Review: "Church Camp" by Cara Meredith

 

Church Camp by Cara Meredith
Published April 2025 via Broadleaf Books
★★★

For years, church camp defined huge parts of Meredith's life. First she was a camper, then a counselor, and then, as an adult, a speaker—she'd be hired to spend a week giving nightly talks to the latest crop of (mostly white, mostly evangelical) campers, spinning a progressive story that reminded them how pathetic and how loved they were, and with any luck by the end of the week there would be a new list of converts to report back to the higher-ups. But eventually, Meredith moved away from evangelical Christianity—and eventually, she started to question the things she'd always believed. Eventually, she started to question church camp.

Church camp was such a win to me: I thrived in the camp environment, and camp, in turn, saw to my flourishing. But I was also exactly who white evangelicalism sought to promote: white and straight, I fit the mold. Outgoing and extroverted, I fought for my place as a woman, which camp rewarded me for when I proved I could do as the men had always done. But this was not the case for everyone. (loc. 874*)

Now: I should note that I never went to church camp. I am fascinated by religion, and particularly by certain iterations of it, but I was raised merrily heathen. My sister went to a YMCA sleepaway camp once, when she was about eight; she came away saying "JOY! Jesus first, others second, yourself last!" and so that was the end of my parents sending any of us to camp.** My point here is that I am not really the intended audience here: I read because I'm curious, but this book is really written for adults who were once church camp kids—maybe one summer, or maybe year after year after year, but readers who can hear Meredith's stories and conjure up visceral memories.

This book is structured around a week at camp and around the talks Meredith once gave. It's not about a specific camp—there are hundreds, and that's before you even get to the Vacation Bible School day camps—but about the messaging taught in these camps, or at least many of them. Jesus as superhero and God as benevolent father who happens to think you're pretty worthless. Cry night and purity standards. I struggled some with the structure—it took me a while to figure out why, but it's that Meredith doesn't tell her stories directly; she tells the reader how she might have told a story on any given night at any given camp. She might have told this story, she probably added that detail, campers probably reacted this way. It adds a level of distance to the writing; as a lover of memoir, I thrive on details and specifics, and I'd have found a walk through a specific summer at camp, specific campers, specific memories a bit more engaging.

I did value the research that Meredith weaves throughout, though, including the interviews with other once-upon-a-church-camp-kid folks. I'd have liked to know a bit more about Meredith's disillusionment with evangelical Christianity (before or after she had her kids and had to think about how the world, and how church camp, would treat them?) and a little more about how her views changed through the writing of the book, because at times my impression was that a lot of her understanding came about only through the interviews she conducted with people who were not straight and white. (Underscored by the last line, which I think undermines some of her stronger points.)

But again: this isn't really a book written for me. If, like me, you're just too curious for your own good, this is one for your "maybe" pile or your "rainy day" pile. If church camp was once your jam, in any of its iterations, you'll probably see some of your experience reflected here, and it's much more likely to be a book for you.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

**I asked my sister about this, and she doesn't remember JOY, but she did say that she was scandalized by saying grace before meals...and also that camp was a good experience, 10/10. So I guess the YMCA did its job, and my parents did theirs.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.