The Adventist Youth of Portugal gathered thousands of young people from across the country at the 3rd National Camporee, held from March 28 to 31, 2024, at the Municipal Camping Park of Praia de Mira. According to the organization, published on the event's official website, the gathering expected to bring together around 2,500 to 3,000 participants of all ages from the Adventist Youth.
It was the third National Camporee in the history of the Adventist Youth in Portugal, a milestone for a movement that, in the country, is numerically small compared to the large camporees of South America. The camp had as its theme "The love of Christ compels us" and as its spiritual guest Pr. Andrés Peralta, world leader of the Pathfinders at the General Conference, on his first visit to the country.
Four days of camping in Praia de Mira
The 3rd National Camporee took place over four days, from Thursday to Sunday, at the Municipal Camping Park of Praia de Mira, on the coast of central Portugal. The park, on Avenida da Barrinha, was set up as a camping city to welcome young people coming from the Adventist Youth branches across the entire Portuguese territory.
According to the promotional material published on the event's official website, the program combined spiritual moments with youth evangelism activities — health, music and mime —, sport and social and community service. The camp is, by definition, a gathering in which the clubs leave the weekly church routine and spend a few days together outdoors, with the program concentrated into a short time.
The organization anticipated the participation of around 2,500 to 3,000 young people. The number, for the Portuguese context, is significant: the Adventist community in the country is small, and a gathering of that size requires the coordinated mobilization of the local branches.
The theme and the figure of David
The gathering revolved around the theme "The love of Christ compels us", an expression taken from the apostle Paul's letter to the Corinthians and traditionally associated with the idea that the love of Christ moves the Christian to service.
The central biblical character of the program was David. According to the official promotion of the Adventist Youth, David was presented as an example for all those who hear God's call and decide to follow and serve Him — from the shepherd of sheep to the king of Israel. The choice speaks directly to the event's audience: teenagers and young people who, like the David of the Scriptures, begin taking on responsibilities early.
The theme ran through the musical and spiritual program of the camp, including a moment designed for the young people to publicly make a commitment of faith.
The world leader of the Pathfinders in Portugal
The main highlight of the 3rd Camporee was the presence of Pr. Andrés Peralta, world director of the Pathfinders at the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was the first visit of the world leader of the Pathfinders to Portugal, which gave the gathering a symbolic weight beyond the country's borders.
Peralta took on the world leadership of the Pathfinders after serving in youth ministry in the United States. The position he holds coordinates, from the General Conference, the general guidelines of the club throughout the world — from the large-scale camporees in South America to the small units spread across Europe.
The camp also featured Pr. Jonathan Tejel, director of the Youth Department of the Inter-European Division, the administrative region of the Adventist Church that covers Portugal. The presence of the two guests linked the national gathering to the regional and world structures of the movement.
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Unlike a camporee exclusive to Pathfinders, the 3rd National Camporee was a gathering of the entire Portuguese Adventist Youth, with its various age groups represented.
In Portugal, the progressive classes program organizes young people into groups by age, with their own names: Rebentos, Tições, Exploradores, Companheiros and Embaixadores. Each class has its own identification and its own set of requirements, in a system inherited from the progressive classes that have structured the young Adventist movement since the first half of the 20th century. The camp brought together these classes and also the so-called AY Projects.
For the Pathfinder reader from Brazil, the comparison is worth making: where the South American Division speaks of Friend, Companion, Explorer, Pioneer, Voyager and Guide, the Portuguese structure uses the nomenclature of the Portuguese Union. The name changes; the logic of training in stages, uniting outdoor adventure with Christian life, is the same.
A milestone for a small community
Calling the gathering the 3rd National Camporee is no minor detail: it means that Portugal has only brought its Adventist youth together in a national camp three times in history. In a country where Adventists are few, each gathering of that scale calls for planning and mobilization that span years.
The Adventist Youth of Portugal is organized under the Portuguese Union, linked to the Inter-European Division — the same administrative bloc that brings together countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. It is a context quite distinct from the Brazilian one, in which state and union camporees can add up to tens of thousands of participants.
That is why the presence of the world leader of the Pathfinders on Portuguese soil had a double reading: recognition of the local work and a sign that the movement also accompanies its smaller communities, far from the large numbers.
Pathfinders in Portugal and in Brazil
The Pathfinder club was born in the United States in the mid-20th century and spread throughout the world from the same matrix: uniform, scarf, progressive classes, honors and investitures. In Portugal, the movement grew within the Adventist Youth of the Portuguese Union; in Brazil, under the South American Division, it became a mass phenomenon.
The differences in scale and nomenclature do not erase the common origin. A gathering like the one in Praia de Mira, with the world leader present, helps to remember that the Pathfinder from Lisbon and the one from São Paulo belong to the same international network — and walk under the same principles.
Gatherings like the one in Praia de Mira fulfill, in Europe, the same role that the large camporees fulfill in South America: bringing together those who usually meet in small groups, reinforcing the identity of the movement and giving the youngest the experience of belonging to something greater than their own club. The scale is different, the experience is similar.
To follow how the movement is organized in Brazil, see the guide on which class to do at each age and what the investiture ceremony is.