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| Welcome | Lodging | Meeting Rooms | Food Service |
| Activities | Rates and Availability | Testimonials | Contact Us |
"We really appreciate the kindness and hospitality shown to us while we were at Camp Joy El.
We looked into having our retreat other places a few years back
and found that Joy El offers more for less money.
The facilities and staff are always accomodating and the grounds are so clean!"
-- Martha Nell, Conewago Church of the Brethren
Your host in the beautiful Cumberland Valley
Camp Joy El is privileged to host a wide range of groups including youth, college, men’s and women’s retreats, elders and leadership meetings and retreats, church family retreats and more!
At Camp Joy El, we are committed to a partnership with your group, not simply providing a facility. This means we are making a commitment to not only pray for YOUR ministry and its effectiveness, but also to provide the best possible support and service functions for you and your group while you are our guests.
Enhancing YOUR ministry effectiveness is our goal, therefore, as a ministry team we are committed to providing:
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Outstanding guest hospitality
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Quality food and dining service
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Excellent facilities
We're committed to partnering with you! It’s our desire to enhance YOUR ministry’s effectiveness by working diligently in the background on your behalf to make your event a success.
In our dining room, you need not look for extra food! A simple raised hand and one of our servers will be there to assist you. All of our servers and dining room hosts are students who are actively applying the principles of service that they are learning in our Leadership Training Program.
Need an extra extension cord? Simply pick up a nearby phone to dial for service and a staff member will be there to assist you!
From the first arriving guest to the last one leaving, you can be assured that our staff is ready and willing to serve you! We believe strongly in the value of camp ministry – whether it is a program we direct or a program that you bring.
The Guest Ministries team looks forward to helping you plan your retreat and making your reservations. Any member of our team is available to speak with you upon request to answer any questions you may have. We enjoy giving tours of our facilities and we invite you to come visit us.
The lodge has 17 motel-style rooms designed especially for your comfort. The capacity of the Disciples’ Lodge is 34 guests. Each lodge room:
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sleeps 2 guests
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has its own bathroom, including shower, sink and toilet
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comes complete with bedding and bathroom linens provided
Guests can choose lodge rooms that have either 2 twin beds or 1 double bed. Lodge rooms are wonderful accommodations for leadership teams, small adult groups, speakers and bus drivers. Adjoining rooms are available for use by families.
Camp Joy El has 14 modern cabins on the grounds. Our cabins are winterized for year-round use by our guests. Large ceiling fans keep them cool in the summer. Each cabin contains one large, roomy bunkroom with 7 to 8 bunk beds and can sleep from 14 to 16 guests.
Bathroom facilities are enclosed inside of each cabin so that there is no need to go outdoors to use restroom facilities. Each cabin bathroom has 3 shower stalls, 2 toilets and a large sink area. In cabins, guests provide their own bedding and linens. The total capacity of our cabins is 204. For larger groups, we can make special arrangements to accommodate up to 268 people in our cabins.
Pete’s Cabin
If you enjoy “roughing it” in the great outdoors, Pete’s Cabin is the ideal lodging. This cabin is for more adventurous guests who enjoy a real outdoors camping experience. This rustic outpost rests on the outskirts of camp property next to Back Creek. Triple bunks inside give this cabin a capacity of 15.
Pete's Cabin
Chapel
The chapel is our main meeting room. It adjoins the Dining Hall and can hold up to 220 guests at one time. A large stone fireplace gives the room a real lodge atmosphere. This meeting area comes complete with a mounted projector, a large pull down screen, a sound system, piano and TV/VCR player. Available upon request are a DVD player, portable stage, lectern, and overhead projector at no additional cost.
The Chapel
Pine and Spruce Rooms
These two meeting rooms are situated off of the gymnasium and are adjoining rooms. They can be reserved together for large groups or reserved separately for small groups. Together, these meeting rooms have a capacity of 120 guests. Separately they each can hold up to 60 people. Both rooms come complete with whiteboard and piano. The Spruce room also has a pull down screen and a TV/VCR. A DVD player and overhead projector are available upon request at no additional cost.
Spruce Meeting Room
Tamarack and Hemlock Rooms
The Tamarack room is also situated off of the gymnasium. This room can be used for meeting space, crafts or snacks. It’s capacity is 40 guests. The Tamarack room comes complete with whiteboard, piano and a sink with minimal cupboard storage.
