Cabin Devotions

Cabin Staff (and Program Staff when they are covering!) will do a brief devotion for their cabin each night after Lights Out and before they go around and tuck each girl in. These can seem intimidating if you’ve never done many, but we are here to help you!

This summer we’ll be offering you more resources than ever to make your devotions stress-free. We’ll train you on how to give a great devotion during Orientation, and then during the session, we’ll be including devotion resources and ideas in the daily “Bottom Line” staff newsletter. You can also always find ideas by asking your Group Leader and checking out our devotion book library in the office! Just know that we want to help you with your devotions in any way we can.

Cabin Devotion FAQ’s

What should my devotion include? Every devotion needs to include Scripture and a prayer. As for the content, focus on the good news of the Gospel. Right before bed is NOT the time for hell, fire, brimstone, and controversial topics!
Should I make it a discussion or ask for questions at the end? This is a tricky one. Because you want your girls to be engaged, it can be tempting to ask questions and allow your girls to contribute. However, this can so easily get out of hand and lead to giggles and off-topic questions, so we recommend that you be the main one to talk and lead. This is your girls’ time to wind down for the night and keeping them calm during devotions will help you get to sleep soon yourself! Tuck-ins are a great time for them to ask questions if they have them.
What’s the best way to come up with devotion ideas? The best thing is to have your own devotion time for yourself. If you’re praying and staying in the Word yourself, God will be teaching you things and you’ll be more inspired for what to tell your campers. Also - pray about it! Pray that God would speak through you and show you what He wants you to tell your girls.
What if I don’t know what to do for devotions? Your Group Leader is a great place to start for devotion ideas for your specific age group. Talk to the other counselors in your age group about what they’re doing. We also have lots of devotion books in the Lower Office for you to use to plan. Our camp ministers are also great resources to help with your devotions, and we’ll be putting devotion ideas in the Bottom Line counselor newsletter every day as well.
What if I have young campers? Trust that no matter the age of your girls, God has things to teach them! No matter the age of your campers, you’ll still include Scripture and prayer. This age loves stories, and the Lower Office has all kinds of resources. We love the Jesus Storybook Bible for younger girls, or really any age (and there’s one in every cabin!) - it ties Jesus into all the stories of the Bible. Keep it simple and brief, but focused on Jesus, and you can’t go wrong.
What if I have older campers? Don’t get intimidated! It’s so important with this age to keep up with your own devotional time and to remain in touch with what the Lord is saying to you. Using chapters and parts of Christian books work well for older girls - you can go through parts of a book and read and talk through it. This age is fun for devotions, because you can really talk deeply through the Bible - take it as a great opportunity! Definitely talk to the other counselors in your age group to get ideas from each other.
What if my campers ask hard questions I don’t know the answers to? Deep breath! You don’t have to know the answers, and we don’t expect you to! In the moment, acknowledge the question, and say simply, “I’m not sure about that, but let’s ask the camp minister.” That’s what he’s here for! You can talk to him individually, or with the camper that has all the questions. If your whole cabin has questions, you can arrange a time during Rest Hour or free time to talk with him as a group. He is here as a resource for you, so don’t be afraid to use him!

Devotion ideas for every age group

Although how you present each of these things will vary by age group, these are some universally beloved devotions. Your Group Leader is a great resource for what is best for your age group - just ask if you have any questions!

One body, many parts from 1 Corinthians 12 is a good one for early on in camp - relate it to the cabin and campers - start off early putting it in their minds that we are a team.
Younger girls love hearing from the Jesus Storybook Bible. It can also be great for older girls - you’ll just have to expand it a little more to make it relevant to them.
Do you have a favorite book of the Bible or love something like the Fruits of the Spirit? At a longer session, it can be good to spend a few days talking through something that is exciting to you or that the Lord is teaching you.
Is it a special occasion like Vespers? You can use your devo time to help explain what has just happened, and connect it to what your girls have just experienced.
Older girls love when you pick passages and read out of books like Love Does or Cold Tangerines, or devotionals like The Blue Book or New Morning Mercies (we have copies of these that you can borrow from camp!).
A printed and bound devotion book you can find in the Lower Office has some great camp classics, including The Wemmicks.
For older girls (we’ve found this to be true with middle school and up), it can be good to ask for suggestions for what they want to hear devotions about. It helps you to see what’s important to them and what questions they’re asking.

It’s not important that every devo is perfectly eloquent and put together. It is important that you are a good steward of this time and that you trust that the Lord will use it in ways you never could have imagined!