2021 Camp de Formation Biblique Meeting

This summer, 38 young people aged 17 to 35 found themselves in the middle of a forest in the heart of Schlucht mountain pass to attend the fourth annual Bible Training Camp (Camp de Formation Biblique, or CFB), organized by our network of church families APC. For the first time the number of registrants enabled us to form two training years while dividing the campers into two classes.

The CFB is intended for all young people, both new to the faith and those already highly involved, aged 18 to 35, who are keen to receive theological training. It gives them a taste of more advanced theological training and a valuable foundation for their ministry or future ministry in the church. The full training takes place over two consecutive years.

For this year’s camp the classes were led by Yannick Huguenin, Philippe Brobecker, Aurélien Bloch, Jonathan Conte, and me. Even after 4 years, our team of teachers still have so much fun working together on this project.

We tackle subjects like salvation, the Trinity, the Church, Christology, history of the Church, sanctification, inspiration and truth from the Bible, hermeneutics and homiletics, evangelization and mission, emotional and sexual life, and men and women in local church life… The pace is quite steady, with 24 hours of classes during the week, but it leaves room for conversation, exercise, and worship. We were encouraged by the students’ questions and the quality of their discussion during lessons and small groups. We were also grateful for the donations we received, which allowed us to have a balanced budget for the camp.

The first year’s class gave us very good feedback on the training’s benefits for their church life and faith. It allowed some to prepare for their baptism and others to think more about going to a Bible institute for a year to train. It’s with gratitude that we see what God is doing in the lives of these young people and the desire they have to move forward with Him.

We are passionate about the CFB’s additional impact on the development of churches by allowing younger members to become better educated in theology, and above all, have them develop a heart for the mission and life of their local church and to find their place there. Let’s continue to pray for the students who have attended the CFB and for those to come! Many participants this summer will be baptized by the end of the year, and we thank God for that!

Our challenge for the next year is to find a new venue to host the camp with two classrooms and availability on our desired dates.

Aurélien Georgel