The United
Methodist Church of Vista
875 Matagual Dr.
Vista, CA 92081
Above is a video of how to get to the room starting with the turn on to Matagual Dr to the actual Youth Room.
I know a lot of gay teens might look at a church and get scared, but we are not actually affiliated with the church itself - in fact we used to be located in Oceanside near the pier until we moved because they give us far more space here at the church than we ever had in Oceanside. If you're wondering why they were willing to host us, it's because this church is very progressive. Their church is also more philosophy-based (love thy neighbor, do unto others, etc.) than doctrine-based (according to this bible verse, you're going to hell! etc.) As such, they have a very pro-gay, all-inclusive philosophy that their congregation embraces. That is why they let us use the Youth Hall facilities free of charge in the evenings. If you're hesitant to attend because we're hosted at a church, it's important for you to understand that our group isn't religious in nature or about making you strait or judging you (in other words, we're not some kind of reparative-therapy organization.) Our Circle is simply about having a support network in the gay community that allows you to find acceptance and socialize with other gay youths in a place that's safe (that safe place just happened to be a church in this case).
I'd say the only drawback about being hosted at the church is trying to explain where the group is located in their huge building when most of the doors at the church have no room numbers (you just have to know where you're going). As you can see from the picture, the church is built on a hill that acts as the entrance for two different stories. The youth group is located in the Youth Room on the lower level. To find it, you will walk down the ramp on the outside of the building and just keep walking along the sidewalk around the building until you get to the second to last door before the sidewalk ends. That is where Our Circle meets. Feel free to talk to anyone you want if you have questions or simply take a seat. There is also a video on the left hand side of this page that shows you how to find the room from the drive in to the church, to walking in the room.
If you have any questions or are unclear on how to find the group, please don't hesitate to call us. Our moderator Nicole mans the phones and she is your quintessential "YMCA Camp Counselor" (as in super duper nice). She'll be happy to answer any questions you have. We always meet every Thursday rain or shine (excluding holidays). The only times when we don't meet are usually due to the occasional party that we'll throw somewhere else or when we're having a bonfire at the beach. When those events take place though, we have an automated system that plasters "OUR CIRCLE DOES NOT MEET ON [this date]" in ENORMOUS big red bold font on the top of every page of the website, so you can't miss it if we're not meeting that Thursday. The announcement gets placed on all the pages 10 days before the event. If you don't see such an announcement on the site right now though, it means we'll be meeting this Thursday. Hope to see you there!