The Hemlock room is situated between the gymnasium and the Disciples’ Lodge. It can be reserved for meeting space, crafts or snacks. It also serves as the camp nursery when needed. The Hemlock room’s capacity is 30 guests. The Hemlock room has a sink with plenty of cupboards for storage.
Both the Tamarack and Hemlock Rooms look very similar to the Spruce and Pine rooms except they are smaller.
Lodge Conference Room
This meeting room is ideal for smaller groups under 35 people and is especially suited for leadership retreat meetings. The lodge conference room adjoins the Disciples’ Lodge. It contains a small kitchenette complete with stove, refrigerator, microwave oven, and cupboards filled with dishes, tableware, pots and pans for your use. For your meetings, the room also comes with a large conference table, TV, DVD or VCR, a whiteboard, and a piano.
Lodge Conference Room
Gymnasium
For extra large groups, our gymnasium serves as our largest meeting room and has a capacity of up to 500 guests. 
Gymnasium
Craft Room
This meeting area is set up with large tables to accommodate groups who are bringing crafts. From youth groups to women’s quilting or scrapbooking groups, this room offers the space and comfort to spread out and enjoy group projects.
Sollenberger Room
For a more informal setting, the Sollenberger room the best choice for discussion groups of 25 or less. It’s a nice sitting room with comfortable furniture and makes the perfect location for breakout workshops.
The Sollenberger Room
Kountry Kitchen
The Kountry Kitchen is a small dining area next to our Canteen that can also be used for classroom style workshops. A whiteboard is provided and the 
table and chairs setting gives this room a classroom atmosphere. This room is also ideal for breakout discussion groups and holds around 25 people comfortably.
Kountry Kitchen
Outdoor Chapel
While this area is not exactly a meeting room, it is definitely a place where our guests meet with the Lord. This is the main location where our guests hold their evening campfires. This small outdoor amphitheater seats approximately 150. It’s center piece is a large wooden cross. A wooden pulpit provides your speaker with a place to accommodate a Bible and/or sermon notes.
Outdoor Chapel
At Camp Joy El we strive to serve you great tasting food but also PLENTY of it!
Yes that’s right, we said, “serve you.” When you come into our dining room, you are our guest. Therefore, we bring the food to you at your table, family style – no waiting in lines, no sending people to a window to pick up the food for your table. We wait on you. If you desire more, simply let your server know and he or she will be happy to bring more to your table. At Camp Joy El, we always plan for seconds!
Our servers, from our teen Leadership Training Program, are fulfilling their ministry by serving you in our dining room. This outstanding service includes clearing the tables and all clean up after you leave, again following through on our philosophy at Camp Joy El of partnering with your ministry to see your ministry effectiveness soar.
We do serve meals that are well balanced nutritionally and are appealing to a variety of tastes. Obviously we do adjust our menu accordingly for the age of our guests.
Come and visit us soon to enjoy a taste for yourself of our Pennsylvania home cooking.
Dining hall
Many options are available to you when planning your group’s activity schedule. Our full-sized gymnasium, heated in winter and cooled by ceiling fans in the summer, is the center of many recreational activities. You can play basketball or volleyball on a regulation-sized court. For groups who request it, we can set up two volleyball regulation-sized courts to accommodate more players.
Just off the gymnasium are several meeting rooms, a game room, a craft room, the camp store, the canteen with the Kountry Kitchen. For indoor fun, the game room offers air hockey, ping-pong, foosball and carpetball. Our camp store offers a variety of wares such as Camp Joy El souvenirs, candy, snacks, mugs, postcards, books, music tapes and CDs as well as clothing items. The store also stocks basic toiletry items for those guests who may have left some essentials at home.
For those groups who desire team-building activities, our low ropes course can be reserved upon request. Trained instructors will guide your group in teams of 8 to 10 people through the various ropes challenges on the course. Your leadership team, church staff, or youth group will learn the 
importance of cooperation to achieve goals.
Another exciting challenge you can reserve is our climbing tower. A trained instructor is provided for your instruction and protection.
Additionally, the following equipment and facilities are available for your recreational use. Most of these activities are included in the costs of your stay. For information on activities that are an additional cost, contact our guest ministries coordinator.
