Serve Santa Barbara exists to develop, sustain, and encourage service to the most vulnerable among us. We currently focus on serving resource families, recent immigrants, and people without homes.

Events

No upcoming events

Current Partners

FARO Center

Hospitality House

Immigrant Hope

Are you interested in being a piece of the puzzle that works toward solving homelessness and aiding the immigrant?
Here are three ways to you can be a blessing.
  1. Faro Center: CPC is serving a hot lunch the 3rd Thursday of every month. We need someone to pick up boxed hot lunches at 11:00 and deliver them to the center by 11:15. We also need volunteers to hand out lunches from 11:30-12:00. Visiting with clients is welcomed..
  2. Salvation Army’s Hospitality House: We will be serving a hot dinner the 3rd Monday of every month from 5:15-6:00. Mingling with residents is encouraged.
  3. Ukrainian Immigration: We have connections to an individual helping Ukrainians immigrate to the United States. A couple in their 60’s is in the process of moving to Santa Barbara to be near their nephew who is the sponsor. If you have or know of someone who has a room or back house where they could live for 6 months. The couple is willing to help in the home and are experienced gardeners.
Contact joyce@cpcsb.org to get involved.

History

In 2013 the Session of Christ Presbyterian Church formed an arm of the church called Serve Santa Barbara. Serve Santa Barbara exists to develop, sustain, and encourage service in our city by mobilizing the community of Christ Presbyterian Church to seek the shalom of our city. A Strategic Vision was developed for how our biblical convictions find particular expression at CPC. It answers questions like; How will we utilize our finite supply of time, resources, and energy? How can we encourage our congregation to be involved in seeking the flourishing of our city? How can we give our congregation a vision for and understanding of its calling as missionaries here in Santa Barbara? The Strategic Vision provides focus and direction as we are faced with innumerable, urgent needs. With so many time demands and so many needs, the vision helps to provide alignment in our church as a whole, and enables the ministries we support to be mutually encouraging and vision reinforcing. 
 One of our theological presuppositions at Christ Presbyterian Church is that God is on a Mission and therefore we are to be a missional people. God’s original intent for his creation was that it should flourish in all aspects, and be developed so that it continues to flourish. Ever since that intent was disrupted by the fall, God has been on a relentless quest to return creation to its original intent. 
As a community founded on and driven by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we desire to see Jesus’ reign extended throughout every dimension of this city’s life. Personal, familial, social, political, economic, environmental—there is no sphere in which we do not want to see God’s kingdom come. We recognize and rejoice that many individuals in our congregation are serving in God’s mission in their own unique callings. We nevertheless believe that our mission as Christians should have a corporate element. We believe that every member of our church is a missionary, sent here for the purpose of witnessing to God’s reign and extending the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also believe that as a church community it would be ideal to find a few organizations (1-3) whose collective needs are broad enough for a broad spectrum of our people to participate. Working in this way has the added benefit of giving our congregation a sense of working together towards a common goal. 
Our goal is to forge long-term strategic partnerships with organizations who are already seeking the flourishing of Santa Barbara. As we seek the flourishing of Santa Barbara, we desire work in collaboration with a network of organizations, Christians, and Christian Churches to seek the common good. We feel that more than starting our own ministry, God is calling us to participate in, reform, and transform existing works. While not limited to, we will want to prioritize things that are closer to the geographic vicinity of the church, especially in the downtown area to which God has called us.