Carolyn Anderson

Dear Delegates of the Olympia Presbytery,

I am writing to urge your support for Sound View Camp as a vital ministry of the Olympia Presbytery. Sound View is a unique asset of the Presbytery, both because of its ongoing work as the only Presbytery-wide youth ministry, and because of the potential for future mission work that its beautiful natural setting holds. Setting aside my own deep attachment to the camp as the place that cemented my Christian faith and my dedication to social justice, I believe that Sound View has an important and unique role to play in the future of the Presbytery.

We all know that the future of our Presbytery, whatever it may be, will be radically different. It is my belief that as church sizes continue to shrink, sites for Presbytery-wide mission will be increasingly important. Many churches in our Presbytery already cannot support youth missions appropriately, due to their lack of sufficient young members. Sound View helps fill the gaps by bringing together youth from many different churches, and by providing a strong leader training program in the form of the LIT program and the summer staff experience. These Sound View programs were instrumental in forming my faith, my understanding of community, and my commitment to the church body; these programs also foster connections between churches.

In my time on Sound View staff, the relationships formed between high school campers from different churches helped build inter-church community all year round. The youth group of my church, Fircrest Presbyterian, went from a small group of at most 8 young people to a flourishing group that attracted 20-30 young people from around the area every week, largely due to the talent and connections flowing out of Sound View-cemented friendships with young people from other Tacoma-area churches, including University Place Presbyterian, First Presbyterian, and Mission Woods. I believe that Sound View’s role as a nexus of community will only become increasingly important in the future of the Presbytery as we face the challenges of developing young leaders out of our increasingly smaller, increasingly older church populations.

It may well be that Sound View, like the rest of the Presbytery, will need to adapt and transform in order to meet the emerging needs. I think we are all aware that we are at a turning point for the Presbytery, that the choices we make now may decide whether the future of presbyteries like ours is to age quietly into obscurity or to transform into a different but vibrant kind of church. In such a time, it is difficult to know whether present ministries should be given a chance to reinvent themselves or should be pruned to make room for new approaches. I would argue, however, that Sound View is more than the sum of its current ministries: it is also a valuable piece of property that could play host to a range of new initiatives. The role I see for Sound View is that of a testing ground for the future of the Olympia Presbytery.

We may not know exactly what kinds of ministries a vibrant future Presbytery will need. But I am a scientist as well as a Christian, and I know something about how solutions are developed: it takes time, and resources, and patience, but it also often takes a laboratory, a place where dozens of different approaches can be tested and tried. In my mind, Sound View is such a place: if the Presbytery is going to thrive in the future, it needs to understand the experiences and concerns of the future people of the church. Sound View has the specialists who understand how to listen to and inspire young leaders, and it has the dedicated space to develop new programs that mesh with the passions of young people in Washington.

At Sound View, there are already stirrings of the kind of experimental initiatives that might help transform the Presbytery as a whole. One such initiative is Sound View’s sustainability mission, which appeals to the passion that young people in our area have for environmental stewardship. I can envision a future for Sound View that expands this ongoing mission into a sustainability camp, with equal time devoted to cultivating sustainable agriculture through the food forest; learning about the ecology of Pacific Northwest forests; and exploring marine stewardship at the waterfront. Unlike traditional churches, which I have never felt comfortable inviting my non-religious friends to, Sound View has always been a welcoming environment for people from all backgrounds, and emphasizing the environmental values that are shared by people from all backgrounds is an excellent way of attracting youth.

Another value that is a rallying point for non-religious and Christian youth alike is social justice. As a counselor at Sound View, I often found myself listening to campers who had had their electricity turned off the week before, and were so grateful for the chance to relax and just be children at camp. As a cook at Sound View, I witnessed many campers who were surprised that they were allowed second helpings, and who displayed the food secrecy/binging habits that come from food insecurity at home. Sound View is already a mission that provides food, safety, exercise, and education for young people who might not have many other options over the summer, thanks to the camper scholarship fund. I would like to see Sound View be able to reach out even more widely to children from underprivileged areas. Having a unified ministry is more effective than the efforts of any individual church could be in missions like these, which encompass a wide geographical area.

In sum, Sound View Camp has a unique role to play in developing new approaches to ministry that will engage and inspire young people. While the youth in our area are mostly unchurched, they are passionate about social and environmental justice. Because of Sound View’s pristine natural location, it is the perfect place to develop new missions focused on social and environmental justice that will make young people feel at home in the church. Furthermore, as our church sizes continue to shrink, Sound View will play an increasingly vital role both in encouraging connection-building between churches and in hosting Presbytery-wide ministries. It is not just out of love for Sound View, but out of the fervent belief in the possibility of a renewed and vibrant Olympia Presbytery that I urge you to pledge your support for Sound View Camp.

Blessings,
Carolyn Anderson