Ethan Miller is the National Youth Catalyst for the Baptist Churches of New Zealand. More information on our Children and Youth ministries can be found on the He Rito website.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. -Isaiah 43:19
We are excited to announce the relaunch of Central Easter Camp in 2026 at El Rancho Christian Camp (Waikanae Beach)! The last few years have been a big journey, so here is a little of the backstory of what has taken place.
On the 30th of October 2023, news broke that Central Easter Camp 2024, held in the Lower North Island, had been cancelled. The announcement travelled quickly, sparking lots of questions and concerns from across the country. What stood out most, though, was hearing people share about the role that Easter Camps had played in their faith, and their hope for today’s youth and the generations to come.
One person from Waikanae was so passionate about Easter Camp that he flew to Southern Easter Camp (in Canterbury) to volunteer for an entire week! Stories like this show just how significant Easter Camps have become in people’s lives and in the rhythm of our churches.
It is often said that around 80% of people will come to faith before the age of 18. For many of our young people, Easter Camps are a rite of passage where friendships are formed, decisions are made and where Jesus and the Easter Story is experienced in a powerful way.
In Psalm 78:4 it says “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.” We hope this will for true for Central Easter Camp of generations to come!
We will share further details about what the relaunch will look like, but first we have a lot to be grateful for and a few things we need your help with!
We are so Grateful!
We want to acknowledge and honour the many people and organisations who have played a part in this journey:
- To Jesus! — for His faithfulness and provision. We’ve seen reconciliation, generosity, new partnerships, answered prayers, and open doors time and time again.
- To El Rancho — for partnering with us toward a renewed future.
- To Manfeild — for providing a home for Central Easter Camp for so many years and for their kindness during a season of transition.
- To the Lower North Island Baptist Association — for their support, their release of the camp, and their gift of the remaining assets to help with the relaunch.
- To our Anglican partners — Thank you for being willing to partner with us to relaunch Central Easter Camp. We are better together.
- To the many incredible people who have prayed, encouraged, offered help, and kept their hearts fixed on Jesus and this generation—we are deeply thankful.
We’d love your support!
Pray with us
• For more volunteers
• For smooth logistics and operations
• For youth sponsorship
• For financial sustainability
• For unity across all participating churches
• That God would move powerfully and young people would encounter and be transformed by Jesus.
Serve with us
We need people with big hearts and friendly smiles who can help with cooking, cleaning, security, medical care, set-up, pack-down, and many other areas. This is more than just filling a need. It’s about making camp the best experience we can for our young people! If you or potentially a group from your church are interested, please get in touch.
Partner with us
Camps are becoming increasingly expensive and difficult for many families to afford. We would love to build long-term financial sustainability for Central Easter Camp, including a fund to support young people who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend. If you are passionate about seeing young people hearing the Good News of Jesus in a safe, positive, and fun environment, we would appreciate your support. Please see our Givealittle page here: givealittle.co.nz/org/centralec
If you would like to support, serve, or pray, or if you have any questions please email: [email protected]
The Road to Relaunching Central Easter Camp
Running large events like Easter Camps is never simple. Leadership challenges, rising costs, venue constraints, health and safety demands, and significant need for volunteers make it an enormous undertaking—even in ideal circumstances. Without a strong structure or specialised support in place, the task becomes even more complicated.
Recognising these realities, and wanting to see Central Easter Camp thrive again, the Lower North Island Baptist Association—who previously governed the camp—graciously agreed to allow the BYM (Baptist Youth Ministries) Trust to relaunch Central Easter Camp in 2026. Since that decision, significant progress has been made, and we are excited about the future!
What the relaunch will look like:
- Governance: will sit with the BYM Trust, providing oversight and final sign-off on major decisions.
- Leadership: We are thrilled to have Troy Stewart stepping in as our new Central Easter Camp Director, supported by a vision team and area heads from around the region.
- A long-term venue: has been secured through a new MOU with El Rancho Christian Camp, giving us room to rebuild and grow.
- Financial support: A few generous donors stepped forward to underwrite camp and help us get it off the ground again. The first few years will be run at a loss, but we forecast to break even by year three.
- A new partnership with the Anglicans (Diocese of Wellington) has formed as we relaunch together.
Because the Kauri Hall meeting space at El Rancho has capacity limits, the first year of camp will be capped at 750 people. This smaller start allows us to rebuild well and prepare for future growth. For 2026, registrations will be open to Baptist and Anglican churches only, simply due to space. Our long-term hope, however, is that we will once again be able to welcome many more youth groups from across the region so more young people can encounter Jesus and the Easter Story.
Photos supplied by BYM.
