Summer Missions
(Following Him shouldn’t be either.)
12 weeks of life-changing adventure at Catholic Youth Summer Camp
Will you answer the call?
Every summer, young adults from across the United States and beyond answer the call to be missionaries. They leave behind homes, campuses, and workplaces to spend a season investing their time, energy and prayer for the sake of sharing the Gospel with a generation of young people who desperately need it.
They are the leaders, the listeners, the truth-speakers and the intercessors who will help thousands to discover and accept the love of God in their life. And in giving of themselves, they will discover the adventure of living generously for the Lord, and return to their communities equipped to launch into a lifestyle of mission.
Join the Adventure
Be a CYSC Missionary
Applications for the summer of 2024 closed on January 15. If you're interested, please don't hesitate to reach out to mission@damascus.net to ask about your options!
Ways to Serve
There are many roles that make the mission of CYSC possible through the diversity of each missionary's unique gifts! Missionaries are encouraged to express their interest in any of the various staffs and/or locations on their application, and final offers of acceptance will specify a position with one staff and location.
Classic Staffs
Counseling Staff
Lead your group of campers throughout the day to activities, lake time, night programming, and facilitating small group discussions. Counseling Staff members also spend 1-2 weeks of service in the kitchen.
Pastoral skills, discipleship, prayer ministry
Program Staff
Lead an activity; lifeguarding; act in skits and dramas; crowd leadership; teach campers lectio divina; help with serving meals and anywhere hands are needed.
Crowd leadership, drama/skit ministry, lifeguarding, prayer ministry
Kitchen Staff
Work alongside other kitchen staff and a rotating cast of counseling staff members for the cooking and serving of meals, maintaining a welcoming and clean kitchen, and interceding for the campers and staff.
Foodsafe service, hospitality, cooking.
Kitchen staff is open to incoming seniors 17+.
Service Staff
Most days on Service Staff include cleaning cabins & facilities; maintaining the grounds; interceding for campers through daily holy hour and communal intercession; running the snack shack; teaching campers lectio divina.
Hospitality, maintenance and cleaning, intercession.
Service staff is open to incoming seniors 17+.
Specialized Staffs
Media Staff
Capture photos and videos of campers’ experience; create and edit video montages each week; share daily photos with parents; create and share content on social media; teach campers lectio divina in prayer lab.
Media staff members should have prior experience and demonstrable skill with photography, videography, and/or graphic design. Coaching in techniques and instruction in the use of specific softwares will be provided as necessary.
Worship Staff
Prepare set lists, practice, and lead worship for night sessions and times of staff intercession. May participate or assist the Program Staff throughout the day.
Worship Staff members should have prior experience and demonstrable skill with musicianship and leading worship. Further coaching will be provided.
Production Staff
Work with speakers, emcees, priests, program staff, and worship staff to prepare, monitor and mix the audio/visual environment throughout each element of the day.
Production Staff members should have some prior experience and demonstrable skill with A/V technical production, and an aptitude for learning. Coaching and instruction in specific technical processes and onsite systems will be provided.
Medical Staff
Prepare and distribute medications, clean cuts and scrapes, attend to campers and staff in the event of illness
Medical Staff is ideal for individuals involved in nursing, nursing studies, pre-medical studies, or medical studies.
Note: Nurses who are have already obtained their license are invited to serve alongside medical staff missionaries in a different capacity, as outlined here.
How do I get there?
Apply
Applications are open between October 15 and January 15 every year.
Interview
Continue your discernment by attending an on-site or web-based interview retreat in December, January or February
Commit
Offers will be extended and staff commitments determined by early March.
Invite
Get more people involved through Mission Support Raising
Train
Arrive in late May for 2 weeks of training and formation at the EQUIP Conference
Serve
Live the adventure of 9 consecutive weeks of camp from early June into early August.
Deploy
Launch into the fall ready to take on your next mission!
Mission Support Raising
Your missionary work begins before campers even arrive. Every member of CYSC’s missionary staff engages in Mission Support Raising: inviting others to join the mission prayerfully and financially so you can have your needs provided for and be fully available to mission.
Specific, hands-on training will be provided in order to help you attain your goal, which you will determine according to your circumstances within the range set by Damascus.
Some of the amount raised will cover the cost of food and lodging, after which missionaries receive 100% of everything they raise after taxes up to their limit. This stipend will be disbursed in 5 installments beginning June 15 and concluding August 15.
Questions? Email msr@damascus.net!
Requirements
Age Requirement
Applicants should have graduated high school prior to serving at CYSC, with the exception of incoming seniors in high school who may serve on Service Staff or Kitchen Staff.
Those who will be 18 or older during their service with CYSC must complete the following requirements prior to the start of camp. Opportunities for both will be offered during training at the beginning of the summer, and we strongly recommend taking advantage of the on-site opportunities. Once accepted, if you have already completed one or both of these requirements or have questions about the process, please email mission@damascus.net.
1. Background Check
Those who have lived in Ohio for the last five (5) years consecutively must obtain an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification (BCI) background check.
Those who have resided outside of Ohio in the last five (5) years must obtain a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background check.
2. Protecting God’s Children (PGC) / Virtus training session.
Those who have lived in Ohio for the last five (5) years consecutively must obtain an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification (BCI) background check.
Questions?
We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with us at mission@damascus.net