This is Where We've Been
Discover the story of how God has shaped our church and led us to where we are today.
How We Started
This is the short version of how a church that meets in homes came to exist, told in the order it happened.
In April of 2010, Francis and his family found themselves at a significant crossroads. After sixteen years pastoring the church they had planted, they felt a divine calling to step away and seek God's direction for their next chapter.
They sold their home and set out without a clear destination. What followed took them to Hong Kong, back to San Francisco, and eventually into a living room in Daly City, where about twenty people gathered in January of 2013.
The Timeline
In April of 2010, Francis and his family found themselves at a significant crossroads. After planting Cornerstone Church in 1994, a church they had faithfully nurtured for 16 years, they felt a divine calling to step away and seek God’s direction for their next chapter.
Their journey began with a bold step of faith. They sold their home and set off to explore what God might have in store for them. Their travels took them across the globe, from India and Thailand to China and Hong Kong.
It was in Hong Kong, during one pivotal moment, that Francis experienced a supernatural encounter, hearing what he describes as a near-audible message from God. This moment became a turning point in his life, confirming that God had something new and profound for him to do.
Shortly after this experience, Francis and his wife Lisa, along with their four children, moved into a modest two-bedroom unit in the World Impact building in San Francisco in 2010. There, they began to explore how God might be leading them in this new season of their lives.
By 2011, the family became deeply involved in local outreach efforts in San Francisco, particularly through a vision called Adopt A Building. This initiative aimed to plant churches in each of the Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings of the Tenderloin, a neighborhood known for its poverty and need.
On January 20, 2013, Francis officially launches We Are Church in his living room in Daly City. The community is small, just around 20 members, but the heart behind the church is clear. We Are Church is not about tradition or a certain model, but about following the model laid out in scripture.
We Are Church begins to meet for All Togethers, monthly gatherings where every house church across San Francisco comes together for worship, fellowship, and teaching. These gatherings are held on the last Sunday of the month at Youngblood Park in Bayview.
We Are Church's first multiplication. New churches form in Sagamore and South San Francisco. The pattern that will define the network for the next decade (small groups multiplying into more small groups) takes its first real step.
In March 2015 they launched Huli Huli Hawaiian BBQ, a missional restaurant in the Bay Area. They employed men from the discipleship house, giving them a chance to learn work skills, find stability, and rebuild their lives. All profits went to support women rescued from the red-light district in Ethiopia.
We Are Church's second multiplication. New churches form in Palou Street, Sagamore, Bayview, and Daly City. The footprint across San Francisco continues to widen.
Church Intensive is born. A three-day training program designed to help church planters across the world establish simple, reproducible, and biblical churches. The program equips leaders to plant churches that are not only sustainable but deeply rooted in scripture and the mission of Jesus.
Francis plants churches in Hong Kong during his time there, ten years after the trip that sent the family out in the first place. He later returns and starts We Are Church Fremont.
What began in one living room in Daly City is now 10 congregations across 2 countries, each a distinct expression of the same conviction: simple, Gospel-centred communities that love and serve the people around them. The Fellowship, the far larger network trained through the Intensive, reaches further still.
Where It Went
Every place with a We Are Church congregation today. The Fellowship, the far larger network of churches trained through the Intensive, reaches further still.