Want to hear the crazy part? CitySaver is not our invention or dream or brainstorm. It was a vision from God – and it wasn’t just to us. Our founder, Doug Perry, has met a half dozen other people over 20+ years that were told to build the exact same thing – but couldn’t. Now is the time and Liberty, Missouri is the place.
It’s a gift to the World
On November 23, 2004, God let Doug see the Church through His eyes. And it hurt a LOT and Doug has never been the same since. He was already writing from a business man’s perspective about the waste and fraud and stupid decisions of Churchianity – but sees it from God’s point of view was far worse. Soon after, Doug wrote “The Open Letter of Apology to the World” that has been all over in a bunch of languages. (HERE) At the end of that letter he committed to do whatever it would take to turn this ride around. To try to undo the damage that has been done and show people that, even if they were hurt by The Church, they shouldn’t be mad at Jesus. We mostly built this all on our own.
What is the goal?
The Bible says that we’re all sheep. Sheep can’t be alone. You can’t raise one sheep by itself. Keeping one alone causes severe stress, depression and can even be fatal. The Bible knows us pretty well. Everything is breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces – including the Church. We have over 50,000 denominations in Christianity now! People long for Mayberry, for Aunt Bea to bring a pie to the new neighbors, for Floyd’s barber shop and a friendly police chief named Andy Griffith. Never mind that Jesus prayed that the Christians would One and we’re about as far from that as you can get. What we’re building here is a hug machine. If it does nothing else, it will be a win if we can get neighbors hugging one another.
Why CitySaver is not just another social network
For one thing, CitySaver is really two different things. It’s CitySAVER on one hand with local news, sports, weather, discussion boards, chat, personal pages, messaging, coupons, business listings, real estate, jobs, classifieds, free stuff and more. All focused at the local community. And woven throughout, a mechanism to communicate needs and facilitate finding help. But it’s also CitySAVIOR where the Body of Christ can come together digitally, daily and from house to house, sharing, resourcing, teaching, growing, praying, scheduling and more. And woven throughout is an opportunity to manifest our unity and love to the world. It’s a church reboot.
The other thing about it is that it’s a nonprofit. It’s a gift from The Church of Liberty, Missouri to the world. There will never be stock options or an initial public offering. The founder gets zero salary and always will. It’s designed so that the revenue that it generates goes back into making it a blessing to each community. We even have plans for building mesh wi-fi networks over each city to provide communication inside the city, even if everything else collapses. CitySaver really could save your city in the event of a major disaster!
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. This is where you live, this is where you should live digitally, too.
Needs and outcomes
At the center of CitySaver is the simplest transaction there is: someone needs help, and someone helps. Needs are posted plainly, responses are coordinated, and outcomes are recorded. Over time a city builds a visible history of neighbors showing up for each other — proof that the community works. It’s like a dating ap for good neighbors.
Local businesses and resources
Local businesses are neighbors too. CitySaver gives them a presence — a directory, offers, coupons, post jobs, real estate, and ways to support city life — without turning the city space into just another ad platform. Practical resources (assistance programs, schools, services) live alongside them, so finding help and finding local commerce are part of the same fabric. CitySaver can do things that Amazon never dreamed of – like a “Made in ThisTown” featured area where local products can be ordered – and hand delivered – to local residents. If you’re concerned about the environment and transportation costs, why not buy the very MOST local products and support people nearest to you?
City lore and shared memory
Cities forget. Stories of what a neighborhood survived, celebrated, or built get lost when the people who lived them move on. CitySaver keeps city lore — the stories, milestones, and shared memory that make a place feel like home — as a first-class part of the civic layer. It’s a collection of memories, but also time, skill, giftings, and more.
CitySavior and faith-based cooperation
Congregations 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 individuals or groups can serve the whole city together instead of working in fragments. We believe that Jesus is the Answer and that the only Biblical model for “church” is the City Church – one body per city, local elders, caring for each’s needs, shocking the world with their love – Church of Ephesus, Church of Jerusalem, Church of Smyrna, Church of Philadelphia. It doesn’t really matter where you are on Sunday morning or Saturday night – if Jesus let the both of us through the Narrow Gate, then we’re just ONE and that’s all there is to it. If we’re going to spend eternity together, then maybe we could start hanging out now.
In John 17, in the Garden of Gethsemane just before He goes to the Cross, Jesus is praying for us. He prays that we would be ONE, because then the world would know that God sent Him. Did you get that? The greatest evangelism method of all, that will prove Jesus is who He said He is – is if the Christians can play nice together. And we’re about as far from that as you can get. So we’re building CitySaver to see if we can find the people that want to pray THAT prayer in agreement with Jesus and start manifesting our oneness. Not in our agreement on every little issue, but on the easy stuff like, “I was hungry and you fed me, I was naked and you clothed me.” Maybe we could start there and see if it catches on.
We can’t pray the Lord’s Prayer – “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” – and leave it like this. Either we need to start getting along or we need to stop praying that prayer.
What we’re NOT doing
We’re not trying to force anybody to believe anything. CitySavior isn’t a place to fight about secondary doctrines – we’re sick of it and we don’t see the point. There are plenty of place that you can go to prove that the people from your school of opinion are smarter than the people from that other school of opinion. And we’re not here to mix and match CitySaver and CitySavior. If you’re an atheist or a Muslim or a Buddhist or whatever, CitySaver is an effort to connect you with the community, build your business, promote your cause, and be a blessing to you. If you don’t want to hear about Jesus, then just don’t click over to CitySavior. No biggie. We feel like “churchianity” has hurt so many people for so long, that we ought to pay society back. After all, the Christians were supposed to lead the world in love and unity and caring for needs and to shine the Light of the World in all the dark spaces – and we mostly didn’t.
What success looks like
Who knows? Maybe it will be in hundreds of thousands of cities all over the world. Maybe it will just be a few locally in Kansas City. But if we can get people talking and sharing and loving one another, if we can get a hug to one of those lonely sheep that was talking about suicide, then maybe it’s worth whatever.
Or maybe it will change the world and restore the Bride of Christ. We’re not trying to build a church. We’re just trying to BE the church by DOING what we should have been doing all along – loving our neighbors more than ourselves. Maybe it would make Jesus smile and He wouldn’t have to pray that prayer all by Himself.
No Steeple, Just People.