Marks, Repentance, and Forgiveness

At Quest Camp, my job where kids are trained in social skills, we have one negative consequence, the mark. Our other behavior modification strategies are based on positive rewards and encouragements. The system at Quest has taught me a lot about God, sin, and forgiveness. At Quest, a camper gets a mark when they break a rule or do something they knew they should not have done. Typically, a mark is a follow up to a warning. Enough marks in a day, and they loose snack at the end of the day. But the purpose of marks is not to punish kids. It is actually to give them the opportunity to turn it around. Every mark can be easily "earned off" by ceasing the problem behavior the next hour. Here's an example:

A kid has a ball while I am giving instructions for the activity. I instruct him (and its a him because I work with a boys group) specifically to pay attention to the instructions and hold the ball still. As I'm talking to the group, he bounces the ball once and tries to shoot a basket, distracting the whole group from the activities directions. I warn him, set the ball down now, if you pick it up again, it will be a mark. As soon as I am looking toward the other side of the group, he picks it up and aims it at the hoop. I see him in the corner of my eye. "That's a mark," I tell him, and entrust the holding of the ball to another camper who can properly handle the responsibility. When the game is over, I sit down with the camper and review the hour. "You got a mark for not following directions and for distracting the group while I was giving directions. But in the next hour if you can pay attention to directions, and follow social cues to know when to listen instead of distract people, then you can earn the mark off by lunch." Then I'm relentless in watching the kid to find anything they did to earn it off.

The main principles of the mark system fit with the foundations of the Christian Gospel. The mark serves a few functions. First, it is an acknowledgment of inappropriate behavior. It is important that campers understand what they did to get a mark. Second, the goal of the mark it to correct behavior, not to punish. The message is not "you are a bad kid" but the mark is a mirror that says, "you did this, and in the future you should stop." Finally, the mark is earned off, signifying that ceasing the inappropriate behavior returns the kid to a clean slate. Marks do not carry over day to day. A kid can get five marks and earn them all off and they have the same status, in fact, they may even have better status than a kid who has none. (better status is because by turning it around, they have given a greater effort than the kid who did not try to do anything.)

Likewise, repentance is the key to the Gospel. God convicts people of sin, like a kid a camp getting a mark. The message isn't, I hate you and you have to be punished, but that you have done wrong. Christ died on the cross so that we can be forgiven. This means that along with the giving of the mark, is the opportunity to earn it off. If you repent, then God will forgive you. I love the fact that we use the phrase "turn it around" at camp. Repentance means we turn from our sins and face God instead. The clean slate of forgiveness comes after acknowledging wrongdoing and ceasing the behavior.

Some of the campers get stuck along the way. They might freak out when they get a mark, thinking it is a bad reflection on themselves. In reality, there is nothing wrong with getting a mark. In fact, if a camper is not getting any marks ever, then the counselors probably are not doing their job well enough to help the camper see where they need to grow. Likewise, Christians often see sin as so evil, they are afraid to acknowledge it and address it. In reality, there is nothing wrong with a person who sins - that is actually expected. The Bible says everyone sins. The problem is when people don't repent of their sins. By not acknowledging and turning around, they get stuck.

As a counselor, I have to constantly give the campers an opportunity to turn it around. In my mind, I have to give them the clean slate when they do, and that can be hard for me. Even though marks are a negative consequence, the whole system is encouraging, positive, and focused on the principles of repentance and forgiveness. The camp is not a religious camp at all. But what is fascinating to me is that one of the leading psychological treatments for kids with certain types of behavioral issues (that's Quest Camp!), has deeply rooted Christian principles. Working at Quest Camp has taught me about sin, repentance, God's love, and forgiveness. Powerful.