Servant Church of San Diego is located in Greater Logan Heights, one of San Diego’s most historically significant, ethnically diverse, and densely populated urban areas. The area consists of six distinct yet similar neighborhoods — Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, Memorial, Sherman Heights, Grant Hill, and Stockton.
Located just east and south of San Diego’s downtown, Greater Logan Heights has been home to many of the city’s newcomers, laborers, and servicemen since the late 1800’s. The area has also been home to the city’s shipyards, a U.S. naval base, and countless servicemen since the end of World War I. Today, it is also San Diego’s youngest urban area with a diverse blend of Hispanics (85%), Blacks (10%), and Whites (5%), and a dynamic mix of industry, art, commerce, and housing.
Despite all this, Greater Logan Heights became one the city’s most racially segregated, economically depressed, and criminally exploited urban areas for most of the last century due to discriminatory housing and business laws. In recent years, however, the community has begun experiencing renewal and redevelopment, attracting a younger generation of new-comers in search of urban housing, cultural diversity, and business opportunities. Greater Logan Heights is now home to 40,000 residents and the average age is 27, making it the youngest and most densely populated urban area in San Diego.
While there are many other churches in our community, most of them are mono-cultural and mono-racial. And so it is in this area that Servant Church of San Diego desires to serve God and others as a Biblically faithful, Christ-centered, and ethnically diverse gathering of God’s redeemed servants.
Servant Church’s vision is that every person, family, and neighborhood in San Diego’s Greater Logan Heights would hear the saving gospel of Jesus Christ and experience His transforming grace. Our mission is to serve others as we have been served by God’s perfect Servant, Jesus Christ — with the powerful Word of God and grace-filled acts of love, expressed through engaging evangelism, intentional discipleship, neighborhood involvement, and community investment.
We’ve been glad as a Body to be able to dive in with our community in a number of ways outside of church on Sundays. One way we’re engaging our area is through the opening of Alma Community Care, a Christian counseling organization. Through Alma, we are able to provide counseling for families and individuals, training and resourcing for local community organizations, and complementary support programs. Alma also offers bi-monthly parenting seminars, as every school principle and counselor we’ve talked to mentioned parenting resources as a huge need in Greater Logan Heights.
Another exciting way we’ve engaged our community is through involvement at Burbank Elementary where we meet every Sunday. Burbank is the lowest performing school in San Diego’s school district, specifically in reading and comprehension. We’re currently working with school administration and other local churches and community leaders to offer an after-school reading club with volunteer mentors. This past August, for the second year in a row, we provided back-to-school backpacks with school supplies to every student at the school. All of this, in addition to the monthly family movie nights we host at Burbank Elementary, have enabled us to build relationships with school administrators as well as parents and families at Burbank, while also introducing them to Servant Church and its ministries.
Our community groups are one more way we’re intentionally reaching the Greater Logan Heights area. Right now, our three community groups each meet in a different one of the six neighborhoods within the area, and plan and host monthly community service events in their neighborhood. We look forward to seeing these groups grow such that there is one in all six of the area’s neighborhoods.
All of these community service efforts would benefit from your prayers. We want to see the Lord bless our efforts for His glory, and see many of our neighbors come to know Jesus as their Savior. Join us also in praying that God would bless the preaching of His Word and the praising of His name during our weekly worship services.
Each year, Acts 29 US West has the joy of funding a number of church plants. Servant Church of San Diego is one of 17 church plants we’re funding in 2017. You can read about more of these church plants on our blog!
