Overview
The Sojourners Fellowship Program is dedicated to Christian discipleship, community, and professional development. Participants live together in a shared home and build relationships with one another as an intentional Christian community. Each fellow is assigned a work placement in a departmental team at the Sojourners office in Washington, D.C. The program offers a holistic experience, enabling participants to acquire both relational skills and vocational or job-related skills that are applicable to many future endeavors.
Up to six individuals are chosen to join the program each year. While individuals from diverse life stages and career paths are encouraged to apply, most participants are recent college graduates. This fellowship provides an opportunity for personal, spiritual, and professional growth, welcoming individuals aged 21 and older. Many participants have discovered that their year at Sojourners as a fellow is a period of exploring personal growth while gaining valuable work experience.
The application for the 2024-2025 cohort is now live; see below for details on the application. The deadline for the next cycle is March 8, 2024.
Program Description
Community living
Fellows reside in a spacious row house owned by Sojourners, situated in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The house is fully furnished and equipped with necessities for comfortable living. Each participant enjoys a private bedroom while sharing common living areas. The fellowship program's budget and resources ensure a well-equipped home, yet effective household stewardship often requires creativity and compromise.
In contrast to the typical “roommate” scenario from college, the community living aspect of the program is designed for participants to collectively experience life. This involves cooking and sharing meals together, managing a shared budget, conducting house governance meetings, and engaging in group spiritual reflections. Through this deliberate approach, participants not only support each other in individual goals but also cultivate lifelong skills such as living harmoniously with others, compromise, and conflict resolution. Communal expectations are flexible and group-directed.
Spiritual exploration
Fellows actively engage in weekly faith and justice seminars within their work hours, participate in organizational chapel services with colleagues, and partake in fellowship retreats. Given the diverse backgrounds of the fellows in their faith journeys, the term "Christian" encompasses many denominations, expressions, and backgrounds. Faith is woven into communal living practices. Past fellows have engaged in liturgical morning prayers, chosen weekly prayer partners, or collectively celebrated Sunday evening worship services. Many fellows choose to become part of a local church community in D.C. during their tenure with Sojourners.
Professional development
Participants will be actively engaged in hands-on work at Sojourners, providing a real-world understanding of the challenges and rewards of the nonprofit sector. This experiential learning approach ensures that each individual gains practical skills and a deeper understanding of their own interests and strengths. Every participant is assigned to an entry-level role within one of our departments and is matched with a supervisor. A list of positions and job descriptions is available below in the FAQ section (“What fellowship positions are open?”)
As part of the work placement, fellows will learn a variety of skills that will be transferable to their future career path. This includes working with standard office software, such as Microsoft Office and Outlook, and relational skills such as working within a team, problem solving, and communication.
Fellows will have additional opportunities for professional development by attending conferences, training sessions, and being paired with a Sojourners staff mentor throughout the year. In the second half of the fellowship year, the seminars are focused upon vocational discernment, networking, and skills needed to transition into their next opportunity.
Mission & Values
The mission of Sojourners is to articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and faith-rooted action through our publication, mobilizing, and advocacy. We envision a future in which a passionate commitment to the biblical call to social justice and peace becomes so central to the Christian faith that individuals, communities, the nation, and the world are transformed into the Beloved Community.
As an organization, we draw on a long and diverse tradition of Christians following Jesus and seeking justice, across different traditions, cultures, and times in history. We are committed to employing, retaining, and promoting a diverse staff, leadership, and board of directors that mirror the diversity of our churches and society. Sojourners is an Equal Opportunity employer, committed to nondiscrimination and affirmation of people of color, women, and LGBTQ staff.
Fellows share the commitment to pursue a community in which individuals thrive in their full humanity. They collaborate to create their own community covenants, which often include the themes of loving others and God; a dedication to living peacefully and growing spiritually; and attempting to reconcile privilege, diversity, and relationship with the world.
Fellows work together to understand the difference between equality and equity. Equality means all receive the same portion of resources no matter the need while equity insures access to resources based on individual needs. The program is facilitated through a lens of equity.
Benefits
The program provides all living expenses for fellows as they participate in the year-long program. This includes housing, utilities, meals, cell phone reimbursement, local transportation, and a YMCA gym allowance.
Each fellow receives a monthly stipend of $700/month after taxes to provide for incidentals. Fellows may apply for emergency and/or holiday travel support when needed through the fellowship director. Upon completion of the program in August 2025, fellows will receive a $1500 award. Fellows may also join the company health insurance plan which is completely covered by Sojourners for each participant.
