Compassion Camp: Be Loved. Be Kind. Be You.

Compassion Camp is the best!
We weren't going to do VBS this year, but when Compassion Camp came out and it could be done virtually, we gave it a try. It was refreshing to have a progressive, compassionate, social justice oriented theology in the scripts and the songs (and with inclusive language too!).

Compassion Camp
We had an amazing time with the Compassion Camp program. Trying to get everything in an online format was very new to us, but the curriculum was an amazing tool to help us! THANK YOU for creating this special program so quickly and completely! It was awesome!

Great theme - adaptable
I love Compassion Camp--its message and flexiblity for use. There are a variety of resources within material to make your camp what you want it to be. I liked the added options for preschoolers in each section and the suggestions for community service projects. CC can be used anytime you want a theme to focus on for a space of time. I will continue to remind our children and families what we learned during CC so their compassion will continue to grow.

great message -
I personally loved the message of compassion camp. It did seem a little hard for very young children

Wonderful VBS Program
We used this curriculum with children from 2 to 11 years old and they all loved it! It is easily adaptable and customizable to all denominations, and presents ideas in a relatable and easy to understand way to the children. The materials are easy to navigate and they give all sorts of posters, logos, etc that you can tailor to your specific needs. This curriculum was incredibly well done and I will definitely be purchasing more items from this company!

-Director of Christian Ed

Compassion Camp VBS
This curriculum was just what we needed for our zoom Sunday School this summer. We don't typically do Sunday School in the summer, but wanted to provide something for our kids whose whole lives got canceled. The original music was the best part of the curriculum. The theme was relevant to our lives and taught our kids how to have a heart of compassion. We loved it!

Great comprehensive resource
We loved the flexibility of this curriculum! Easy to print and mail to families, easy for families to use! We were able to personalize the live presentation without rewriting the whole program. I would absolutely recommend this curriculum!

ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!
This curriculum is so well done, so easy to use, so timely and so effective for all ages! We had so much fun putting it together, making videos, making and delivering packets to families and being able to literally minister to people all over the world through this amazing program. I have always valued your ministry, and do even more so now! You really hit this one out of the park! The music was catchy and meaningful, the flow of the themes for each day/week was so well done, the activity ideas and extras were wonderful. It got rave reviews from our participants. I cannot thank you enough for this amazing program! FYI - we are using your Beatitudes curriculum for the fall! So excited! THANK YOU FOR YOUR MINISTRY AND YOUR TIMELY WITNESS!

Unique and Satisfying
Our church ran Compassion Camp from July 27-31. We started at 9:00 every day and went from anywhere between 30-45 minutes on Zoom. Families were then encouraged to work on activities and discuss with their children the Bible lesson for the day. We came back together at 11:45 to close with song, sharing and a game.
Everything fit well together, the opening, song, Bible passage and closing. The Bible passages were amazing and were ideal for talking about compassion.
After I demonstrated how the week would go, 4 different families led the other 4 days. We also included pre-recorded videos of families reading the Bible passages and Yoga exercises.
I didn't know how the children would take to doing Compassion Camp on-line, but they were very enthused and I felt that they came away with some newer ideas about compassion.
I had a wonderful time putting the pieces together. Although in person is better, Compassion Camp was successful on Zoom.

Andrea Stridiron
St. Thomas' Episcopal Church
Rochester, NY

Camp review
We are using Compassion Camp as an in person outdoor Sunday School. Still in progress as of today. We have kids of all ages and abilities. We are not using music but we are enjoying the Bible stories..crafts..and exercise components. Fun and a lot of activities to chose from.

Great VBS!
Compassion Camp was a fun curriculum that engaged the children with crafts, stories, songs, and movement. We wouldn't have been able to do a VBS if it hadn't been for this Illustrated Ministry program. I highly recommend it.
We've even ordered the fall Sunday School curriculum because of our experience with Illustrated Ministry.

Wonderful curriculum
I had never heard of Illustrated Ministry, until a parishioner pointed out a Facebook ad she'd seen. I admit I was skeptical. But after looking it over, we used it for our virtual VBS. And I could not be pleased. We're UCC, and this curriculum reflects and supports our values probably better than any I've ever used.

It worked well, too. They kids enjoyed it, especially the songs. The lessons are a good blend of sitting-and-listening and activities. And being digital works so well during the pandemic. I simply emailed the necessary activity pages to parents the day before we met (we met weekly), along with a list of needed supplies and the Zoom Link.

I've been raving about this curriculum, and two colleagues used it on the strength of my recommendations. This is great. Well planned, theologically sound, connects the lessons to the kids' lives, keeps the kids engaged. We've ordered a curriculum from Illustrated Ministry for our Sunday School, because of our great experience with Compassion Camp. 5 stars!

Compassion Camp VBS
Thank you, thank you for a wonderful curriculum that is full of fun and excellent teaching. Our world needs compassion and empathy and Illustrated Ministry gave educators and pastors the chance to learn together with their congregations. Fun activities, a chance to use our creativity and imagination to learn together along with great music.
The curriculum was easy to use and to adapt to our community of learners.

Beautiful Content, Healing Theology
I am always impressed with Illustrated Ministry but was blown away by Compassion Camp. The content was beautiful, as always, and provided a great range of levels for different ages to connect. And it managed to meet this moment (and moments that are sure to come throughout the rest of our kids' lives) with theology that as a progressive minister I can get behind. My own kids have been singing their personalized adaptations of "We Are Brave Enough to Love" for weeks now and that's an incredible thing to hear. Thank you, Illustrated Ministry!

