The For the City Center Officially Opens

Today, by the grace of God, the For the City Network and The Austin Stone officially opened the For the City Center at our St. John’s campus.

Attendees at the ribbon cutting

As I mentioned back when the church publicly announced the establishment of the For the City Center, our church is working with and providing office/storefront space for 4 local non-profits who are working to bring hope and redemption to the St. John’s neighborhood.  Today the center housing these non-profits opened its doors to the public.  At a public ribbon cutting ceremony Justin Lopez, the Executive Director of the For the City Network introduced the For the City Network and Center to the city and spoke about the mission and goals of the center and its partner organizations.  Alongside Justin were representatives from the Austin Police Department and the local heads of the Capital Area Food Bank, Communities in Schools, Austin LifeCare and the Caring Family Network, the first partners to occupy space in the center.

The For the City Center is located on St. John’s Avenue near I-35 in the St. John’s community.  This part of town has seen more than its share of issues with crime and other social challenges over the last few decades.  The needs are real, but so are the people and the spirit of community in this neighborhood.  So why did the Austin Stone decide to build a campus here and then partner with and hand over half of the new space to non-profits?  The origin story for the For the City Network puts it succinctly:

The initial concept of The For the City Network was birthed in 2008 from a vision cast by the leadership of The Austin Stone Community Church. The heartbeat of The Austin Stone is to be more than just a church in the city – more than just part of the city or a mere observer of the city – but to be a church for the city of Austin.

After identifying a number of great local organizations already doing extensive work in the community, the leaders at The Austin Stone did not want to reinvent the wheel and duplicate services. Instead, they wanted to create an organization that would serve as a funnel for volunteers and a platform for collaboration and partnership among existing nonprofits and like-minded organizations. It was through this desire that The For the City Network was born in January 2009.

Justin Lopez, Executive Director of the For the City Network

From there the vision grew with a single goal, how could the church represent and proclaim the gospel to the city and help bring healing and redemption to this part of town?  The Center is part of that answer, but so is the day to day work the partners and attenders of the Stone do to help their fellow Austinites and spread the gospel, person by person and family by family.  The goal is simple, spread the name and the glory of Christ in this city by truly pitching in and living out Jeremiah 29:7: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Prayer of dedication to close the ceremony

For more information on the For the City Network, visit its website and for the official press release accompanying the ribbon cutting, please go here.

Tags: austin, austin-stone, for-the-city, for-the-city-center, st-johns