Joseph Thouvenel is associate director of programs and spiritual formation at Twin Rocks Friends Camp. He loves spending time with his amazing wife, Stephanie, and his beautiful daughter, Hope.
As it says in the name, Twin Rocks is a Friends Camp. While some people less familiar with the camp assume this might mean we have the friendliest staff around (and we do!), we know that it actually refers to the foundation of the camp based in the Quaker expression of Christianity. Our identity as a Friends camp impacts our programming in important ways. Since Twin Rocks Friends Camp also serves groups and campers beyond the context of Friends, we have a valuable opportunity to demonstrate to those of other backgrounds the unique characteristics of the Friends Church.
I like to think of Twin Rocks Friends Camp as inclusively Quaker. We are first and foremost a Christian camp, with our Quaker heritage and beliefs shaping the core of the foundation and daily practice of this ministry. Youth from a variety of denominational backgrounds attend our camps. Twin Rocks programs reflect a Christian commitment with a distinctly Quaker feel through the use of silence, the emphasis on intentional community, and a focus on experiencing Jesus Christ present among us. We strive to let these distinctives draw people in rather than feeling excluded by them. When camp speakers or teachers refer to people like George Fox, they do so with an explanation of who he was rather than an assumption that everyone already knows. When campers ask about practices such as baptism or communion, we encourage counselors to explain basic Quaker practice while also taking into consideration the camper’s own faith background and the merits of other denominational perspectives.
Learning about Friends can be much more than a history lesson. At camp, it becomes an experience. Twin Rocks programs help campers put into practice aspects of the Friends testimony in understated yet formative ways. Evening gatherings at Tween and Surfside camps for teenagers work to regularly integrate silence into the fabric of the worship experience. It is truly beautiful to witness several hundred youth quietly listen for the voice of God together. Tween Campers have the chance to promote justice by raising money and awareness for the needs of less fortunate youth in South America and Africa. Behind the scenes, college age summer taff and high school participants on the Twin Rocks’ Servant Leadership Program (SLP) spend their summers at Twin Rocks learning and practicing servant-leadership with grace and humility. They clean up after campers and work behind the scenes, all the while learning that their ministry is equal to that of the cabin counselor or worship leader. Rather than relying on one up-front speaker to guide the flock, counselors are equipped to serve as evangelists and disciple youth as they minister to their cabins throughout a given week. There are also times when Quaker values and testimonies, such as our commitment to peace, are articulated through class sessions, and/or small- group conversations.
It is my belief that Friends have much to offer to broader Christendom. At Twin Rocks, we don’t take for granted that our guests and campers know what it means to be a Christian or a Friend. And so we work to show them through our actions, through our service, through our worship, through our relationships, and through our words.