Compassion Camp VBS
Appreciated the updates that came up. The songs were easy to sing, and complemented the stories. The theology was sound, and progressive. We used this over two weeks online. This program engaged our adults as well as children

Perfect for our Church
Great product that we could easily adapt and use for our VBS program! We did everything virtually, so the media kit was particularly helpful to us. I would recommend this to anyone who's looking for a virtual VBS curriculum or even something that they could adapt for virtual Sunday School this fall.

Excellent content
This curriculum was the perfect was to re-imagine a ministry to kids when we need to be more creative about how to do ministry that we have done. I liked the easy-to-use and customise lessons, and the variety of activities available to send to families.

Compassion Camp rocks!
Hands down my most favorite music from any VBS... ever!
The scriptures used, the lessons written, and the activities planned all helped set us up for success virtually. We were all super sad to see our time come to a close, but we look forward to using this curriculum again! Way to go, Illustrated Ministry!

Inventive and Fun!
Compassion Camp saved VBS! We were going to cancel due to COVID-19 but then discovered the Compassion Camp online VBS. The kids loved it! It was inventive, the lessons were enjoyable, and the kids were so excited to have to see each other. Well done Illustrated Ministry!

Great content, exciting community
This couldn't have come at a better time, when we were trying to figure out how to reach kids and families during a time of social distance. Not only did it give us a chance to try video editing for the first time, but the Facebook community that formed around this curriculum itself was invaluable as we shared resources with churches and ministries around the country. People shared extras like recipes, printables, and more! Our VBS was small, but had people from all over the East Coast! This format allowed us to reach past the church and meet the needs of families far beyond our geographic location. Highly recommend - doesn't need to be for VBS only, either!

We enjoyed our compassion camp VBS
We completed our compassion camp with six families last week. It was a lot of fun. Our children were mostly preschool and first grade, so we only Zoomed about an hour. The adults liked the yoga the best. We had one person read the instructions while the rest of us adults and children did the moves. The kids loved to color with the new set of markers we gave them. The compassion prayers were beautiful and we loved the music videos. We will probably use the camp again in a year or two when our children are a bit older. It was very well received.

For some reason the music did not play as well as we would have liked, but the songs were beautiful! Thanks Amanda for recording them for us:)

First-time director
I'm a new pastor and a first-time VBS director. When it was suggested that we do a VBS and that I should run it, I was terrified. Not only was it my first-time, I, like everyone else, hadn't ever done a virtual VBS. But I had a friend that was doing the same VBS, so that, along with the fact that Illustrated Ministry was doing the work to make it a virtual VBS, made me choose this curriculum. And I never regretted my decision.

There were so many things to like about the curriculum, I could talk your ear off about them. The stories weren't all the conventional stories which meant my kiddos got exposed to new parts of the Bible in interesting ways (specifically Jubilee and the story of Naomi and Ruth). The theme itself was my favorite VBS theme that I've ever been involved with. The Facebook group was incredibly helpful not only because of the resource sharing, but also because it helped me realize that I wasn't alone in feeling anxious and a bit overwhelmed. The leader's guide literally made success possible for me because it was detailed without being cumbersome. The flexibility to plug and play components allowed me to choose what I was comfortable with doing and that made a huge difference for me.

This was my first experience with Illustrated Ministry's curriculum and it was a completely positive one. I look forward to using additional materials in the future.

Wonderful, easy to use resource!
I absolutely loved the versatility of this resource, the thoughtfulness, care and concern that went into each lesson, coloring page, and activity. For example, the Compassion Camp poster reflected such tremendous diversity so that everyone should be able to see themselves in the poster. We offered portions of each session in a live session and recorded others, so that people could watch (and rewatch) on their own time. The compassion campers loved the activities and were fully engaged. The resource was easy to use, faithful, and inspiring!

Excellent and easy
Compassion Camp VBS is an extremely flexible curriculum that can be set up in numerous ways that fit your groups needs--all virtual, all pre-recorded sessions, or somewhere in-between. The theme of Compassion and God's love for us is helps kiddos recognize God's love in themselves and God's love in each other. The resources and guidance provided with the curriculum were invaluable. I highly recommend this product and will continue to use Illustrated Ministry curricula in the future.

Great and timely theme
For the most part, our children really enjoyed Compassion Camp. The art work was terrific as usual. The music was easy to learn and with great messages but we had to find extra activities for our kids to remain engaged.

Great Curriculum that was Easy to Customize
This was a wonderful curriculum to use for a church that does not typically hold a VBS program. We were able to easily customize it to fit our community. Many thanks to the wonderful Facebook group for great ideas - especially around including adults and tweaking craft/hands-on ideas. It was wonderful to find a curriculum that was theologically sound and very in line with our thinking - that made the task SO much less overwhelming - and lots of fun!

Love it!
Loved Compassion Camp. Lots of flexibility with how to do it, worked well virtually. So many great activities each day, really cool overall and daily themes, and lots of ways for kids to participate and volunteers to be involved. Highly recommend!

Compassion Camp VBS review
I both benefited and enjoyed leading Compassion camp for this summer. I loved the choice of scripture stories that were used to support the Biblical values that are so needed at this time.
It worked well for virtual use, which is what I needed. and the activities
were simple enough to be used at home during a "safe in place' time.
Also, the reader's theater type scripts were nicely done, and easy to use for families to act out, which was fun for them.
The illustrations are lovely, the only thing I would say for our church is that we have a majority of young children who don't yet have the coordination to color in smaller spaces. But otherwise, it was just what I needed. Thank you!