Outdoor playing fields:
- Baseball
- Soccer
- Sand volleyball
- Basketball
Other outdoor options (based on seasonal availability):
Indoor sports
- Full court basketball
- One or two court volleyball
- Indoor hockey
- Shuffleboard
Offsite Regional Activities
For those groups who have a desire to explore the rich culture of the local area, Camp Joy El is within a one-hour driving distance of these interesting places:
- Whitetail Ski Resort (20 minutes)
- Buchanan's Birthplace State Park, the birthplace of President James Buchanan (20 minutes)
- Cowan’s Gap State Park (30 minutes)
- The C&O Canal (30 minutes)
- The Totem Pole Playhouse (30 minutes)
- Caledonia State Park (30 minutes)
- Ski Liberty (40 minutes)
- Catoctin State Park (40 minutes)
- Antietam Battlefield (40 minutes)
- Gettyburg (45 minutes)
- Round Top Ski Resort (1 hour)
- Colonel Denning State Park (1 hour)
Camp Joy El is a year-round facility. Our buildings and lodgings are all winterized and heated. Guest groups are welcome to make reservations with us year-round.
For availability of lodgings and facilities and information on pricing packages, contact our Guest Ministries Coordinator.
We do have several package plans available for groups of varying sizes.
Discounted Package Plans
Package plans include use of Gym, meeting rooms, and one ice cream sundae snack.
Package plans are a discounted rate off our regular rates. Our three basic plans are these:
- 2 nights with 5 meals
- 3 nights with 8 meals
- 4 nights with 11 meals
If you are using a package plan, all members of your group will be billed at the package rates selected unless prior arrangements are made for those not using the package.
Please ask about other discounts that may apply to your group, such as:
- first-time discounts for new groups
- mid-week discounts
- off-season discounts.
Please contact us for rates that are applicable to your particular retreat or event.
Ask us about:
- our complimentary overnight stay for retreat leaders
- our discount plan for new groups
- our package plan discounted
Inquire about your dates now!
Here’s what our guests are saying about us!
"Thanks for an excellent facility and staff. We had an overall great experience. You guys always take good care of us.! - Grace Church at Willow Valley
"The Joy El staff is awesome! Thank you for the 8+ years of serving our church." - Bethel Korean Presbyterian, Ellicott City MD
"Well done. It is always a pleasure to come here. Thank you for providing a great facility to help us get closer to God..." CE Encounter of eastern PA
"Just a quick final note to say THANK YOU to you and all the staff at
Dave Weaver - Weaver Family Reunion, Lancaster, PA
“Many of the ladies had never been on a retreat. Camp Joy El was a wonderful first impression for them.”
Melissa Miller - Faith Christian Fellowship, Maugansville, MD
"You folks are on top when it comes to hospitality!"
Jim Holt - Mid-Atlantic Baptist Men's Ministry, Inwood, WV
"Our stay with you was outstanding! We will look for more opportunities to make use of your services to the glory of God!"
Michael Dixon - Solid Rock Church, Riverdale, MD
“Just want to let you know that my youth were very pleased with the treatment we got when we came to visit Camp Joy El. I look forward to doing more retreats and camps at this place.”
Anna Rodas - Pentecostal Church of God Emmanuel, Washington, DC
“I love when we can eat family style. And those servers! They were great! I loved how we could just raise our dish up and they were there to fill it. They really kept that food coming. It was great. We had a terrific experience."
Bill Gour - St. Maria Goretti High School, Hagerstown, MD
“Cooperation in planning was excellent, meals were enjoyable, staff was very helpful, Thanks so much!”
Randy Lamb - West Shore EFC A-Team, Mechanicsburg, PA
“Everyone involved in the Alpha Retreat had an awesome experience. The Lord touched the hearts of every one of us. Thank you.”
Brian Cordell - First United Methodist of Greencastle, PA
“Overall we had a very good day and had positive feedback from all involved.”
Kristen Lehman - Pleasant View Mennonite Church, Chambersburg, PA
"Thanks so much to the Camp Joy El staff for such a wonderful weekend. You all have been beyond accommodating! We always have such a wonderful time when we come up. May God bless all of you."
John and Kimberly Guy - Derwood Bible Church, Derwood, MD
For information, to schedule a tour or to make your reservation, contact Debbie Haupt, our Guest Ministries Coordinator.
For directions to Camp Joy El, click here: Directions.
Contact Camp Joy El at:
Ph: 717-369-4539
Fax: 717-369-2927
E-mail: guestministries@joyel.org
Mailing Address:
Joy El Ministries
3741 Joy El Drive
Greencastle , PA 17225