Beulah Camp begins today.
Ten days of “holy conferencing”
on 85 magnificent acres
overlooking New Brunswick ’s beautiful Saint John River
in eastern Canada
Worshiping, learning, swimming, walking, visiting.
That’s what goes on here.
Started in 1894 by the fledgling Reformed Baptist Church
(now the Atlantic District of The Wesleyan Church
it was originally reached by riverboat, train and highway.
The district encompasses
all four Maritime provinces
and the state of Maine
so its churches are far-flung.
Friends gather year by year
Friends gather year by year
and decade by decade,
building lifelong friendships
based on ten days of togetherness each year.
Within the past 30 years, a nearby island of 120 acres
(Caton’s Island ) has been purchased.
Children’s and youth camps are held here all summer long.
Over 350 cottages, dorms and RV sites cover the campground,
but it is dominated by The Tabernacle,
a wooden wonder of architectural art built in 1897.
The Tabernacle seats about 1500 persons.
On Sundays as many as 3000 persons may be on the grounds.
but they are mostly gone now.
Beulah remains, probably Canada
As a boy, Beulah marked the beginning and end of each year.
I played with friends, swam with friends, fought,
went to Bible school on weekday mornings.
As a teen, I dated girls there.
A date almost always meant an evening walk
along Beulah’s roads and pathways.
At 18, I experienced God at Beulah
in a way that transformed my life.
in a way that transformed my life.
At 26, I was ordained to the Christian ministry at Beulah.
My father was one of the elders who consecrated me
by the laying on of hands.
He hugged me and said, “I love you.”
Beulah has become a “sacred place”
where God has met thousands.
Lives have been upended
and yielded to the service of the Master.
God, do it again this year!
Oh it sounds wonderful.I attended Christian camps as a child and sent my own children on the same camps. My sister and I used to meet at a camp help between both our then homes after we married. Now I live far away but recently attended another one with my married daughter. They are awe inspiring and the Christian family invaluable.
ReplyDeleteThanks Crystal Mary. I'm assuming there must be Christian camps of some kind in Australia. There are other smaller camps in the Maritimes as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is a new phenomenon to me (certainly involving adults as well as children) but what a great thing in must be to participate in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the glimpse.
Yes Philip, I'm sure you've read how these encampments began in the USA in the early 1800s, sometimes called "brush arbors". The holiness movement developed in North America beginning in the 1860s and 70s, and they made great use of this phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered what a 'brush arbor' was. The first time I came on it was in a book about snake-handling believers in the Appalachians, and I thought it was an enclosure they kept the snakes in!
ReplyDeleteThey don't handle snakes at Beulah (no poisonous ones live in eastern Canada)! My dad built a cottage at Beulah in 1959 (very basic), and my parents go there every year, for more than 60 years.
ReplyDelete