In the summer of 2008, the youth ministry program at The First Congregational Church of Wallingford attended its first Group Mission Trip experience in Hobbs, New Mexico. The group of 20 youth and adults joined youth groups from around the country to do home repair projects around the local community in Hobbs. While there, they experienced a spiritual awakening like no other. Taking a week out of their lives to serve the under-served was something that they never imagined they would do. Now it is something they cannot imagine their lives without.
10 years later, the same youth group served on its 11th Group Mission Trip that was hosted right here in our home town! This program is one of the most popular mission programs at The First Congregational Church of Wallingford, and it has left a lasting effect on those who have participated.
So after serving on staff with Group Mission Trips for two months in the summer of 2015, a member of the church brought up the idea of hosting a Workcamp in Wallingford. Bringing a camp to the Wallingford community would allow for a wider number of people to be able to participate in the mission trip experience and change the lives of people in their own community. The Wallingford Workcamp Team has worked very hard to make this dream a reality, and to get other people caught up in this expression of Christ's love.