To provide Christ-centered, quality youth work camps that serve people in need
and promote spiritual growth and leadership development in youth.
U. M. ARMY – Texas Conference is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Houston, Texas. U. M. ARMY (United Methodist Action Reach-Out Mission by Youth) began in 1979 with a single work camp in Athens, Texas, where youth groups from several Houston churches gathered to provide home repair assistance to people in need.
Today this organization has grown to more than 40 work camps throughout East and Southeast Texas with over 3,500 youth and adult volunteers annually. Our mission is two-fold; serving people in need, and providing young people an opportunity to mature in their faith-walk and life skills through Christian service.
Our mission is accomplished every summer when thousands of youth and adult volunteers sacrifice a week of their vacation to join God’s ARMY. Using a local Methodist church as a base camp where they sleep on the floor and eat ARMY food, participants spend the week providing free home repairs for low-income, elderly, and disabled homeowners in the surrounding area.
Through the building of wheelchair ramps, porches, steps, and handrails; painting homes, cleaning houses, and mowing yards, this ARMY reaches out and becomes missionaries serving God’s people.
This work, along with daily devotions and evening worship, provides a unique opportunity for Christian growth and leadership development in youth. Combining this with evening recreation, fellowship, and fun makes U. M. ARMY an unforgettable and life-changing experience.
Homes are repaired. Hearts are lifted. Lives are changed. Love is shared. God is revealed.
Who attends U. M. ARMY?
Youth groups from any church are welcome to participate. A ratio of 2 adults for every 5 youth is necessary. The minimum age is a young person who has completed the 9th grade prior to camp, including graduating seniors and college age young adults. A college work camp is available for young adults at least one year out of high school (1 adult/3 youth).
A typical U. M. ARMY work camp is 60 – 120 people comprised of youth groups from several different churches. Work teams (4 or more youth and one adult) are assigned at the beginning of camp, mixing people from different churches. Once camp starts, individual church identities are discouraged in order to form one camp, one community.
Everybody works at U. M. ARMY. Adults are not just chaperones; they are equal participants and work along with the youth in the home repair projects and the daily camp chores.
When is U. M. ARMY?
U. M. ARMY work camps are one week long, starting Sunday afternoon and ending the following Saturday at noon. Summer work camps begin the first full week in June and continue every week through the end of July.
Where is U. M. ARMY?
United Methodist churches in the East and Southeast Texas area serve as hosts for a U. M. ARMY work camp. Participants sleep in classrooms, have meals and fellowship in the great hall, and worship in the sanctuary. Participants travel approximately 2 hours from home to the host church where they spend the week.
Registration Information
Registration fees are $199 per person and cover all costs for the week, including food and building materials. U. M. ARMY sends registration forms to churches; individuals register through their home church. Group registrations are accepted beginning November 1. Registration is closed when all camps are full.
We pay to offer others what they may not have without us. When we leave, the quality of life has been improved. Our work is the vehicle for God’s love to be shared with His people, regardless of race, religion or gender.
Work Camps provide meaningful opportunities for Christians to put their faith to work. Young people discover the importance of loving with actions, not just words. Participants realize the power of God’s love as they provide practical assistance to their neighbors. Through challenging experiences young people learn what it means to be a servant.
While time, resources and ability may keep participants from doing all they want for their clients, work teams leave knowing that they have brought some improvement along with the message of God’s love to each site. U.M. ARMY stresses visitation with the clients as one of the most important aspects of the team’s efforts.
In 1979, thirty six youth and adults from three Houston churches held the first U.M. ARMY work camp in Athens, TX. In 2007 over 3,500 participants served throughout Texas. Client referrals come from numerous sources throughout the communities such as the Area Agency on Aging, Visiting Nurses Agencies, Meals on Wheels, and often from the members of the Host Churches that we call home for a week.
U. M. ARMY – Texas Conference
9601 West Fairmont Parkway
La Porte, TX 77571
Mailing Address
U. M. ARMY – Texas Conference
PO BOX 590103
Houston, TX
77259-0103
281-479-0103 • FAX 281-479-0809
www.umarmy.org/conference/texas
David Sabom – Executive Director david@umarmytx.org
Phyllis Pubentz – Camp Coordinator phyllis@umarmytx.org
