A wide variety of people come to stay with us for many different reasons. Some arrive with personal issues, or are not Christians and want to know more, others to learn how to better interpret the Bible, or to more clearly understand, from a Christian perspective, the world and cultures within which we live. Still others come to work through theological or philosophical controversies. All are welcome and everyone who comes brings their own special contribution to the community.

One of the helpful dimensions of life at L’Abri is the integration of study and discussion with practical community work. This contributes to seeing the Christian life in a more holistic manner, rather than compartmentalized. The study portion of the day is spent in Farel House, where we have the L’Abri books and tapes, as well as other useful books, articles and papers covering a broad range of subjects. It is essential that you view study times as a significant part of your day. The other part of the day is spent working at whatever needs to be done to keep the community going. This involves anything from gardening to shoveling snow to cleaning and cooking, including learning to bake fresh bread. All are expected to take part in both aspects of community life. L’Abri is not a quiet retreat center and the time here can be busy and rather intense. However, days off on Thursdays, and Sunday afternoons, allow time for exploring the area, sight seeing, skiing, hiking, and so on.

People come to L’Abri for varied lengths of time - some for a few days and others for the whole term, which is usually around 11-14 weeks. Short stays have the value of giving an opportunity to experience community life and for getting a feel for the teaching and materials available here. Longer periods (highly advised), permits a greater integration into the life of the community and a more sustained period of working through questions, problems and issues, whether theological, philosophical, personal, etc. See reservations for our open dates and costs. During your stay with us, you should not plan on touring the area except during your designated time off. (You will have all of Thursday and half of Sunday – 1 1/2 days in total – to use each week as free time to explore if you wish; mid-term breaks are also designated for that purpose). If you wish to travel more than this during your time in Europe, we ask that you plan to do so before or after, not during, your stay at L’Abri. We have found that excursions beyond the time allotted by the work-study schedule end up creating too much discontinuity in the community life. If during your stay with us (between your booked dates of arrival and departure) it becomes absolutely necessary to leave L’Abri for a few days, we will ask you to pay for your bed while you’re gone. In other words, when people book in for certain dates, our expectation is that they will be with us for those dates. Unfortunately, due to Swiss law, we are not allowed to accept anyone under 18 years old..

All who come live in Chalet Bellevue with two to four people to a room (we do have limited accommodation for married couples), but everyone also spends time in other chalets/homes in the community for meals and work. A number of these meal times are used for discussion. This is intended to give people an opportunity to raise questions concerning studies, the 2 weekly lectures, or other things as they may come up. In addition to these discussions and lectures, each person has one of the staff as a tutor. A tutor will suggest a study program tailored to the needs, questions and interests of each particular person. Everyone is welcome to seek out dialogue with any of the staff, as their time permits, but the tutor is the one who meets regularly with the same people each week.

We suggest that those wishing to send and receive email during their stay here, establish a "web based" email account prior to arriving. Internet cafes are available, but require a little travel to get to. Additionally, limited access to an Internet terminal is made available to students in Chalet Bellevue during evening hours and days off. This is provided for a small charge as a convenience to students and time is limited so as not to infringe on or take away from the community aspect that makes L'Abri what it is.

LAPTOPS – We ask that you not bring a laptop to L’Abri. You will not need it here. To be sure we have nothing against technology, but from our point of view and experience, laptops all too often end up detracting from the matters at hand. To highlight just one of these: in coming to L’Abri, you are setting aside a period of time to focus on important questions related to the meaning and significance of life. A laptop will not help further this objective while you're at L’Abri. Please leave it home. After reading this if you still choose to bring a laptop we will store it safely for you upon your arrival, and it will be made available for your use only on Thursdays (days off) and Sunday afternoons (free times).

Please send all email for those with us to their own personal email address. Additionally, people can be reached via telephone.

Just a few final things! We highly recommend that you make reservations before you arrive since our bed spaces are limited. We also ask that if you have dietary needs, especially because of allergies, that you inform us before your stay. We prepare meals for a large number of people and it can be difficult at times to meet everyone's needs. However, we do our best, but ask that you accept that we may not be able to cater for every dietary concern. Also due to extreme high cost of water, we ask that students take only two showers per week.

Perhaps, we will meet soon, but whether we do or not, we send you our warmest greetings.

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