Origins of the State Park Ministry
The chaplain represents the church as a Christian presence and quiet witness among more than 300,000 campers in Pennsylvania’s parks. Each program is a unique blend of the chaplain’s gifts, campers, park staff and the local committee.
The popularity of camping in Pennsylvania’s beautiful parks in the late 1950’s brought a request from campers for religious services in the parks. They desired an informal worship service where campers from many church backgrounds could worship informally in a beautiful outdoor setting.
As an organization of twenty denominations in Pennsylvania, whose membership exceeded 3,000,000 persons, the Pennsylvania Council of Churches was contacted and developed a pilot project in 1960 at Cowans Gap State Park.
Arrangements were made with the Department of Forest and Waters, predecessor to the Bureau of State Parks, to offer a program that would be inclusive of the variety of Christian traditions of persons camping in our state parks while serving and respecting the privacy and rights of persons with different beliefs.
Response of campers and sponsoring church bodies has been so positive that the program has grown to numerous campgrounds across the Commonwealth. From Pymatuning to Ricketts Glen, from Keystone to Codorus, men, women and children appreciate a friendly contact with a representative of the campground chaplaincy program each summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.
In 1990 the informal working relationship between the Pennsylvania Council of Churches and the Bureau of State Parks was formalized in a Special Activities Agreement which is renewed periodically.
The success and expansion of this program is a combination of second mile church contributions, camper participation and offerings, work of local committees and administration by the Pennsylvania Council of Churches.
Through the years many seminary students, retired pastors and lay speakers have experienced the satisfaction of meeting people from all walks of life, sharing a spiritual pilgrimage and enjoying the blessings of serving others in the name of Christ and the church.
