Hundreds of Pathfinders from across New Zealand gathered at Tui Ridge Park, on the country's North Island, between December 28, 2025 and January 2, 2026, for the national "About Turn" camporee — a military expression that translates as "about-face." During the week, eleven young people were baptized, reported Adventist Record, the official publication of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific.
The event was jointly organized by the two Conferences that administer the work in the country — the North New Zealand Conference (NNZC) and the South New Zealand Conference (SNZC) — and marked the turn of the year for the hundreds of children, teenagers and leaders gathered at the camp. The theme, according to Adventist Record, was inspired by the transformation of Saul into Paul, the persecutor who completely changes direction after the encounter on the road to Damascus.
A national week at the turn of the year
While many clubs in the Northern Hemisphere wrap up their year of activities in the December cold, in New Zealand December and January fall at the height of summer — and it is precisely in that period that the country holds its big Pathfinder gathering. The "About Turn" camporee took over Tui Ridge Park, a camping park on the North Island, for six days, reported Adventist Record.
Gathering "hundreds of Pathfinders from across New Zealand," as the publication described it, carries its own weight in a small, elongated country divided into two main islands. Bringing clubs from both islands to the same grounds requires transport planning, tent accommodation and a program able to accommodate different ages at the same time. It is not a weekend campout: it is the main national mobilization of the Pathfinder Ministry there.
The program combined the classic elements of a camporee — outdoor living, team activities and evening worship — with the stated goal of starting the year "together, focused on faith and commitment," in the words of one of the leaders quoted by the report. For many of the participants, it was the way to ring in 2026 inside the camp, rather than at home.
Rain and flooding that did not stop the camporee
The week was not one of clear skies. According to Adventist Record, the camp faced persistent rain and occasional flooding on the grounds throughout the days. Even so, organizers stated that the weather did not diminish the participants' experience.
For anyone who has camped with a club, the scene is familiar: soaked tents, trails turned to mud and a program that has to adapt to each downpour. Facing this as a group tends to be, in practice, part of the training — the so-called "camp life" that teaches resilience, care for others and improvisation. The report noted the bad weather precisely to show that it did not interrupt what mattered that week.
The evening messages were handled by Pastor Caitlin Nelson, of Brisbane, in Australia, the publication reported. According to Adventist Record, the sermons invited the young people to reflect on God's purpose for their lives and on the real possibility of change — the thread that tied the whole week to the camporee's theme.
Why 'About-Face'? The theme and Paul's conversion
"About turn" is a military marching command: on the order, the troop turns one hundred and eighty degrees and begins marching in the opposite direction. That is the image the camporee chose to speak of conversion. According to Adventist Record, the theme was inspired by the transformation of Saul into Paul, narrated in the book of Acts.
The story is one of the best known in the Bible: Saul persecuted the first Christians until the encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, an episode from which he changes name, cause and direction — from persecutor to one of the greatest names of the early church. For a teenage audience, it is a direct metaphor: no one is too far gone to make an about-face.
Kelsey Ryan, associate director of the Pathfinder, Adventurer and Children's Ministries of the North New Zealand Conference, summed up the meaning of the week. "The week reminded us that God meets us where we are and has the power to completely change our direction," she said, in a statement reproduced by Adventist Record. On the timing of the year, she added: "Starting the year together, focused on faith and commitment, was a powerful experience for many of our young people."
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The spiritual high point of the camporee was the baptisms. Eleven young people were baptized during the week, reported Adventist Record. According to the publication, the decisions reflected the spiritual focus of the gathering, with many participants making personal commitments throughout the evening programs.
In the Adventist context, baptism by immersion is a public and voluntary decision — not an automatic requirement of the Pathfinder classes, but a choice of faith that many teenagers make precisely at moments like a camporee, surrounded by friends, leaders and the emotion of an intense week. For the international reader, it carries the same meaning as the baptisms that tend to close large camporees elsewhere.
The report did not detail names or numbers of investitures, but made clear that the eleven baptisms were the outcome of a week designed, from theme to preaching, to prompt exactly that kind of decision. The camporee ended on January 2, with participants marking together, at the camp itself, the entry into the new year.
Two Conferences and the support of Sanitarium and ADRA
The "About Turn" was a joint effort. According to Adventist Record, the camporee was held in partnership between the North New Zealand Conference (NNZC) and the South New Zealand Conference (SNZC), the two Conferences responsible for the Adventist work in the country. Bringing the two together in a single national camp reinforces the idea of a Pathfinder Ministry that crosses internal borders.
The event also had the support of Sanitarium and ADRA, the publication reported. Sanitarium is a food company linked to the Adventist Church, traditional in Australia and New Zealand; ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) is the denomination's humanitarian arm, also present around the world. The presence of both at a camporee is common in the region and helps make food and infrastructure feasible for hundreds of campers.
In the Adventist administrative structure, New Zealand is part of the South Pacific Division, which brings together countries of Oceania — the equivalent, in our region, of the South American Division (SAD), responsible for Brazil and other South American countries. They are distinct realities, but the Pathfinder program shares the same worldwide root, with a uniform, classes and honors recognizable from one country to another.
What a camporee is — and why it matters to the international Pathfinder
Camporee is the name given to the large Pathfinder campouts, which can be club, region, Conference, Union, Division or even international. The word has become part of the movement's vocabulary all over the world, and the format is always similar: tents, spiritual programming at night, activities and the fellowship of many clubs at the same time. The "About Turn" was, on that map, a national-level camporee.
For the international Pathfinder, used to field camporees with tens of thousands of participants, New Zealand's numbers seem modest — but the proportion tells another story. These are "hundreds" of campers from a country with fewer than six million inhabitants, which makes the "About Turn" a significant gathering for the local reality.
Following what happens with Pathfinders in other countries helps to see the size of the movement and how much it repeats, with the same spirit, in very different contexts. A camporee under the rain in the summer of New Zealand's North Island and a camporee in the heat elsewhere share more than the name: they share the aim of gathering young people around faith and, at the end of the week, celebrating decisions like the eleven baptisms of January. The information in this report was verified in the official publications of the Adventist Church listed at the end.