WELCOME
Welcome to the Ecclesia Collective website. Through our website, media and publications we hope to document the grassroots, Kingdom expressions to evolve out of this network. Through our work, we attempt to create environments where action, reflection and transformation occur. We hope that you will find here a hub of ideas, resources and connections for building community, seeking justice, promoting sustainability and interpreting/embodying the Way of Jesus here in San Diego.

BACKGROUND
Several years ago, a small group of pastors and church leaders from a few churches in Southern California came together to start Matthew’s House – a cluster of house churches in the northern part of San Diego County. In late 2003, a few of the people from that initial group founded the Ecclesia Collective and eventually moved into the city. Since then, we’ve done our best to become an ecumenical network of Christians attempting to work with God for the peace of this city we love.

Below you will find a variety of our previous campaigns and projects. Follow our blog to find out about what is coming in the future.

Development of Christian Communities: We have worked with Christian leaders in a variety of Christian institutions, as well as post-denominational Christians to develop Christian communities that call us to deeper commitment to Christ, community and justice. Most notable of these communities is the Hawthorn House which has been the primary contributor to the Collective and host of many of the events the Collective has sponsored.

House Concerts/Art Shows/Guest Lectures: We have hosted a several house concerts, guest lectures and the work of local artists and artisans. Among others, artist Matthew Walker has displayed artwork, The Handmade Revolution has held “trunk shows,” musicians the Cobalt Season have played their music and theologian Dr. Ulrich Duchrow has spoken at the Hawthorn House.

Glocal Teach-In’s: Exploring how the little things make a huge impact around the world, Glocal Teach-In’s were organized around popular education principles so that San Diegans might learn how to choose justice through the little decisions we make. A diverse group of experts explored subjects ranging from Migration, Food, Human Trafficking and more.

Make Something Day: Go ahead and give gifts this holiday season. As they say, giving is better than receiving. But that doesn’t mean buying something is. Make Something Day encourages folks to avoid shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Instead, stay home, put a log on the fire and try making something for someone. Visit MakeSomethingDay.org to find out more.

Stop Caste Now BBQ: Socio-spiritual activist from India, Sunil Sardar visited the Hawthorn House to share about the movement in India that hopes to see the caste system overthrown in our lifetime, freeing millions of people from mental, if not physical bondage. To find out more, visit Truth Seekers Int.

Pastors + Borders: Although the church in San Diego and Tijuana may be twenty minutes away from each other, these two churches could not be more dramatically different and alien to each other. Divided by borders, languages, and cultures, the communion of the church has been compromised. Pastors + Borders brought together a diverse ecumenical group to discuss practical solutions to these common hurdles.

Justice Kitchen: Is the way you eat connected to the food riots in other parts of the world? Is there anything wrong with USDA’s food pyramid? Do you think God cares about how you eat? Justice Kitchen workshops discussed how diet can change things, how food and spirituality intersect and much more. Click here to find out more.

Other Past Events

• Border Communion Services
• Sustainable Kingdom, Sustainable Church Forum
• Biblical Economics Workshop Series
• Circles of Abundance Workshop Series
• Homelessness Forum
• Racism Forum
• A Commonwealth Christmas

OUR NAME
The word ecclesia is from a Greek word meaning “to summon forth” or “to call out”. This is the word from which most languages derive “church” from. The word collective means “a cooperative unit or organization”.

Somewhere along the way, Christians forgot that the word church has historically meant a gathered group of people. Instead, we’ve begun to assume that “church” meant a particular place or event. This has a terrible effect on the imagination. Have you ever noticed how mixing metaphors can completely mess up a story you are trying to tell a friend? The same thing can happen with the Church. If you start using “church” as a metaphor for holy realty instead of people, the people start to forget why they showed up… or they just stop showing up altogether.

We’re convinced that “church” is best understood as people, not a place or an event. Church shouldn’t be commodified by the marketplace, politicized by the state, or separated from those most in need of their humanity. Convinced of this, we have come together as collections of people intending to dream of and organize our lives around cooperative expressions of what Jesus called, the kingdom of God.

WHY SAN DIEGO
“… San Diego is a city characterized by extremes.” – Kelly Mayhew, Under The Perfect Sun

The short answer is because this is our city. This is where we live. We learned a long time ago that good work is always rooted to a place. San Diego is the city we know best.

The long answer is this:

We live in a unique region. San Diego–a city of beauty, affluence and distraction-borders Tijuana, a city rife with crime, poverty and pollution. Few places in the world have the extremes we do in one region. Truly, we are “Siamese twins” as author Mike Davis has written; dependent upon each other, for the good and bad we each reciprocate. But these labels are not limited to each of these cities. In the shadows of San Diego, are the invisible poor and Tijuana has a beauty all to it’s own. We are a region almost completely without the change of seasons. We are the endless summer. It breeds transients and a non-committal posture in those of us that call this place “home”. The high cost of living here causes selfish lifestyles, always looking out for ourselves, rather than our community. As if there is never enough.

But amidst all of the challenges that exist in San Diego and Tijuana there are those that are choosing to live differently, that are working together for a different kind of region. In a transient culture we seek to lay deep roots within our neighborhoods. In a shallow, externally-based culture we desire to learn how to value what is inside each of us. In a fast-paced, non-stop culture we are looking for rhythms that balance our lives, giving us a livable pace. In a city committed to holding up what divides, we will stand for what unites us. In a culture that functions on scarcity we desire to function on abundance. In a region with an unsatiable appetite for sprawl and the negligence of the natural world, we desire to reconnect with the created world and work for it’s healing. In a culture where the market effects all, we seek to create spaces outside of the market where truth, humanity, beauty and creativity are celebrated without being commodified. We are a group of people that are desirous of a more equitable, sustainable and peaceful San Diego.