Hey there! Want to learn about SFS?
SFS is a community of practice and a studio for learning closeness to God.
We started SFS in 2014 because, through a lot of self-examination, exploration, rethinking, and experimenting, we’ve learned that every moment of your life can be sacred, flooded with God’s presence, through practice.
Our mission is to create safe and brave space for misfit Christians like us to learn, practice, and grow spiritually.
As a community, we practice being in God’s presence and loving each other.
We practice nearness to God through communal and individual worship, meditation and contemplation, prayer and conversation, art and music.
We practice new ways of thinking through re-reading the Bible and other sacred texts historically, contextually, prayerfully, and progressively, as well as through conversation and questioning.
We practice loving each other through eating together, laughing together, grieving together.
As mentors and learners, we keep an attitude of “beginner’s mind” yet aim toward wisdom.
As a studio we offer classes to take at your own pace, with worksheets and spiritual exercises to help you keep growing and learning.
We give you opportunities for connection and communion with God, yourself, and others.
Here you have mentors who offer guidance and the wisdom of experience, and are continuing to learn and grow themselves, learning from others (including you) as we go.
Everyone in this community is still learning. Especially us. And we do it better together.
That doesn't mean that you have to do it: God won’t be mad at you if you don’t.
It means that because God’s Spirit dwells around and in you, every moment of your life has the potential for joy, deep peace, and hope.
With love,
Benton and Elane
Your Co-Learners and Mentors: Elane O’Rourke and Benton Stokes
Benton Stokes is the Resident Creative and Co-Founder of SFS. He specializes in real life examples, deep devotion, and making things beautiful.
Benton has a passion for helping post-Evangelicals, particularly fellow queer men, find their way to healthy theology and healing perspectives.
Benton is a songwriter, a recording artist, an author, a worship leader, a podcaster, a collector of comic books, a lover of roller coasters, a dad, and a friend.
Benton leads worship in churches and for live events, and regularly releases spiritually intelligent music for his fans.
Dr. Elane O’Rourke is a spiritual director, lifelong teacher, theologian, mom, contemplative, Enneagram 1. She was a philosophy professor for a decade, a pastor for another decade, and has been the co-founding Director of SFS since 2014.
Elane’s deepest desire, and life’s work, is for you to believe that you are God’s cherished and beloved child, worthy of care and respect, and to live as if you believe it.
As our lead instructor, Elane specializes in making sense of difficult ideas and listening for the Spirit’s activity in your life.
Benton and Elane co-host Cocktail Theology — a podcast that is exactly what it sounds like. They tackle topics such as defining what an abomination actually is (not what you think, by the way), exploring why Christians and science are at odds all the time, and reclaiming Christian-ese language like “born again.” All while sipping tasty libations.
In 2022, Elane and Benton released their devotional book, Daily Contemplations for Misfit Christians. It’s available on Amazon, along with its companion workbook.
Elane’s first book was A Dallas Willard Dictionary, written to explain the difficult words of Christian philosopher Dallas Willard, which may explain her role in the podcast.