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.

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.

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Inclusivity Statement 

Silver Lake Camp and Retreat Center strives to create an intentional, welcoming, Christian community accessible to all. The staff and Board of Directors 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 students 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.