More than 10,000 Pathfinders from 11 countries gathered in the southern Philippines for the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD) camporee, held from February 23 to March 2, 2025, on the campus of Mountain View College, in the province of Bukidnon. Under the theme "Rebuild the Altar", the event was organized by the Division's Adventist Youth Ministries and drew delegations from across Asia and the South Pacific, according to the Adventist News Network (ANN) and Adventist World magazine.
The theme came from 1 Kings 18:30, the episode in which the prophet Elijah rebuilds the altar of the Lord on Mount Carmel. Over the course of a week, the camp combined worship services, presentations, honor requirements, and investiture ceremonies — the classic routine of a camporee, here on an international scale.
What the 'Rebuild the Altar' camporee was
According to the Adventist News Network, the Southern Asia-Pacific Division camporee took place from February 23 to March 2, 2025, and gathered more than 10,000 Pathfinders at Mountain View College, in Valencia, province of Bukidnon, on the island of Mindanao, the Philippines. It was organized by the Division's own Adventist Youth Ministries.
The official theme, "Rebuild the Altar", was taken from 1 Kings 18:30 — the moment when Elijah summons the people, repairs the ruined altar, and prepares the sacrifice that would be consumed by fire from heaven. According to Adventist World magazine, the idea was to use that image to call young people to renew their devotional life and spiritual commitment. "To rebuild the altar is to rebuild your relationship and your faith in God", summarized Division president, Master Guide Roger Caderma, in remarks reproduced by the event's official sources.
The Southern Asia-Pacific Division, known by its English acronym SSD, is one of the world administrative regions of the Adventist Church and covers much of Southeast Asia. It is a distinct entity from the South American Division (DSA), which oversees Pathfinder work in Brazil — but the program, the uniforms, and the class structure follow the same international template, which makes gatherings like this one familiar to any Brazilian Pathfinder.
Eleven countries and the largest delegations
The camporee brought together delegations from 11 countries: the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Many of those nations have a minority Adventist presence, which gives the gathering symbolic weight: for several groups, traveling to the Philippines was the chance to camp alongside thousands of other young people of the same faith.
The largest delegations came from the southern Philippines itself. According to the local unions that took part in the organization, the Southwestern Philippine Union Conference brought 5,135 Pathfinders, and the Southeastern Philippine Union Mission added 3,046 — together, more than 8,000 of the participants. The Malaysia Union, for its part, marked its first participation in a Division camporee, a milestone highlighted by the region's official news.
Bringing together so many people from so many places is precisely the goal of a Division-scale camporee: to turn local clubs, which usually only see each other at regional events, into an international community for a few days.
So, what is a camporee
For those just arriving in the world of Pathfinders, an explanation is in order: a camporee is a large camp that brings together several Pathfinder Clubs at the same time. The word comes from the combination of camp with the idea of a jamboree, a large festive gathering.
Camporees take place at different levels: there are regional ones, organized by a conference or mission; union-level ones, which bring together several fields; and Division-level ones, the largest of all, which gather delegations from entire countries — as was the case in the Philippines. In Brazil, the equivalent on a national scale is organized by the South American Division and usually takes place every five years.
At these events, clubs camp in tents, meet honor requirements, take part in worship services and presentations, compete in skill contests, and live out the routine of discipline and spirituality that defines the movement. It is also at camporees that many Pathfinders go through their investiture — the ceremony that formally recognizes the completion of a class or a leadership course.
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To bring the theme to life, the organizers set up a full-scale sanctuary near the Mountain View College library. The replica reproduced the structure of the Old Testament sanctuary and allowed campers to walk through its spaces up close — a way to connect the message about "rebuilding the altar" to hands-on experience, the event's official coverage reported.
Throughout the week, the program included morning worship services, plenary sessions, evening dramatizations of the story of Elijah, Bible-knowledge competitions, and the completion of dozens of honors. "An altar is a place where you meet with God", said Division treasurer, Pastor Jacinth Adap, according to Hope Channel Philippines, as he explained the central idea of the gathering.
Closing out the week, there was an investiture ceremony — including of new Master Guides, the movement's advanced leadership class — and a final presentation with fireworks, marking the end of one of the largest gatherings of Pathfinders ever held in the region.
Spiritual decisions during the camp
Beyond the camping program, the camporee had an evangelistic side. The Southwestern Philippine Union, one of those that helped organize the event, reported 155 baptisms over the course of the week, including students who were not yet Adventists. Among those baptized, the union mentioned a sixth-grade pupil, a sign that a good part of the decisions came from the camp's own children and youth.
Baptism figures are usually compiled by the local unions and conferences, rather than by the Division as a whole; for that reason, the camporee's overall total may vary depending on the source. The figure of 155, here, is the one released by the Southwestern Philippine Union in its own coverage of the event.
For the Youth Ministries, it is that outcome that gives meaning to the logistics of moving more than 10,000 people: the camp as a starting point for decisions that continue after the tents are taken down.
Why a news story from Asia matters to the Brazilian Pathfinder
At first glance, a camporee in the Philippines seems far removed from the routine of a club in Brazil. But the Pathfinder movement is the same the world over: founded within the Adventist Church, it today brings together millions of children and teenagers in more than a hundred countries, all with a common uniform, law, pledge, and class system.
What changes are the Divisions — the church's large administrative regions. Brazil belongs to the South American Division (DSA); the Philippines, to the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD). Each Division adapts its calendar, materials, and camporees to its own reality, but all draw from the same source. That is why, on seeing 10,000 Asian young people setting up a sanctuary and being invested as Master Guides, the Brazilian Pathfinder immediately recognizes their own program in another language and another landscape.
Events like the "Rebuild the Altar" camporee help remind us that the club around the corner is part of something big — an international network that, despite the distances, marches in step.