Jesus Camp Review

“We’re kids! Do people honestly think we’re trying to sell them something?” nine year-old Rachel asks her twelve year-old brother, Levi, as the children hand out tracts to the lost souls in Washington, D.C. The Oscar-nominated film, Jesus Camp, chronicles the faith experiences of Levi, Rachel, and other children in various environments including home, church, and Becky Fisher’s “Kids on Fire Summer Camp.” The film’s directors, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, sought to document how kids are engrained with the ideology of “conservative evangelicals”.

The documentary begins with a montage of shots across America’s heartland—fields, sunsets, American flags, and churches. The audience is introduced to small town life in the Bible belt and to the children being reared in its churches. The mission is simply stated in a voiceover during the montage—“We want to reclaim America for Christ.” Reclaiming America starts with claiming the minds of children for Christ according to children’s pastor Becky Fisher.

The audience first meets Fisher as she hosts the “Children’s Prayer Conference”, in which the children are encouraged to pray in tongues and exhibit various other forms of charismatic worship. During prayer, one girl looks like she was wretched from the cast of Children of the Corn appears possessed by the otherworldly while a young boy thrashes about on the floor as though he is having a seizure. Fisher assures viewers that the children are in full control of their faculties and are experiencing a deeply spiritual moment. After this bizarre period of prayer, Fisher asks a couple of boys if they plan on attending summer camp, which they enthusiastically affirm.

Before summer camp, viewers are given a glimpse into the lives of several of the children. For example, Levi and Rachel are home-schooled and both are ardent about living for Jesus. They seem transfixed with the idea of dying as martyrs and “giving their lives for Christ.” Instead of gleefully giggling with her siblings while bowling with her family, Rachel studiously memorizes a gospel tract. She then gives the tract to a young woman sitting near the snack bar because and gushes about her witnessing technique to her proud father. If possible, Levi is more hyper-spiritual than his sister.

Finally, the families leave for “Kids on Fire Summer Camp”. Yes, parents come, too. Not only do parents attend, but one father forbids rowdy pre-teen boys from telling ghost stories. Levi loves summer camp and even gets a chance to preach to the throngs of campers. He feels like an outsider sometimes saying, “I wouldn’t be different from other kids if everyone did their calling.” A calling which includes wearing Christian t-shirts, listening to outdated Christian music (such as “Who’s in the House?” by Carman), disliking Harry Potter (“In Old Testament times, Harry Potter would have been put to death,” says Fisher), praying “in the spirit” over a life-sized cardboard figure of President Bush, and being politically active to end abortion. The latter is how Levi and Rachel find themselves in Washington, D.C.—they are protesting Roe v. Wade and proclaiming the gospel.

On the other side of the debate is Mike Papantonio host “Ring of Fire”, a radio show broadcast by the now bankrupt “Air America”. Papantonio’s comments on the “Christian right”, which are intertwined throughout the movie, are misguided. He states that the “Christian right” has taken over Congress (which was still Republican controlled at the time of filming), taken over the White House, and just have too much power in general. Papatonio and Fisher even battle it out via the phone on “Ring of Fire” each looking fanatical and deluded.

While Jesus Camp does represent the views of the largest growing denomination in America—the charismatics—it by no means represents evangelicals as a whole. The filmmakers took an outrageous group of Christians, who are almost cult-like in their indoctrination of children, and let that tell the story of the Church in America. Many summer Bible camps are filled with swimming, hiking, playing, climbing, and even ghost stories. While the focus is on God and the Bible, the children are not guilted into their commitment with God, or at least, they shouldn’t be.

Towards the end of the film, Papantonio says, “The more I hear about this—it just gets crazier and crazier.” And it really did. Jesus Camp shows the worst the church has to offer when it comes to teaching children about faith, sharing the gospel, engaging with culture, and building community. May we, as Christians, be warned to live the gospel and teach our children to do the same.