Author: Jerome Smith
FAQ About TheoCaching:
What is TheoCaching? TheoCaching is an spiritual adventure game using a GuideSheet , a Bible, and GPS unit. TheoCaching involves adventure, reflection, team-work, discovery, and spiritual awareness. It relates to the ancient Christian practice of walking the Labrynth, but instead of a journey inward, it is a journey outward. As the quest is engaged, the participant becomes aware of both obvious and subtle encounters. The GPS unit allows the pilgrim to chart the path to greater understanding of how things connect. All pilgrims are asked to leave insights and reflections of their adventure on the Theocaching website.
The vision within TheoCaching is to have individuals and churches set up theo-journeys and share their connection quest with each other. Any GPS user can then use the provided location coordinates to walk the given story of a church yard, a neighborhood, or a community. The reward is in the journey itself as stories are discovered and made known by experiences. Use the TheoCaching website as a place to share with others how connections between body, mind, and soul make a difference in life. Use your newly discovered tools and experiences to create your own TheoCaching adventure for others to share, and post it on the website.
TheoCaching is based in part on the grassroots game "Geocaching," which can be found at www.geocaching.org.
What are the guidelines for TheoCaching?
Theocaching is a new spiritual adventure. Guidelines are very simple:
1. Follow the process as given on the GuideSheet
2. Each part of the Journey has 3 aspects:
SIGN (a hint, clue, or riddle for the given location)
GUIDE (the GPS coordinates for the given location)
STORY (to be shared with self and/or others at the given location)
3. Share your cache (story of your journey) in the Theocaching logbook found on the Theocaching website.
Isn't Theocaching too easy to do with the GPS coordinates given?
To know a location with GPS coordinates and actually getting there are different matters. In other words, the destination and journey are connected, but they are not the same thing.
Why do I need a GPS device?
The GPS device provides the GUIDE aspect of TheoCaching. (see the guidelines below) The GPS unit gives you an approximate location (within 6-20 feet) of a specific site. To learn more about GPS units, go to the www.geocaching website.
How do I create a Theocache with my church?
Visit the Theocaching website and read how others are creating Theocaches in their ministry. Feel free to modify the guidelines to your given situation, creating your own GuideSheet. The vision behind TheoCaching is to connect stories (of place and time) that reveal greater truths; and to connect an expanding web of people in experiencing those stories. It is in these connections that we experience the presence and peace of God.
Is TheoCaching a part of Geocaching? If so, how?
Yes. The Geocaching community is very open to new variations. In facts, Geocaching strongly encourages it (see www.geocaching.org). TheoCaching uses elements of Geocaching, but with a spiritual twist of sorts, in which the "cache" or "treasure" is the shared journey. Of course, other versions of TheoCaching may include a more traditional geocaching-type container at the mid-way point of the journey through which tokens of the journey may be exchanged.
What is the Cache?
A cache is an important discovery, a hidden treasure, a pearl of great wealth.
Date Submitted: July 7, 2005
(The material on this page is used by permission of the named author. It remains the creative property of the author. Permission is granted for use by youthworkers in their non-profit local ministry setting. Other use or publication should only be by permission of the author.)