Service Opportunity for New Staff

June 13, 2017 By Claire
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SFOC Discipleship Flat

The Outer Circle Team Vision

We invite the lonely, the outcast, and the wanderer

into restoration of their entire beings by

drawing them to Christ,

giving them what we have,

and bringing them into community

by being their friends.

Introduction

The San Francisco Outer Circle (SFOC) discipleship flat or as it is “lovingly” called ‘Purgatory’ is a transitional discipleship flat for our formerly homeless and/or drug addicted friends. Our aim is to redefine and redeem the concept of family by modeling Christ-like behaviour, discipling towards spiritual growth and restoration, and encouraging healthy rhythms of life through structured living, volunteering, and regular spiritual practice.

Description

Duration: 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year

Dates: Summer/Fall 2017

Applications due: Ongoing

We are looking for someone who has a passion for trainhoppers, gutterpunks, hippies and other travelers, who is comfortable discipling in the intersection of addiction and faith, and who wants to serve incarnationally!

In short, we are praying for someone to assist as a “right-hand (wo)/man” in our discipleship flat here in the Mission District serving our houseless friends! Do you know someone who could serve in this way for the summer/fall? Maybe a youth leader in transition, an intentional community dreamer with a missional heart, or perhaps a rehab staff who wants to go missional?

Requirement

Living with us and a few houseless friends in a lovely 4-story Victorian hospitality house in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Hosting, mentoring, and walking with the guests on your flat through faith, addiction, and emotional crisis in life.

Sharing your time and space and choosing to do life together!

Assisting the Discipleship Flat Lead by planning shared learning curriculum and Bible studies.

Pursuing a rich relationship with Christ!

And a willingness to learn!

Preferences

For this role, we are looking for someone who is comfortable with incarnational community living, loves Jesus, has a passion for the homeless, doesn’t mind reparenting adults, experience/background is a bonus, but not required in psychology, rehab, communal living, or some discipleship program.

You would be comfortable and experienced mentoring someone struggling with addictions and mental health challenges.

We need someone who can be a leader/house parent/host for the flat. Comfortable facilitating flat meetings, making decisions, and dealing with conflicts as they arise. Managing chores and praying!

Bonus!

Are you an accountant, lawyer, gardener, addiction and trauma counselor, storyteller, teachable spirit, a love of cooking, bible study facilitator, great listener, lover of punk music, Someone who wants to experience relationships with homeless youth, comfortable camping, or handy man? We could really use those skills!

Responsibilities

Developing and maintaining relationships with homeless and formerly homeless friends, assisting the Discipleship Flat Lead, mentoring and assisting in crisis, as well as daily life skills, helping with meals, attending and assisting with team functions.

For more information or to apply: Email or Facebook Claire and Brian at- Claire.Howard@innerchange.org

Thoughts on showing up

September 7, 2016 By Claire
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“Hey, you been comin’ around for a while now, yeah?” and “Oh hey, I remember you guys! What’s up?” and “You’re in the park every Monday and Friday, right? Every week…” and “You guys are the cool pancake people!”

Lately, I’ve been noticing that the consistency of being present is an incredible gift.

In a city whose culture is permeated with transience, and in a park full of travelers and train-hoppers, consistently showing up is a refreshing change of rhythm.

I love that we’re able to have deeper relationships with our Amigos bible study friends, but sometimes I struggle with not feeling as though I’m connecting in a meaningful way with people in the park.

Is it really worth it, to have conversations that feel like small talk? But, God has been showing me that being persistently present speaks a powerful word of love to friends in this transient place.

It says,

“I am not here to get something from you or to try to fix you.

I am not just passing through.

I am just here with you, just sitting and listening and loving and learning alongside you.

I am not concerned with achieving a result or an efficient outcome.

I just care about you deeply and love you for you.

You are worth spending time with and you are valuable in God’s sight.”

I pray that God can use my small act of coming to sit with our friends to powerfully communicate His relentless and gently-pursuing love for them!

– Georgia Lee

So you Wanna Know What You Can Give That Really Helps?

May 24, 2015 By Claire
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If you have ever worked at a non profit you have received some terrible well meaning donations.

So a friend asked us what we can REALLY use… So we decided to give you a big list!

Street needs:

· First and foremost as always, socks and underwear (any traveling kid will be your best friend with a pair of clean socks 🙂

· Feminine products

· Tents

· Sleeping bags (army bags preferably)

· Small Tarps (preferably brown or green)

· Backpacks

· Goodwill gift card

· Id voucher

· Quality counseling sponsor

· Flywheel coffee gift card

· Whole Foods gift card

· Another way for homeless friends to eat on a daily basis in Haight

· A safe dry place to sleep that allows dogs and significant others and discipleship- a transitional but loving home.

· Lockers so you can go to appointments or even church easily- without what you own being stolen

· Friends who are sober to hang out with our friends on the street and do normal life things together!

· New full time staff!

· Jobs short and long term- so they can get experience and a more current resume as well as legally earned cash!

· Vehicles for specific sober friends

· Travel help- flights or greyhound tickets to go home!

Housewarming gifts for newly housed friends:

· Laptops

· George forman

· Crock pot

· Electric tea pot

· Coffee set up

· Microwave

· Warm blankets

Stuff our house can use:

· Financial support to get each staff fully funded- http://www.crmleaders.org/give

· Airline miles, or sponsor one of our trips!

· Grocery cards (safeway, whole foods, trader joes, rainbow, foodsco)

· Gas cards

· Blankets

· Small heaters

· 4 Fans

· Shelving for storage

· Back up pancake power box or someone to invent a new awesomer longer lasting system!

· A 2000+ watt power inverter

We could use your Talents and Connections!

· Legal council for friends as well as for pancakes as issues arise

· Personal assistant

· Wifi consultant to make it reach our whole house!

· Volunteer counselor for homeless friends who are scared to go to a center or don’t qualify for free counseling.

· Babysitters (esp during bible study)

· Handyman

· Plumber

· Bible lovers- to guest facilitate bible study on specific topics as they come up! Perhaps a theology nerd?

· A person older then us who wants to have kids over for tea and cookies and love on them! Be grandma/grandpa for many who don’t have elders.

· A house sitter who is willing to host kids while we are gone.- Just sleep at our house and make sure people are alive J

· A musician who can jam with kids

· Someone who can introduce good Christian hardcore/punk/folk music to our kids!

· A Job connector please! To connect us or our kids to possible jobs or to hire them! Please!

· A passionate person to manage our Odd Jobs website- connecting youth to short term odd jobs for individuals and individuals to a person who needs a short job!

· A job coach- helping kids get to where they want to be!

· Rainy day or emergency housing- a person we could call when we have someone who really needs housing but we can’t provide it.

· A writer to collect our stories and write them well

· A once a year house deep cleaner volunteer group

· Moms to visit moms for play dates who are holed up in hotels and learning how to parent.

· We go on retreats a few times a year to pray or to plan for the year, or sometimes when tough stuff happen to get away and pray and process, so houses with 1+ empty bedrooms that are within 2 hours of SF that you would be willing to let SFOC staff stay in for 2 or 3 nights would be lovely.

· Other random skills we don’t even know you have! – Tell us what you could do for us and we can tell you if a situation comes up where we could need you!

Pancake supplies-
for 1 year we buy in bulk and spend on average: 926.42$ for Syrup, Sugar, Creamer, Coffee, Pancake batter, Forks, Plates, Cups, etc…

Rainbow Gathering Kitchen supplies:
Around 300$ plus gas.

Thanks for caring!
SFOC

2960 21st Street

SF CA 94110SF CA 94110