WHAT'S CITY LIFE ABOUT?

OUR
MISSION

We exist to lead THE ONE far from God to pursue full life in Christ.

Our mission is taking shape every week in the form of changed lives, and we believe the future for City Life is bright. But that’s not all. We believe that when you experience God, your future is bright as well. If you haven’t visited, we invite you to join us this weekend and see for yourself how exciting church can be when the focus is simple, and people are free to love God with passion.

OUR
STORY

Brad and Leah Leach moved to Philadelphia in September 2010 with a dream to start a church where real people from all different backgrounds could experience the life-changing love of God. In September 2011 that dream became a reality as City Life Philly held its very first service at The Academy at Palumbo in South Philly. That first service was alive, fun, warm, and welcoming–an atmosphere we’ve done our best to recreate every weekend since.

For seven years we were a "portable church," meeting in three rented facilities throughout South Philly. During these formative years, God built a unique DNA into the life of our church. We learned what's possible through a committed Dream Team of volunteers, as faithful teams served week after week to set up and tear down our worship environments in temporary venues. Most importantly, God showed us that a church is not a building—it's a vibrant community of God's people, on mission together to serve the city.

In the fall of 2018 God provided a miracle for our young church. The members of Calvary Temple, a historic church in South Philadelphia, voted to give their building to City Life and be adopted into our church family. Because of their generous decision, we now gather every week in our first permanent location, and look forward to using this gift as a launching pad to serve Philly in practical and creative ways.

Today we’re more committed than ever to the goal of seeing lives changed by God. Our belief is simple: We grow spiritually when we love God, love people, and prove it. To accomplish that process, City Life offers contemporary, biblically-driven worship services that are alive with energy and inspiration, as well as excellent children’s ministry, dynamic Life Groups, and numerous serving opportunities on the City Life Dream Team.

OUR
VALUES

We believe God will do anything to pursue people, which is why He sent Jesus to live in our shoes and die in our place. That story is good news. It’s the greatest news. It’s the gospel story, and it has the potential to transform sinful hearts into soft and tender ones. We experience this freedom by encountering the Truth of God’s Word; reading it, teaching it, and applying it to our lives. Empty religion has never helped anyone, but a relationship with God sets us free to experience the truth that what Jesus did for us is enough. His grace creates a life-giving environment where we can finally love others as we are loved, forgive them as we’ve been forgiven, and obey God because we want to, not because we have to. In a city starving for second chances, we’re becoming grace dealers wherever we go.

This value begins with the desire to create the warmest, most welcoming environments in our city, wherever and whenever we gather. We preach with passion, sing with abandon, and come alive in God’s Presence. People are accepted into a spiritual family that is colorfully diverse, where our greatest strengths come from our deepest differences, and every person’s story matters. In small groups, we open our authentic selves to one another. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We want to laugh, have fun, and enjoy life in creative ways. To us, that seems like the kind of church Jesus would enjoy if He was here: one that is bright, vivid, and pulsating with life and love.

We love Philadelphia! We see big cities as big opportunities to demonstrate God’s big heart for people. Our city is filled with tangible needs that deserve practical solutions. We may not be able to meet them all, but that won’t stop us from meeting the needs we can with the resources we have. We want to be good neighbors. Most of our serving happens behind the scenes as we become aware of the people around us and respond with genuine concern. God’s heart beats for the city, and we are asking him to let it beat faster and louder in us. As it does, Philly becomes the place where we love to live and live to serve.

We believe God is the most generous being in the universe. He gave his Son so we could live, which means there’s nothing else He’d ever withhold. We are being changed by Him from selfish consumers to open handed stewards, and the difference is beautiful. We are ready to share anything if our generous God nudges us; our time, our words, our money–even our homes. We give it away creatively, consistently, and joyfully. This path isn’t easy or natural, but it is so much fun that when people cross over to it, they can’t get enough! In a world that is so used to people taking, radical generosity breaks through in surprising ways, leading unlikely people to taste and see that God is good.

We believe success is more than what we accomplish. It’s what we set in motion. In order to multiply our influence, we seek to be intentionally reproducible in every way. We develop leaders by recognizing their potential and drawing it out. We want to see beyond ourselves by sowing money instead of just saving it, and sending people instead of just seating them. We believe God is an initiator who loves to birth new things, and we want to join Him by continually starting new campuses and new churches. And we want to empower the next generation so our kids will take this vision further than we ever could.