Core Values
Adopted By Board of Directors September 28, 2013
1. Express the Love of Jesus and Biblical Principles
a. To every person that comes on to the camp grounds including summer camp children, weekend retreat guests, individuals on personal retreat, and the garbage truck driver.
b. By having integrity in all business dealings with:
Vendors
Guest groups
Campers and parents
Staff and volunteers
Donors
Neighbors and community
Government authority
c. By fostering Christian community: We want to be an organization that takes the lead in resolving conflicts, opening communication, and strengthening relationships.
2. Stay Tightly Connected to our Original Mission–Camp Deerpark is owned by the New York City Mennonite Churches and our mission is to serve those churches.
a. We need to make sure that we never take Camp Deerpark in a direction that the owner churches are not ready to go.
b. We need to put our programming resources into programs that benefit all of the churches.
c. An ancillary, yet important result of staying tightly connected to our New York City Mennonite Churches is that Camp Deerpark will continue to be a bridge between the urban and rural Mennonite Church.
3. Hospitality is Central to our Summer Camp and Retreat Ministry
a. We serve New Yorkers and those who live in the greater New York City metropolitan area. While New York City is made up of a collection of neighborhoods that are often very warm and friendly, it can also be a place that is overcrowded and impersonal. After a hard week of work, fighting traffic home, rushing to church on Friday night, waiting for the folks who encountered even more obstacles, fighting traffic out of the city, and finally arriving at camp an hour or more later than planned; we want our guests to take a deep breath of fresh air, smell freshly brewed coffee, and know that they are in their home in the country.
b. In a world where people are known by their account number, we want to be very personal.
c. We do not have a five star facility, but we want to treat every person with a five star attitude.
d. When children arrive for a week of summer camp after a two hour bus ride, we want to have cheering staff eagerly anticipating their arrival.
e. We want our staff to be good listeners that encourage our guests and campers to unload their stress.
4. We Are an Organization that Considers Policy in the Context of People
a. Policies are created to ensure that decisions are made to protect the organization and the greatest number of people. However, those policies often make life more difficult for individuals.
b. We want to be very considerate to how our policies affect individuals and find creative ways of meeting the needs of our campers, guests, staff, volunteers, and donors.
c. When we need to enforce policy we want to communicate with compassion and empathy.
d. We never want policies that simply make our lives easier at the expense of people.
e. A policy should never replace an honest and loving conversation.
5. Be Good Stewards of the Resources God has Given Us
a. Approximately 50% of our operating income comes from donations. We don’t ever want to take those contributions for granted.
b. Many of our guests make significant financial sacrifices to make their weekend retreat possible. We also don’t ever want to take that sacrifice for granted.
c. We want to continue to use the tool triangle to determine the need for expenditures.
d. We want to continue to make good use of volunteers.
e. We want to be meticulous with maintenance to ensure that our tools, equipment, and buildings are useful as long as possible.
f. We need to be careful that a lack of cash flow does not turn our thinking into a mentality of poverty and result in bad financia ldecisions.
g. Continue to work towards raising our earned income percentage.
h. We want to continue caring for and managing our forest and the 277 acres that we own.
i. We acknowledge that the staff here at Camp Deerpark have and continue to make significant sacrifices to be here. We want to be good stewards of their commitment to this ministry.
Related Entries
Share:
“How Do I Donate?”
Recently, a thirteen-year-old guest at Camp asked Operations Director Kevin Smith, “how do I donate?” Kevin was honestly a little surprised, but was happy to see this young member – who was on retreat with one of our owning churches — taking some initiative. Kevin directed him to the website Donate page, and the young…
The Discipleship Down-Low
Defining Discipleship 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded…
The Virtuous Wife
This past weekend, Camp hosted three women’s retreats at Camp. Though the retreat groups were very diverse in background – one was from an urban church plant in Philadelphia, one was from a Garifuna Mennonite church in Brooklyn (an Afro-Caribbean Culture), and one was from a multi-ethnic faith community reaching out in North Jersey. Though…
A Life of Service
I believe the most important thing to God is not our personality, knowledge, or talents, but our availability. How willing and ready are we to respond when He calls, and how ready are we to do what He says? What use to the Lord are people who could do what he wants with excellence and…
Building Belonging
At our February NYC LMC District meeting, we’re discussing the Belonging phase of The Journey Map. In this first phase on the map, individuals and groups on a spiritual journey begin the process of connecting to each other and evaluating the place they may have in each other’s lives. Have you ever been an outsider…
What Are You Tapped Into?
Yesterday we began tapping maple trees, officially opening maple syrup making season at Camp Deerpark! Last year, the transition kept us from producing syrup, so it feels great to be back to it. Starting off, however, has been a bit of a challenge since things are pretty arctic around here. The entire ground is covered…
What Does it Mean to be Spirit-Led with Pastor Mark Perri
One small contribution I can make is to share story with you. This could be valuable in several ways: First, I’m coming to the Mennonites from the outside — from non-denominational GenX “simple/ organic/ emergent church“. Sometimes people coming from outside-in have a helpful perspective for those trying to move from inside-out. Second, as an…
2025 NYC LMC District Call Schedule
Mark these dates in your calendar if you’re part of the NYC LMC District and want to attend the English-language fellowship and resourcing calls led by Bishop Hyacinth Stevens: January 27th – 6:30 PM February 24th – 6:30 PM March 31st – 6:30 PM April 28th – 6:30 PM May 19th – 6:30 PM June 30th…
Winter: Life Under the Surface
On the surface, winter with its cracking and cold seems like the enemy of life. Everything sleeps as though dead, and Camp — quiet and empty — sits waiting. But under the surface, winter is revealed to be a friend to life, not an enemy. In the deep frost, God opens the soil for Spring’s…
Peace Making Presents
This is Session 4 of the Prince of Peace: Jesus and Peacebuilding from the Election to the Holidays webinar series. Advent celebrates the central fact that God began building peace with us by giving a Gift. Following this example, gifts are a powerful tool for peacebuilding in our lives, relationships, and organizations. We’ll explore how…