CityTeam Ministries
CityTeam Ministries is a non-profit organization
serving the poor and homeless in San Jose, San Francisco,
Oakland, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia and partnerships
in over 7 other countries around the world. Since
1957, CityTeam has provided life-saving food, shelter,
clothing, recovery programs, youth outreach, camp
for at-risk inner city kids, discipleship and other
essential care 365 days a year.
By partnering with CityTeam , you're not just helping
a homeless person off the street and moving them toward
rehabilitation - you're helping transform a life,
heal a family, bring reconciliation and break the
cycle of destructive behavior or poverty - from generation
to generation. It is about reaching out to one person
at a time to help meet their immediate needs and introduce
them to the hope that only God can provide - so they
can truly make real changes in their life. Real
Life - Real Hope - Real Change.
Each person we help can be the key to ending the
cycle of poverty, homelessness and despair for a whole
family.
You can partner with CityTeam in many ways: volunteer,
mentor, prayer partner, food or clothing donation,
or a financial donation. Individuals around the world
support CityTeam - we accept no government funds and
are accountable to the ECFA (Evangelical Council for
Financial Accountability).
Please check out the different cities that we serve
and the programs that we have. You can help change
a life today by getting involved.
History
CityTeam Ministries was started
in 1957 by Lester and Pauline Myers as a feeding program
for homeless men in downtown San Jose. Four years
later, the ministry - then known as the San Jose
Rescue Mission - moved to a larger facility where
it began providing shelter as well as meals to street
people.
Around that same time, May and Mac McLean were operating
a boys ranch in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains and
a summer camp in Lake Tahoe for boys from broken homes.
In 1969, the McLeans asked the San Jose Rescue Mission
to consider merging the two ministries, and soon the
organization was reaching out to both the homeless
and troubled youths.
San Jose Rescue Mission changed its name to CityTeam
in 1983, a name which more accurately represented
its expanding urban focus. Five years later, CityTeam
started a similar program in Chester, Pennsylvania,
just outside of Philadelphia.
In 1999, we added to our ministry family, West Coast
Peniel Missions. Now, we are also in Seattle, Portland,
San Francisco and Oakland.
Future Goals
For more than 42 years, CityTeam Ministries has been
addressing the problems of homelessness, [...] addiction,
poverty and at-risk youths. These problems are common
to almost any city in the world. That's why CityTeam
is expanding into other cities and recently began
forming partnerships with other ministries overseas.
But before we move into a city, we must:
- Have a sense of God's leading
- Gather support from the local church
- Have documented proof that there is an unmet need;
and - Ascertain a commitment from local people to meet
that need
Our desire is to build up a team of committed leaders
inside and outside the local church, training them
and challenging them to respond to these needs in
their own community. We want to serve in whatever
way we can, acting as a catalyst, to help pool all
available resources to meet the immediate and ongoing
needs of the poor living there.