Fellows also receive the same paid holidays and vacation time as other full-time staff: 20 days of vacation, up to 12 days for sick/personal leave, and 12 holidays.
FAQ
Answers to frequently asked questions are below, but you can also hear directly from fellows about their experiences here: Sojourners Fellowship Reflections. If you have any questions about the program before applying, please email Program Director, Rev. Kaeley McEvoy at kmcevoy@sojo.net
These descriptions are summaries of each position but are subject to change based on organization needs and priorities, plus individual skills, interests, and experience. All positions are based in a hybrid work culture (some days worked in-office and some worked remotely) on a 9 a.m.-5 p.m. schedule.
- Circulation and Administrative Assistant: The Circulation and Administrative Assistant is responsible for direct and indirect subscriber customer service, including answering the phone, responding to emails, and troubleshooting for both Preaching the Word (Sojourners’ sermon prep resource) and the Sojourners website. This position represents Sojourners at conferences and prepares materials for these events. Interact regularly with our constituents. Desired skills: MS Office; customer service experience, especially phone; creative writing and communications skills; database experience; ability to multitask.
- Social Media and Communications Assistant: Post content and build email social media content; support the Audience Engagement Editor on research, data analysis, building graphics, and social media outreach. Learn skills in online media and help engage our online readers. Desired skills: MS Office; journalistic writing skills; experience with video and photo editing equipment and software a plus; social media management experience.
- Donor Services Assistant: Manages Sojourners’ monthly giving program, provides phone and online assistance to all donors, manages database records, produces monthly reports, and provides support for the entire Advancement department. Learn Engaging Networks, Raisers Edge, and how a nonprofit development team works. Desired skills: MS Office, especially Excel; donor database experience or desire to learn; strong organizational skills and attention to detail; strong writing and phone skills.
- Mobilizing and Policy Assistant: Assists with policy research, issue advocacy, online activism, and event planning; responsibilities include representing the organization at coalition/partner meetings, compiling news stories on policy issues, completing assigned research tasks, coordinating events and lobby visits. Gain an understanding of policy related to issue campaigns, partners, and coalitions. Desired skills: MS Office; strong analytical, problem-solving, research, and writing skills; knowledge of federal public policy system and grassroots engagement campaigns; flexibility and strong time-management skills; ability to process secondary trauma, as some stories occasionally deal with traumatic events and/or sensitive topics.
- Online Editorial Assistant: Provides research, administrative, and creative support to Sojo.net. They participate in long-term planning and idea generating, as well as fact checking and proofreading articles. Desired skills: Strong editing skills; strong research and writing abilities; strong organizational skills and attention to detail; good time management skills; creativity; team player; willingness to develop and practice appropriate self-care when dealing with difficult topics in our coverage.
- Magazine Editorial Assistant: Provides research, administrative, and creative support to Sojourners’ monthly print magazine. They participate in long-term planning and idea generating, fact checking articles, conducting interviews, maintaining digital archives, and cross-publishing content to Sojourners’ website. Desired skills: Strong editing skills; strong research and writing abilities; strong organizational skills and attention to detail; good time management skills; creativity; team player; willingness to develop and practice appropriate self-care when dealing with difficult topics in our coverage
Sojourners was formed initially as an intentional community, with community members sharing vocation and personal life. The Sojourners Fellowship Program grows out of that foundational aspect of the organization, holding on to characteristics of communal living in our Columbia Heights fellowship house.
Fellows maintain a household budget that provides grocery and household funds. Each fellow has their own private bedroom, working together to maintain household norms. House meetings provide a space for shared governance. Former fellows have shared meals, participated in faith formation, and group activities.
Apply
The completed applications consist of three parts: 1) Individual application with essay questions, 2) a resume, 3) three recommendations. The selection process includes review of applications by several staff members. After the review period, telephone interviews are scheduled with strong application packages, with a potential for secondary interviews. Finally, offers are made for a specific work placement in the program. Applications are due March 8, 2023. Notifications of acceptance will be sent in late April.
The review of applications is conducted in an effort to form a community of individuals with diverse experiences, passions, faith backgrounds, emotional intelligence, and a combined interest in all aspects of the program. Fellows must commit to serve the entire program year: August 23, 2024 to August 2, 2025.
