In Christianity, a three-day movement is an organisation that conducts retreats to enrich the lives of other Christians, consisting of people who have themselves attended such a retreats. Alternatively, these organisations taken together may be referred to as the three day movement.
Most but not all of these retreats cover three days, and so the fourth day has become a term used by these movements to describe the life of the attendee after the retreat.
The original three day movement, Cursillo, began in the Roman Catholic church in Spain in 1944, and spread to other countries. Although Cursillo was and is structured so as not to restrict participation to members of the Roman Catholic Church, in time people who had attended Cursillo founded similar programs tailored to specific groups, including programs for younger people, those in prison or affected by the incarceration of another, and members of specific denominational groups. Some of these have licensed the Cursillo material and use its name, while others have developed similar programs under another name.
All such organisations are now known as three-day movements or parts of the three-day movement, whether or not their programs actually run for three days. A feature of the three day movement is the support these different organisations continue to provide for each other, particularly in each supporting the programs run by other organisations in prayer and by sending letters and other expressions of support. And, although particular organisations remain linked to denominational groups, there is generally no denominational requirement for participants.
Three day movement programs include:
Keryx Prison Ministry, for Michigan penal system Keryx In Community, a non-denominational ministry to individual and held in local churches in Michigan MYCA - Michigan Youth Challenge sponsored by Michigan Keryx community for at-risk teens participating in a "boot camp" program held by the Michigan National Guard.