One Heart Summer Camp 2017: True Parents’ Life Course

Contributed by Joshua Hardman

One Heart Summer camp continues to be one of the most popular workshops for Unificationist youth, as 130 high school students and 50 middle school students learned about True Parents and the Divine Principle in the beautiful San Bernardino mountains from June 25 to July 1 for high school students and July 2 to July 8 for middle school students.

One Heart Camp is a memorable experience for so many young Unificationists of the west coast, and the occasional visitor, because of activities like “Night Under the Stars,” entertainment night, a visit to the One Heart rock and swimming hole, and many more. This year’s high school camp was noticeably different because the youth ministries of Los Angeles and the Bay Area agreed to embark on a four-year cycle of educational themes, allowing for greater depth on a specific topic at each workshop.

This year’s content for high school focused on True Parents’ life course, and more time was allotted for lectures and Q&A sessions. The participants gained a lot of historical insight into True Parents, but more importantly, they were called upon to, one, resonate with True Parents’ heart for God and humankind, two, to understand their missions for the world and, three, how True Parents are important for their own lives as young people in this movement. This year’s camp also emphasized the importance of participants’ relationships by having them write letters to their parents and discussing the importance of these relationships at the “Brothers/Sisters Night.”

After attending this camp, one high school participant reflected, “I learned how special the Blessing is and how I need to better my life of faith.” Another was inspired by True Parents’ dedicated lives, saying “After learning about True Parents’ course, I came to finally understand and truly look up to True Parents. I’m inspired to finish True Father’s autobiography!”

Middle school students, on the other hand, were given a broad and basic overview of the Divine Principle, as well as True Parents’ course. Content was also more experiential rather than theoretical, with time for things like skits and hands-on projects to teach the fundamentals of the Divine Principle. Though a smaller workshop, the middle school workshop is special in its own right because of the innocence and enthusiasm of the children.

Many participants come to camp wide-eyed and even a little worried about making friends, but they leave feeling secure in the love and attention of their group leaders and peers. This year’s core staff remarked that this group of middle school participants was truly remarkable because of their ability to respect the depth of the camp’s subject matters and sincerely want to grow their hearts and life of faith.

Inspired to participate in a similar Unificationist workshop? Stay tuned for details on the winter workshop in Northern California!