Summit House

What is Summit House?

And while we want the very best life in Christ for anyone who applies, we recognize that in order to best pursue this goal in our houses we need to use wisdom in our admittance process. In addition to a minimum clean-and-sober time of 90 days we have a fairly extensive application that each person is required to fill out. 

How Does it Work?

Once a prospective resident completes the application process they will begin living in a Summit House—as of now we have only a men’s house, but we will be looking to open a house for women in the future. The first 30 days is treated as a trial run. If all goes well, and the residents and new arrival agree, they will be enrolled for the full year-long commitment.

Once a house has reached an agreed-upon number of residents, currently four to five, we begin a year-long cycle of phases. Ideally each resident will be working on the same phase at the same time. However, residents may be admitted to the house on a case-by-case basis at any point during the year.

Phase I

Healthy Self & Healthy People
We have found that damaging personal habits and healthy relationships are the first challenges to address in our residents’ lives. We focus on this during the first six months by going through classes like the Genesis Process, various 12-Step programs, Safe People or other like-material. We recognize that no two groups of people are the same, and as such decide each Phase I’s material upon the start of a new year. It is also during this phase that we will work with residents to connect with Discipleship Partners and a local church to attend if they do not already have one.

Phase II

Personal Goals & Outreach
Once we have established a healthy respect for ourselves and others, it is important that we build on this foundation. The next six months are geared toward doing personal enrichment through bible studies and online courses through Christian Leaders Institute. We are also firmly committed to helping them to find a vocation if they have not already, and a volunteer opportunity. While we encourage any volunteer work, we will especially encourage residents to do so at their local church of attendance.

Phase III

Graduation
After a year of living at the Summit House and working through the first two phases, we want to celebrate the work God has done in the lives of everyone involved! This means a graduation ceremony and getting together for a time of fellowship with our family and friends, Discipleship Partners, and church families. We will also be discussing the next steps available to our residents, including whether they want to stay and help the next group while continuing to work on themselves or if they want to move on to their own housing opportunity.

What is a Discipleship Partner?

Inspired by AA and other recovery group sponsorship programs, we have adopted the name of  Discipleship Partner for those who have dedicated themselves to being an active part of our residents’ lives. While there is admittedly a level of similarity in what we’re looking for in our Discipleship Partners, we believe this is a very different type of relationship!

We aren’t looking for a professional. You don’t need to be a college-educated psych major, you don’t need to be an experienced mediator, you don’t need to have personally triumphed over a major lifestyle of sin or struggle. You only need to dedicate to living life with one of our residents for a period of time.

What Does this Look Like?

Spending Real Time
– Want to go for coffee?
– Need to run some errands?
– How about going for a hike this weekend?
If you can think about the things you usually do with your friends and family, you’ll have a good idea of what we hope you’ll do with one of our residents! Many of them have not experienced healthy relationships and need experience to help them establish a support base.

Having Real Talk
Small talk is cheap and can be found anywhere. We’re looking for real talk. It starts with “How are you doing?” and builds up to, “What do you want to do in life?” and “What are you struggling with?” Share your own hopes and fears, tell them your testimony and what you have a hard time dealing with in your own life. Be real! It might take some time to get there, but with the labor comes fruit!

Commitment
Many of us as many friends on social media as our favorite novel has pages; but how many of them would you count as a true friend? We can’t expect to establish healthy, long-lasting relationships in brief encounters that lead to increased friend counts on Facebook. We want you to dedicate at least a year, hopefully two or three, to one of these residents. Jesus walked with His disciples for three years, and we want to follow His lead.

Basically we just want our residents to have people in their life that show that they care and committed to helping them live in Christ together! And you won’t be alone; each of our residents will have at least one or two other Discipleship Partners to lean on, in addition to their church family. And while many people in the church are further along in their own discipleship of Jesus, we agree with Scripture that “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” You can expect to learn from each other! These folks are going to surprise you with insights they’ve received through their own lives and experiences, and we have faith that God will use them to help you in your own walk!