A few intense days that change the shape of a year.
Institute camps are short, focused gatherings where participants advance through several institute courses in a compressed period — accompanied by sessions of devotion, the arts, recreation, and service. The friendships kindled at a camp carry into the weekly life of a neighbourhood for months afterwards.
What a camp is like
A camp may last three days or ten, depending on the audience and the season. The heart of every camp is the institute course itself — usually one or two books studied with sufficient intensity and accompaniment that a participant moves through them in a single sitting. Around the course, the day is shaped by morning devotions, meals taken together, periods of service in the surrounding community, music, workshops, and evening reflections.
Camps in Ontario are organized for different audiences: for junior youth, for youth, for adults, sometimes for entire families. Some are held at retreat centres outside the city; others are held inside the neighbourhood itself, with participants returning to their homes each evening.
Why camps matter
A camp accomplishes in a few days what would otherwise take many months. It allows participants to immerse themselves in study without the interruptions of ordinary life; it allows the friendships among participants to deepen quickly; and it sends each participant home with the energy and the companions to sustain the weekly pattern that follows.