A Place to Grow In Faith and Leadership

Charlie’s first camp experience was life-changing. In one week at camp, Charlie got to experience the beauty of God’s creation, a deeper sense of community, and the joy of knowing Jesus. He made new friends, found extraordinary role models, and gained a new sense of confidence in himself and in the person he wanted to be. In the months that followed, Charlie eagerly counted down the days until his next camp experience at Silver Lake where he knew he would once again feel what all young people are longing for: A deep sense of belonging, acceptance, and purpose. 

In his teenage years, Charlie would go on to attend our leadership programs at Silver Lake where he learned what it meant to serve others, to have a personal relationship with Jesus, and how to share the Good News. Charlie is now a camp counsellor at Silver Lake leading the next generation of children at camp who will experience the beauty of God’s creation, a deeper sense of community, and the joy of knowing Jesus.

Charlie’s story may sound familiar because it is an experience shared by thousands of others whose lives were transformed at Silver Lake. For over 50 years, Silver Lake Camp has been a place that has offered these life-changing experiences for children and young people.

With your help and financial support, we now look to the next 50 years of Christ-centred camping at Silver Lake.

Our History

Silver Lake Camp was founded in 1963 by a group of passionate leaders who wanted to create a space for children and youth to have fun and grow in their faith. They found a beautiful 225-acre site on Silver Lake located off of Hwy. 9 near Kincardine, Ontario. Our current Dining Hall was one of the first buildings

built on site, followed by 6 camper cabins, the Adanac and Staff House.

Our camp began as an Evangelical United Brethren Church Camp before joining the United Church of Canada in 1968. We offered camping experiences for children and youth as well as an outdoor space for local churches to gather together in community.

In the mid-1970’s we expanded our programming to include Wilderness Camp, which provided small group experiences for teens interested in a more rustic outdoor adventure. In 1978, Leadership Development Camp was formed and ran during the first 2 weeks of July at Wilderness Site 2. LDC provided teens with opportunities to grow in faith and leadership potential. Generations of camp leaders attended LDC over the decades and this life-changing camping experience is still thriving today.

Today, Silver Lake offers programs for children of all ages, with 3-4 night camps for younger children to week-long camps for teens. We also provide a Junior Leadership Program designed to help 14-16-year-olds make the transition from camper to the camp leader. We hire a staff of ~27 each summer and welcome volunteers and leaders in training each week to help care for our campers and provide them with an unforgettable experience.

What We Offer 

A Summer Camp for Children and Youth

Silver Lake is a United Church camp offering overnight camping experiences for children of all ages. We offer 3-4 night camps for younger children and week-long camping experiences for teens. Each week we offer a Main Site program that serves 60-70 campers as well as a Wilderness program that serves a small group of 20.

Our programs offer lots of exciting activities: lake swimming, canoeing, water games, arts and crafts, drama, archery, sports, low ropes course, overnight campouts, cookouts, silly games, co-operative games and camp-wide games.

When not adventuring, campers enjoy worshiping in our Adanac or in the outdoors, learning about Jesus through teachings, skits, and small group discussion. Campers also have plenty of free time to explore, hang-out and meet new friends in a beautiful outdoor space.

A Place to Grow in Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership is at the heart of all that we do at Silver Lake. At camp, we employ 25-27 young people (typically between the ages of 17-24) who give their best each and every day to the campers we serve. Being on staff is a life-changing experience and it is part of our mission to create a place for these young people to learn, grow, and become faith leaders within our camping community and beyond.

We also offer a Junior Leadership program designed for 14-15-year-olds. Our Junior Leadership program is designed to help campers make the transition from being a camper to being a camp leader. This summer-long program provides a space for young people to learn valuable leadership skills that will help them grow personally and spiritually. In recent years, our Junior Leadership Program has been growing and thriving with more participants than ever before. We look forward to continuing to invest in this program and in the young leaders who attend.