San Diego

One church for every neighborhood in San Diego.

The sky over the capitol, the morning we prayed there.

Keep going

Nobody should say yes to Jesus on a sidewalk and have nowhere to go on Sunday.

Worship in the rain.

Every neighborhood, and who is standing in it.

There are 114 neighborhoods in this county. A church claims the one it already sits in and agrees to expect the people we meet on its streets. Open any neighborhood to see who is there.

114neighborhoods, none of them claimed yet. Yours can be the first light on the map.

3.3 million
people live in the county
114
neighborhoods on the map
0
churches have claimed theirs

Tap a neighborhood to see who has claimed it.

A man kneeling on a sidewalk praying over another man sitting at a bus shelter
Praying with a man on a corner in Baltimore.

It started with a man named Richard.

Richard was sitting on a curb in Baltimore, strung out, with nowhere to be and nobody coming for him. I sat down and listened. Somewhere in the middle of it he asked me why a city with so many churches had none that ever touched. He was not being clever. He was telling me what it looked like from the ground: a dozen steeples within walking distance and not one of them knew his name.

I have carried his question through years of street ministry, from San Diego to Tokyo. The people we meet outside cannot drive twenty minutes to a service. They need the church that is already on their block to be expecting them. The problem was never a shortage of churches. It was that we had never stood together on the same street.

People like Richard should get to find out that the church loves them more than it loves being separate.

What one church looks like

  1. A church says yes

    It claims the neighborhood its building sits in. It stays Baptist, Presbyterian, Calvary, Pentecostal, house church. Nothing changes but the map.

  2. Teams go out

    Prayer, worship, food, and conversation on the corners and in the parks. Some teams come from that church, some from across the county.

  3. Someone says yes to Jesus

    On a sidewalk, in a park, at a bus stop. It happens every week in this county.

  4. They are walked to a church

    The church on that block is expecting them. It reaches out within the week, sits with them, and gets them into a small group where they can ask questions and be known.

  5. The neighborhood gets served

    The churches on the same ground meet real needs together. A school, a shelter, a family, a street. All the way through.

What serving together looks like

Not a little of everything. One real need at a time, finished, by the churches that share the same ground.

  • Children and their mother on their own block

    Schools

    Adopt the elementary school in your neighborhood. Supplies in August, mentors all year, teachers thanked in May.

  • A late meal shared with a man at a table

    Shelters and meals

    Take one night a week at the shelter or the feeding line. Same faces, every week, until people know your names.

  • Neighbors gathered on a row house stoop

    Families

    A car repair, a month of rent, groceries when the fridge is empty. The church on the block hears about it first.

  • A woman praying over a man at a street worship tent

    Streets

    Weekly outreach in the same park, at the same corner, at the same time. People start waiting for you.

  • A team praying over a woman in a wheelchair on a city plaza

    Freedom and small groups

    Prayer and freedom ministry appointments, and small groups where someone brand new can learn and be known.

  • A team standing along a wall painted with the name Jesus

    Serve days

    Twice a year every church on the map serves the county on the same day. Parks, storm channels, schools, seniors.

Every photo here is one of ours. None of it is stock.

Different names. One church.

Collectively we are Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Anglicans, Calvary Chapels, non-denominational churches, house churches, Spanish-speaking congregations, and churches that meet in gyms. Nobody is asked to stop being what they are. We are setting the differences down long enough to serve one city, and we expect to find they weigh less than we thought.

That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:21

Coming up

All events

The first outreach dates get posted here.

An outreach team standing outside their church

We are offering to send you people.

You do not pay anything, join anything, or change anything about your church. You tell us you will welcome the people we meet on your streets, and from that day every outreach team in the county walks them to your door.

Claim your neighborhood
An outreach team talking with a group of kids in a park

Looking for a church?

Maybe someone met you on the street, maybe you found this on your own. Tell us where you live and what you need. A church on your side of town reaches out within the week, and you have a room to walk into, people who learn your name, and somewhere to keep growing.

Get connected