CitySaver is on a mission from God to make life better for whole cities – and to bring Christians together in a Biblical way. The whole thing is a gift from The Church of Liberty, Missouri to the world to make up for what “churchianity” has hurt people – and to try to do something different.
The Problem With The Internet
The internet got very good at connecting us to everywhere – except the place where we live. Local life is scattered across feeds, groups, marketplaces, and comment threads — each optimized for attention, none accountable to the people. Real local needs get pawned off on government agencies or help ministries instead of motivating and galvanizing individual people to do something.
Why Cities Need Shared Spaces
A city is more than a map with businesses on it. It’s a living community with needs, stories, institutions, and memory. That community deserves a shared space that belongs to the city — where a posted need is a real request from a real neighbor, where events and resources sit next to the people they serve, and where helping is easy.
That also allows for things like dedicated spaces to promote products made, grown, written, invented right there in town. Neighbors purchasing products from neighbors. There are a lot of areas in community life where an intra-city communication tool could really make a huge difference.
Why CitySaver is NOT Just Another Social Network
Social networks reward posting. They have become “idle word factories.” We don’t really need to see a picture of your lunch. CitySaver doesn’t monetize comments – so people aren’t encouraged to just make noise. If you have something to say, say it, but we’re not going to pay you to drown us in noise. There are no follower counts to grow and no engagement loops to feed. There are no mega-stars – no Mr. Beast or PewdiePie or “global influencers” – there are NEIGHBORS. Some will be head and shoulders above the others – will prove by their works and their words that they are a blessing to the community and should be heard. In every group there are “elders” – but to be an “elder” you just have to be a four year old in a room full of three year olds. 🙂
One City, Many Roles
Residents, helpers, businesses, churches, nonprofits, city storytellers — everyone participates in the same shared space, each in their own way. CitySaver helps residents find meaningful ways to participate without fragmenting the community into separate audiences. The constant emphasis is on the “Common Ground.” From the theme song to the structure and content, we’re trying to focus on the REALITY that THESE are the people you’re going to want to know and play nice with when things hit the fan.
It Could SAVE Your City!
It’s called CitySAVER because communities are suffering more and more division and faction and breakdown – and we thing working together could save them. Not just that, but part of our vision includes generating enough revenue to create a WiFi mesh network over the city that could shunt to local server with that city’s “Grape” on CitySaver in the event of an emergency. Imagine if there were some emergency where landlines and cell towers, and maybe even power was out in the whole city, but you could access CitySaver from any WiFi device, even without a SIM card. The mayor can make emergency announcements or handle critical communications. All as our gift to a city.
Needs and Outcomes
At the center of CitySaver is the simplest transaction there is: someone needs help, so someone helps. Needs are posted plainly, responses are coordinated, and outcomes are celebrated. Over time a city builds a visible history of neighbors showing up for each other — proof that the community works. Celebrations of communal victories. Enhanced communication to support local causes and industry. Opportunities to coordinate events, projects, and more.
Local Businesses and Resources
Local businesses are neighbors, too. They are the engine that drives the prosperity of the city. Some are large businesses, some are side hustles so folks can just pay their monthly bills. All are necessary and valuable. CitySaver gives them a presence — a directory, coupons and offers, a personalized shopping cart and ways to support city life — without turning the communal digital space into nothing but an ad platform. Practical resources (assistance programs, schools, services, parks, government) live alongside them, so finding help and finding local products are part of the same fabric. If a person is concerned about a carbon footprint, there’s nothing better than buying products from the folks right in your own town – maybe next door.
CitySavior and Faith-Based Cooperation
Churches and believers have always been part of how cities care for their own. CitySavior is the faith-focused side of the ecosystem: prayer, teaching, service, and cooperation — organized so that Christians can serve the whole city together instead of working in fragments. It’s connected to CitySaver, and distinct from it, on purpose. If you don’t like Jesus, just stay on the CitySAVER side. We’re not trying to talk you into anything or force you to sing “Amazing Grace.” We’re sorry for all the cathedrals and pipe organs and stained glass when we could have spent that money on neighbors in need. All of this is a manifestation of a promise Doug Perry made to the world in 2004 in his “Open Letter of Apology To The World.” You can read it on Doug’s personal ministry page HERE.
CitySAVIOR is the other side of our “coin” where we can do something about the fragmentation and division amongst the Christians. In the Bible (Acts 2-6) the Christians all came together, shared with each as they had a need, loved one another, cared for the community – and were scolded when they broke up into teams (1 Corinthians 1, 3). We believe Jesus is coming soon – and He wants to come back for one beautiful, unified Bride. It would be good if we started making an effort by at least doing the things we can agree on, like feeding and clothing and housing and caring for the “least of these.” Plus we want to show people that Jesus preached to whole cities (“Woe to you Chorazin and Bethsaida…” Luke 10:13-14) and God judged whole cities (Sodom, Gomorrah, Jerusalem, etc.). When Jesus writes to the seven church through the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation (Chapters 2-3), it’s always to the entirety of “The Church (the Believers) in Ephesus” or “The Church of Smyrna.” It’s never to a pope or a dozen factions in that place, but to all the Body. We think that the proper Biblical model is the city church – and the only way to return to “daily and from house to house” in a multi-lingual, multi-cultural society … is digitally.
What success looks like
- A resident with a real need gets real help within days, from someone nearby.
- A helper finds meaningful ways to serve without joining five different platforms.
- A local business is known for what it gives to the city, not just what it sells.
- A cottage industry that was a side hustle turns into a real, successful company.
- A local nonprofit can put a call out to help fill their food pantry.
- Christians can cooperate across the city, instead of duplicating effort.
- The city can look back at a year of recorded positive outcomes and say: we did that.