About Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain United Methodist Center (www.bluemountaincamp.org) is located in Madison County, Missouri, between historic Arcadia Valley and Fredericktown.  This ministry site was established in 1961 as a youth camp for the Missouri East Conference of The United Methodist Church and currently encompasses nearly 600 acres.  Blue Mountain (from which the site gets its name) is located in the southeast corner of the property, Van East Mountain is located in the southwest corner, with and Starfire Circle and Chapel in the Pines located to the north.  Our facilities consist of 3 lodges, 4 log cabins, state-of-the-art dining hall, Multi-Purpose Building, 16-acre Blue Mountain Lake, 2 outdoor worship areas, and 3 covered pavilions.  Numerous recreational activities are available on Blue Mountain Lake along with facilities on site for sand volleyball, basketball, 9-hole Frisbee golf, softball, soccer, walking/hiking trails, and teambuilding activities on the low-element challenge course. Camp is surrounded by the flourishing Mark Twain National Forest, which provides excellent protection for the property and its ecosystem.  Blue Mountain United Methodist Center is a beautiful camp that promotes the beauty and peacefulness of the outdoors.

Our camp is a ministry of the Missouri United Methodist Camping and Retreat Ministries and supported by the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Mission and Values

• It is our mission to offer a Christ-centered community that invites all persons into an ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ, one another, and the entire world.
   

• Our Vision is to instill a desire for camping and retreat ministries in local congregations and for the un-churched in our communities; provide a camping experience affirming the value and worth of all people and empowering them to return to their communities; unify the administrative resources for camping and retreats in the state of Missouri; establish a unified network to facilitate effective communication between camps and the local church family; and to offer premier camping and retreat ministries at quality settings with qualified staff making camping and retreats an effective tool of the church to make disciples.
   

• We value providing a safe environment of Christian love in which to experience God's presence; develop an appreciation of God's creation, promoting stewardship of human, environmental, and financial resources; lifting up God's call to discipleship; and equipping our campers with the faith and skill needed for re-entry and living in the world outside the camping environment.

History of Blue Mountain

In the late 1950’s, the Whitener Family of St. Louis, MO, donated a parcel of land to the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church for the purpose of establishing a youth camp, known today as Blue Mountain United Methodist Center.  The camp was named after the mountain which occupies the southeastern section of the property.  Blue Mountain UM Center began serving the Conference as a ministry site in 1960.  Over the past 40 years, the Conference has seen numerous changes to the camp.  The addition of a lodge (Whitener Lodge) was the first major construction to take place on the property.  This lodge was dedicated to and named after the Whitener family for their generous donation to the Conference.

Since that time, other lodges have been constructed, pavilions have been added, and a primitive dining hall was also established on the property.  In 2001, two log cabins were added behind what is the current Multi-Purpose Building and the primitive dining hall was enclosed and air-conditioned.   One year later, two additional cabins were built on the northwest side of the 16 acre Blue Mountain Lake near the bathhouse to accommodate the growing number of summer events and campers at Blue Mountain each summer.  In 2003, the foundation for a worship/recreation center (known as “The Tabernacle”) was laid.  Construction of the new 8,000 square foot dining hall began, which was completed and ready for the 2005 summer camp season.  This new facility is capable of comfortably serving meals to 200 people on a day-to-day basis.  The number of campers and user groups that come to Blue Mountain each year has continued to increase so much that several new facilities are in the planning stages to accommodate this growth. 

Today, the Whitener Family’s purpose for donating the land is still being embraced as the main focus of the camp.  Our staff has a strong, God-given desire to serve children and youth and to provide them a place of refuge in a beautiful and peaceful outdoor setting.