Christian Summer Camps Under Attack - Bow To Gender Ideology Or Be Shut Down

This summer, as children across the country prepare for the joy and freedom of Christian camps — places where the Gospel is proclaimed, biblical truth is taught, and lifelong friendships are formed — a chilling wind is sweeping through our courts and legislative halls. What is happening to Camp IdRaHaJe in Colorado is not an isolated incident. It is a warning flare for every church, ministry, and believing family in America.

Camp IdRaHaJe, a beloved Christian institution with a legacy stretching back to 1948, is under siege — not by secular activists from the outside, but by the very government that is supposed to protect religious freedom. The camp, grounded in the timeless truth that God created humanity male and female (Genesis 1:27), is being told that it must surrender that belief in order to operate. The state has decreed that boys who claim to be girls must be allowed to share showers, sleeping spaces, and dressing areas with girls — even in a setting rooted in the Word of God.

This is not compassion. This is not tolerance. This is tyranny disguised as inclusivity.

Camp IdRaHaJe serves children between the ages of 6 and 17, offering them a powerful summer experience rooted in the Gospel. Each year, between 2,500 and 3,000 children attend these camps, many of them encountering the message of Christ for the first time. These aren’t just numbers — these are souls. Young boys and girls, many coming from broken homes or spiritually barren environments, are being given a refuge, a foundation, and a glimpse of hope. Now the state of Colorado wants to turn these sanctuaries into ideological battlegrounds.

At the heart of this spiritual and legal showdown is a rule issued by Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood. It mandates that all licensed children’s resident camps must allow individuals access to sex-separated facilities based not on their biological sex, but on their self-declared “gender identity.” Camp IdRaHaJe, which operates under the conviction that gender is immutable and divinely assigned by God, rightly refused to comply with this anti-biblical mandate and requested a religious exemption. That request was denied.

So the camp, with the backing of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), filed a federal lawsuit on May 13, asserting that Colorado’s demand violates their constitutional rights — namely, the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion and the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of equal protection under the law. The lawsuit contends that forcing a religious camp to allow biological males into female sleeping quarters, showers, and changing areas is an outrageous government overreach.

“Those regulations would require the camp to violate its religious beliefs by altering its policies and operations that are based on its religious beliefs about sexuality and gender,” the lawsuit declares. In other words, the state is trying to force Christian ministries to choose between their conscience and their existence.

Andrea Dill, legal counsel for ADF, summarized the stakes in no uncertain terms: “The government has no place telling religious summer camps that it’s ‘lights out’ for upholding their religious beliefs about human sexuality.” That is precisely what Colorado is attempting — not just silencing a viewpoint, but extinguishing it.

And make no mistake — if this regulation is allowed to stand, it will not stop in Colorado. This is merely the testing ground. State by state, ministry by ministry, these radical ideologies are being embedded into law under the banner of so-called “gender inclusion.” But what they really mean is forced compliance. They mean silencing biblical truth. They mean tearing down the walls of religious liberty so that only the new godless orthodoxy remains.

This transgender theology — yes, theology, because it is rooted in a man-made dogma that rejects the Creator — is aggressively targeting the hearts and minds of our youth. It is evangelizing them with lies. And now it is barging through the gates of Christian camps, attempting to dismantle the sanctity and safety of places meant to nurture and disciple children in the ways of Christ.

We must open our eyes. What’s happening in Colorado is not just a regulatory issue — it is a spiritual battle. The forces that oppose biblical Christianity are no longer content with running parallel to us in the public square. They are coming into our churches, our schools, and our camps — demanding that we bow the knee to Caesar instead of Christ.

Camp IdRaHaJe has taken a courageous stand. It has refused to yield. It has said, in essence, “We must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). But this camp cannot stand alone. The broader Church must rally. Parents, pastors, and ministry leaders across the nation must understand: if this ruling is upheld, your camp is next. Your Christian school is next. Your church youth retreat is next.

What does it mean for a Christian camp to be forced to allow biological males to bunk with girls because of a declared identity? It means the loss of privacy, the erosion of trust, and the imposition of fear in environments that should be safe havens. It means children as young as six years old could be subjected to confusion and discomfort in their most vulnerable moments. And it means that the core mission of such camps — to disciple youth in accordance with God’s Word — is fundamentally undermined.

Even worse, it sends a message to faithful Christian ministries: your beliefs are no longer welcome in the public square. And for faithful believers, it raises a sobering question: will we continue to speak truth when the price is high? Will we train our children to stand for Christ when doing so invites persecution?

These policies are not neutral. They are evangelistic tools of a new religion — one that denies the authority of Scripture and worships the self. They promote a worldview that is incompatible with Christianity. The Church cannot afford to treat this as just another political scuffle. This is an assault on the very foundations of our faith and freedom.

The irony here is almost unbearable. A camp founded on the hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus” — a song about forsaking the world to follow Christ — is being told it must choose between its convictions and its very existence. The state of Colorado is effectively saying: “You may have Jesus, but only on our terms.” But there are no terms. Christ is Lord or He is nothing.

This battle is coming to every state. California, New York, Oregon — perhaps you expect it there. But what about Texas? Florida? Missouri? Do not think this wave will stop at state lines. It is coordinated, intentional, and deeply rooted in a spiritual rebellion against the created order.

Now is the time to act. Churches must prepare to fund legal defenses for camps like IdRaHaJe. Christian parents must ask their elected officials where they stand. Ministries must examine their own policies and protections — and be ready to risk comfort and even legal standing for the sake of the Gospel.

We cannot be silent. We cannot be passive. If we fail to stand now, we will look back with regret as these bastions of Christian formation — these holy, joy-filled, truth-speaking camps — are regulated into oblivion.

Jesus warned us in John 15:19: “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world... that is why the world hates you.” Well, the world is showing its hatred. Let us show our courage.

May every camp counselor, church leader, and Christian parent echo the conviction of Camp IdRaHaJe this summer: We’d rather have Jesus.