We provide spiritual care and multi-faith community at night, on the phones, and in the streets of San Francisco. We do not judge. We do not convert. We meet people where they are and offer the gift of undivided attention and loving presence.
The Governing Board of the San Francisco Night Ministry has been hard at work over the past year. We conducted an extensive review of our 57+ year history. We had fruitful conversations about our mission and operations. We deliberated and discerned about how to best continue and enhance the valuable community services we offer for another 50+ years. We are very pleased to be writing you with important Night Ministry News:
Now is the time to restructure and expand our nightly walks in San Francisco into an even stronger program. We plan to embrace the diversity of our community and increase participation in our calling and work through the training of volunteers from across the Bay Area. Volunteers will walk the streets of San Francisco with us, joining our night ministers and CPE students in caring for the whole community each night.
This exciting shift requires reorganizing how the night ministers do their nightly walks and also the traditional role of the Night Minister. As of now, the Board is looking to fill a new position: Director of Night Ministry Services. The Director will be responsible for establishing and overseeing how this expansion will work. We are accepting applications now for the new director position. Please pass along the job application to anyone who might be interested. All current night ministers and staff are welcome to apply.
The Ministry’s “night shift” on the streets of San Francisco will continue. What is new is that it will be staffed with ministers, students, and volunteers, all under the leadership of the Director of Night Ministry Services. Ordained clergy will continue to lead our night walks, while coordinating with trained volunteers in providing spiritual care and connection. And we will be introducing a new system for referring and dispatching night ministers in response to callers on our nightly telephone Care Line.
Thank you for your ongoing service, partnership, and support of the Night Ministry!
Governing Board Restructuring Committee:
Rev. Rod Seeger | Rev. Dr. Karma McDonald | Mary Van Zomeren
we provide spiritual care and multi-faith community at night, on the phones, and in the streets of San Francisco. We do not judge. We do not convert. We meet people where they are and offer the gift of undivided attention and loving presence.
Relationship Issues • Emotional Support • Grief Counseling • Loss Counseling • Trauma Processing • Spiritual Questions
NIGHT WALKS
We walk the streets of San Francisco every night, attending to physical and mental needs, providing harm reduction as well as companionship to the people who fall between the cracks of San Francisco’s social services. The people we serve are marginalized and often go unacknowledged despite being members of our community.
CARE LINE
Every night, 8 pm – 4 am PT, the San Francisco Night Ministry Care Line is open. This is a multi-faith organization that is spends time with absolutely anyone on any topic. We will talk and listen deeply without judgment. And, we are overseen by trained professionals in clinical therapy and suicide prevention.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
We build programs that welcome anyone who is honestly seeking community. We’re here to engage in mutual care, respect, and support regardless of your faith background or preference. Whether it’s a Tuesday Gathering, Guided Meditation, or Open Cathedral– whether it’s an area of interest for you or just something you are curious about and want to try, we want you to be here.
CLINICAL PASTORAL ED. (CPE)
We believe in the power of counter-cultural deeply compassionate and undivided presence. We’ve seen it support people for over 50 years, and we want to see this work continue well into the future. Clinical Pastoral Education is training in compassionate presence. Helping professionals from any walk of life can apply to our fully accredited ACPE program.
We work when most people are asleep, providing the radical gift of undivided attention because we recognize that lasting change must include tending to the human spirit.