About

You Are Welcome as You Are

Silver Lake is a place for everyone to experience nature, make new friends, and explore your faith. With more than 60 acres of wooded land on lakeside shores, Silver Lake offers many opportunities for people of all ages to take risks and try new things with the support of an intentional Christian community.

We worship, learn, play, serve, and work together, respecting the right of private judgement. We seek to provide a safe environment of acceptance regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, reflecting our unity in Christ and respecting the faith journeys of all of God’s children.

Read our full Inclusivity Statement

About Silver Lake

Silver Lake Camp & Retreat Center (SLCRC), established in 1957, is a year-round ministry of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ. Our 60-acre campus is situated in the rolling hills of Litchfield County and bordered by the peaceful shores of Mudge Pond in Sharon, Connecticut.

Nestled among pines, cedars, and maples, five year-round retreat buildings and two seasonal cabin villages, all varying sizes, make it possible to welcome groups as small as 10 and as large as 150 people. Each of our retreat facilities is designed to promote community building, with a large central meeting space surrounded by bedrooms.

In addition to comfortable lodging, Silver Lake offers indoor and outdoor meeting spaces, full food services, high and low ropes challenge courses, and more.

We are equipped to host a wide variety of retreats including church groups of all denominations and faiths, seekers, nonprofit groups, school groups, hobbyists and crafters, day meetings, and people seeking teambuilding, community building, a greater connection to nature, and spiritual renewal.

During the summer months we host a weekly overnight summer camp program where campers get to explore their faith journey while playing, swimming, climbing and making new friends.

Mission
Silver Lake Camp & Retreat Center, a year-round outdoor ministry of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ, is called to covenant with God and with the churches and people of the Conference in the work of forming life-sustaining leaders for the church and the world. We seek to provide a safe environment of acceptance regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, reflecting our unity in Christ and respecting the faith journeys of all of God’s children.

Goal
Silver Lake strives to create an intentional, welcoming Christian community accessible to all. The staff believe that exposure to diverse expressions of humanity is beneficial to all God’s children.

Inclusivity Statement

Silver Lake Camp and Retreat Center strives to create an intentional, welcoming, Christian community accessible to all. The staff and Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ believe that exposure to diverse expressions of humanity is beneficial to all God’s children.

Silver Lake welcomes and affirms campers, staff, volunteers, and guests of all races, ethnicities, gender identities and expressions, and sexual orientations. Please be in touch with camp administration so that we can best support you while you are here.

Silver Lake respects the gender identity and preferred names and pronouns of all participants. Mistakes will be made, but Silver Lake does not tolerate the intentional denial of another person’s gender identity, preferred names, and pronouns.

All persons, including campers, have a right to privacy. This includes the right to keep private one's transgender status or gender non-conforming presentation at camp. Transgender and gender non-conforming campers have the right to discuss and express their gender identity and expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much to share private information.

When contacting the parent or guardian of a transgender or gender non-conforming camper, camp staff will use the camper’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the camper’s gender assigned at birth unless the camper, parent, or guardian has specified otherwise.

Mission Statement

Silver Lake Camp & Retreat Center, a year-round outdoor ministry of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ, is called to covenant with God and with the churches and people of the conference in the work of forming life-sustaining leaders for the church and the world, by offering:

Experiences of inclusive and nurturing Christian community
Opportunities to grow and participate as Christ’s disciples
A model of sustainable environmental stewardship of God’s world.

Learn more about the History of Silver Lake