Courtesy of Anderson University & Church of God Archives
For the first time in years, a tradition that shaped generations of the Church of God movement will return to its historic home.
This June, the Anderson Camp Meeting will once again gather believers, pastors and church leaders on the campus of Anderson University, reviving a long-standing tradition that dates back more than a century. The event, titled “Come Home,” will take place June 3–5 and will coincide with the National Preaching Clinic earlier in the week.
For Rev. Monté Dillard, interim director of the Church of God, the decision to bring camp meetings back to Anderson grew out of both community desire and prayerful reflection.
“One of the most common inquiries that I received was, ‘Will we ever have the Anderson Camp Meeting again?’” Dillard said in a recent interview. “I didn’t make any commitments initially, but I made a mental note that this sounded like something really important to a lot of people.”
Raised within the Church of God tradition himself, Dillard said he understood how deeply the camp meeting had been woven into the life of the movement. For decades, Anderson served as the central gathering point where believers from across the country came together for worship, fellowship and teaching.
The possibility of reviving the gathering began to take shape in 2025. Dillard said he asked the Church of God events team to conduct a feasibility study exploring whether a new camp meeting in Anderson might be possible.
Soon afterward, a conversation with Anderson University professor Jeffrey Frymire helped clarify the idea. Frymire suggested pairing the National Preaching Clinic with a renewed camp meeting, hosting the preaching clinic earlier in the week and the camp meeting afterward.
“I had already been considering it,” Dillard said. “Then Dr. Freymeyer shared the idea, and it really felt like an answered prayer.”
Dillard said the final decision came after prayer and reflection.
“I wanted to ask the Lord if this was something He would bless,” he said. “Those three things came into alignment — the desire from the movement, the idea being presented, and the confirmation in prayer. That’s when we decided to pull the trigger and tell everyone to come home.”
The phrase “Come Home” carries deep symbolic meaning for the Church of God community.
Dillard said the idea emerged from a conversation in 2025 that left a lasting impression on him.
“I was in a meeting and someone said something that really impacted me,” he said. “They said, ‘We are a movement without a home.’”
For generations, Anderson functioned as the geographic and spiritual center of the Church of God movement. Members traveled from across the United States to attend the annual camp meetings, often staying with friends and family in town while attending services throughout the week.
“Anderson — the city and the university — has always been our centralized location where people from all across the movement would gather every year,” Dillard said. “With the absence of the Anderson camp meeting, people really felt like we had lost our home.”
Bringing the gathering back to Anderson, he said, represents more than simply reviving an event. It is about restoring a shared sense of identity.
“The goal is to re-centralize the movement geographically, but also spiritually, relationally and theologically,” Dillard said.
Anderson University President Scott Moats played an important role in making the return possible. Dillard said the university leadership has been highly supportive in opening the campus for the event.
“President Moats and the university have been immeasurably generous in opening the campus up to us,” Dillard said. “He has a very strong desire to ensure that the relationship between the Church of God and Anderson University continues to deepen.”
Both leaders assumed their roles within a similar time frame, which Dillard said has helped create a shared vision for strengthening the connection between the university and the broader church.
“A big part of this was the alignment between Church of God leadership and President Moats’ leadership,” he said.
The camp meeting will include a variety of spiritual gatherings designed to encourage worship, prayer and learning. Organizers plan to host early morning prayer and anointing services, multiple preaching sessions and workshops throughout the day.
“We will have early morning prayer and anointing services,” Dillard said. “We’ll have main sessions on Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday, as well as workshops and classes led by some of our agencies.”
Special programming will also be offered through Christian Women’s Connection, along with activities being developed for children attending with their families.
While the gathering is organized by the Church of God, Dillard emphasized that it is open to anyone interested in attending.
“This event is produced largely with the Church of God in mind, but anyone is welcome to come,” he said.
The 2026 camp meeting will also celebrate several milestones in the history of the Church of God movement and Anderson University.
“We’re celebrating three milestones,” Dillard said. “The 75th anniversary of the School of Theology at Anderson University, 120 years of camp meeting and the movement’s presence in Anderson, and the 145th anniversary of the Church of God.”
For many longtime members, these camp meeting hold deep personal memories that stretch back generations. Dillard said he has heard stories from people who remember attending the gatherings as children, listening to services broadcast over loudspeakers while sitting outside with their families.
“I’ve heard people talk about running around the campgrounds as kids and sitting outside with their parents listening to the services,” he said. “For many people, it was their summer vacation.”
Many families in Anderson even opened their homes to visitors who traveled from out of town.
“Church of God saints who lived in Anderson would fill their homes with guests,” Dillard said. “People would stay with friends and family instead of hotels.”
Those memories, he said, still bring excitement to people who are looking forward to returning.
“These stories really light people’s faces up when they talk about them,” Dillard said.
Beyond nostalgia, the gathering also serves an important purpose for the future of the movement. Dillard believes camp meetings can help connect generations of believers while strengthening the church’s mission.
“Future accomplishment always has to have an understanding of historical precedent,” he said. “People who experienced camp meeting growing up want the generations behind them to share those experiences.”
For Dillard personally, helping revive the gathering represents an opportunity to bring renewed energy and unity to the Church of God movement.
“If there’s any ability I have to help our movement move forward, to help it find a greater sense of centrality and to infuse some joy, I’m thrilled to be able to support that,” he said.
Ultimately, he hopes the gathering will help participants reconnect with both their faith and one another.
“If we come together, have a powerful spiritual experience and people feel really reconnected to one another and to the movement, then that’s a big win for us,” Dillard said.
Summing up the vision behind the event, he described the message of the gathering in simple terms.
“The heart of the ‘Come Home’ gathering is to call the saints of the Church of God back home,” Dillard said, “to know Jesus, to celebrate our history and to prepare for our future.”