking parents: “Would it be helpful if we moved the start of Sunday School and Confirmation to October?” And, overwhelmingly, parents told us that would be AWESOME and helpful. So, Sunday School (both at 8:30 & 10:30 this year!) will begin Sunday, October 2nd, and Confirmation will begin Wednesday, October 5th.

September will be focused on connecting your family to the joy of Sabbath. We hope you will be connecting back to worship if you’ve taken some time away. To help you focus on Sabbath and worship this Fall, the 10:30am outdoor worship service is continuing into September. Children love the chance to dance, run, and worship under the trees, and Zion has the perfect set-up. It is casual, low-key, a little bit shorter, and filled with music. Bring chairs or a blanket and worship outside the first two Sundays in September. Then, be ready for Z-Fest on the 18th! Food trucks! Games! Fun!

Each Sunday in September will have extra special ways of connecting with children & youth in worship (beyond our ever-popular children’s sermon time. Enjoy the breather and grace this new start date will provide and connect with friends old and new at worship this September. After all, God has commanded Sabbath rest, because we need it!

Choirs & Bells Sunday School Confirmation