What is Summit House?
Summit House is a discipleship program aimed at helping those men and women who are having a difficult time establishing themselves in life, work and the church. Whether struggling through addictions, homelessness or other trying times, we believe we are created to experience life and God together, and work to facilitate that in the lives of our residents and the church body as a whole. Click here to visit our website.
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. 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.
Laying Foundations: Healthy Self & Healthy People
We focu first on addressing harmful personal habits and relationships and cultivating healthy ones. During this early stage, participants will also be encouraged to connect with a Discipleship Partner and get involved with a local church if they don’t already have one.
Building Momentum: Personal Development & Giving Back
Once we have established a healthy respect for ourselves and others, it is important that we build on this foundation. We then shift toward doing personal enrichment through bible studies, online courses, class curriculum, or more hands-on opportunities such as participating in Street Night (a weekly program that ministers to those living on the streets). We also encourage each guest to engage in other volunteer activities, ideally within their home church and local community.
Celebration of Completion: A Year of Growth
At the end of the year, we celebrate the transformation God has brought about in each participant’s life. This includes a Celebration of Completion ceremony and a time of fellowship with friends, family, Discipleship Partners, and church members. We also discuss next steps—whether they choose to move into independent housing or potentially stay on to help support new participants while continuing their own growth.
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!
