For the first time, the Pathfinders of the Balkans had a camporee of their own. From July 21 to 27, 2025, about 150 Pathfinders, Master Guides and volunteers from eight countries camped on the shore of Lake Boračko, in Jezero, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the first Balkan Pathfinder Camporee, held under the theme Faith on Fire.
Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania sent representatives to the camp. The event took place in the territory of the Trans-European Division, the administrative region of the Adventist Church that covers much of northern and southeastern Europe. The information comes from tedNEWS, the news service of the Division itself.
The first regional camporee of the Balkans
A camporee is the largest camp on the Pathfinder calendar: it brings together clubs from an entire region for several days, with spiritual programming, competitions, field activities and ceremonies. In Brazil, Pathfinders are used to conference and union camporees and, from time to time, the great camporees of the South American Division. In the Balkans, however, the clubs were spread across small countries and multiple borders — and had never had a gathering of their own.
It was this gap that the Balkan Camporee came to fill. According to tedNEWS, the week of July 21 to 27, 2025 brought together for the first time, in a single camp, the Pathfinders of eight nations that share geography, history and similar challenges. For many of the participants, it was the first time camping alongside Pathfinders of other languages and cultures.
The choice of location helped set the tone. Lake Boračko, in the Konjic region, is one of the best-known glacial lakes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, surrounded by mountains — a natural setting that matched the idea of a camp focused on outdoor life and fellowship.
Faith on Fire: the theme of the week
The motto chosen for the gathering was Faith on Fire. The main speaker, Pastor Eleonora Vrag, led the participants through the story of the prophet Daniel, used as an example of what it means to keep a firm faith even in the face of pressure and adversity, tedNEWS reported.
The opening was led by Kevin Johns, associate director of Youth Ministries of the Trans-European Division. Addressing those present, he acknowledged the effort behind that first gathering. "Organizing a Balkan camporee is not an easy thing," Johns said, according to the division, adding that difficulties would be part of the experience.
To bring the messages closer to the audience — largely children and teenagers aged 11 to 15 —, the organizers wove the spiritual themes together with elements of the game Minecraft, a familiar language for that age group. Between the worship services and the reflections, there were moments of praise, folk songs and traditional dances from the countries present, mixing the spiritual and the cultural.
A baptism on Saturday
The highlight of the week came on Saturday, July 26. During the day's programming, Pathfinder Luka Pozhgaj was baptized in the waters of Lake Boračko itself. According to tedNEWS, the ceremony was conducted by Zlatko Musija, president of the Adriatic Union.
The young man explained the reason for his choice. He said he had decided to be baptized there because it was, for him, his last camp as a Pathfinder, and because he considered that first Balkan camporee something special, as the division recorded. Moments like this help explain why a camporee goes beyond leisure: for many Pathfinders, it is at camp that spiritual decisions mature.
Baptism is a personal and voluntary decision within the Adventist faith, generally made when the young person already understands the step being taken. In Luka's case, it happened before peers from eight countries — which, according to the organizers' account, gave the scene an even greater symbolic weight.
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Beyond the spiritual programming, the week was one of intense activity. According to tedNEWS, the participants went canoeing on the lake, tackled a ropes course at an adventure park and took a night hike around the water. Art workshops and sports activities rounded out daily camp life.
As at any camporee, there was also room for honors — the themed courses that Pathfinders complete to earn patches. The division reported that the gathering offered, among others, the honors of Hazard Observer, Friends of the Balkans and Fabric Colouring, the latter especially tied to the week's spirit of cultural exchange.
This blend is the essence of the movement: outdoor adventure, hands-on learning and team life, all within an environment of faith. For Brazilian Pathfinders, the routine of the Balkan camporee sounds familiar, even on the other side of the world — the difference was in the eight flags and the several languages sharing the same camp.
Many countries, many organizers
Bringing together eight nations required coordination that crossed borders. Among the names leading the organization, tedNEWS cited Alan Pozhgaj, camp director, and Pathfinder directors from various fields: Marko Virtic, of the Adriatic Union; Alen Hadzhievic, of Croatia; David Shiley, of Serbia; Vladimir Krumov, of the Bulgarian Union; along with Alma Bosnic, a club leader in Montenegro.
This list shows the scale of the logistical effort. Unlike a national camporee, in which everyone answers to the same conference, here it was necessary to align clubs from distinct church administrations, with their own calendars, languages and resources, so that everyone arrived at the same lakeshore in the same week.
The Trans-European Division, to which these fields belong, is one of the thirteen world divisions of the Adventist Church. It covers countries of northern and southeastern Europe, and it is in this context — of Adventist communities that are often small and scattered — that a regional gathering gains importance: it brings together those who, in daily life, rarely see one another.
What the gathering means for Pathfinders
Holding a first regional camporee is, in general, a sign of the movement's maturity in an area. It means there are enough clubs, willing leaders and structure to gather hundreds of people for a whole week. In the Balkans, where Adventist communities are a minority, taking this step has a special value.
By the division's account, the outcome was new friendships among Pathfinders from different countries, spiritual decisions like Luka's and the expectation that the gathering will be repeated. For the Brazilian Pathfinder reader, the news is a reminder that the same uniform, the same ideals and the same spirit of adventure link clubs on distant continents — from Lake Boračko to the fields of Brazil.
As with any coverage of an international event, the details gathered here follow what was published by the official channels of the Trans-European Division. Numbers and names may be supplemented in later reports from the fields involved.