Church Camp Songs – Pick the best ones

When I think of church camp songs, I tend to think of those songs that are Bible oriented or African American spiritual. Actually, at church camps I’ve attended, they like to sing what everyone likes to sing: silly songs, folk songs, old time songs, and other traditional campfire songs. In addition, they also like to sing upbeat and religious songs.

At church campouts, I find that whoever is running things likes to be as organized as possible, so singing around the campfire is usually not left to chance. The church bonfires I have attended usually included various church camp songs interspersed with stories. Some of the stories were funny and some were more spiritual in nature. More often than not, the bonfire ended with one of the church leaders, such as a priest, minister, or bishop teaching one of Jesus’ stories, parables, or characteristics. I am a Christian, so this article is from my point of view. If you are of another religion besides Christian, you could teach about your religion and/or prophets. All the religious songs that I refer to in this article have a Christian background. I don’t really know of any campfire songs from other religions, but if you know of any that I could include, please email me and let me know. It would be greatly appreciated.

Listed below are some of the most popular church camp songs:

1. amazing grace:

This is one of the most beautiful religious songs I know. It’s easy to play the guitar with just three chords. It has one of the most recognized melodies. The song has even more meaning if you know the story behind it. The story is about John Newton, the composer of the song. It is an inspiring story. If you google John Newton or Amazing Grace, you will find several resources. There is also a movie called Amazing Grace about John Newton.

2. Down on the riverbank:

Like most African American spirituals, this is a pretty easy song to pick up. Many of the lines are repeated, making it easy to memorize. In most spirituals there is only a difference of two or three words between verses. This makes it easy to learn various verses quite easily.

3. Peace like a river:

This is another spiritual that is easy to learn.

4. i love mountains

Even though this song doesn’t talk about religion or God, I still consider it a great church camp song. The reason why I say this is because it talks about nature and all the beautiful things that God has created. It’s hard enough to sing this song without feeling gratitude for the many beautiful things that God has created for us to enjoy.

5. The happy traveler:

This song goes hand in hand with the previous one. It’s just a nice happy song about the beauties of God’s creations.

6. Kumbaya:

Kumbaya is probably the most popular church camp song of all time. It’s easy to sing, easy to learn, and almost everyone knows it.

7. He has the whole world:

Here’s another African American spiritual that probably ranks second in popularity to Kumbaya.

8. You can’t get to heaven

This is a fun song to sing, although I’m sure you won’t be banned from heaven just because you’re wearing skates. If your kids are serious about it, you might want to tell them that if they die on roller skates or in a rocking chair, they can still go to heaven. Who knows; If you think you can’t get to heaven on skates, maybe be more careful! This is one of those songs where you could make up your own verses.

9. Peace like a river:

This is another one of my favourites. Easy to teach, easy to learn, and easy to play on the guitar. It’s also a very peaceful song if done right. This can be done slowly or at a medium tempo.

If you’re looking for a particular church camp song that isn’t here, try asking your pastor, priest, or other church leader for help. They will probably have some ideas for songs that are suitable for their denomination. If you decide to make hymns with guitar accompaniment, you may need to transpose them to an easier key. Many hymns are in flat keys, which are more difficult to play on the guitar. Transpose it to a sharp key like G, D, A, or E.

If you know of any church camping songs or scout songs that should be on this list, or included in The Great American Campfire Songbook, please email me and let me know.

Good luck with your campfire singing; And remember to have fun!