East Oakland church part of national trend in making cities more affordable

“Jesus said love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself,” says Bishop George Matthews. “The way I show my love is to help them. I fulfill my mission by being a servant.”

Bishop Matthews, head of East Oakland, California’s Genesis Worship Center, has long appreciated the idea of home as instrumental to his spiritual mission. He mortgaged his own home twice to afford his congregation’s current home on Ritchie Street, a complex that included a parking lot, sanctuary and classroom, all to support his congregant’s various ministries and community efforts. But beginning this summer, home will take on a different meaning at Genesis when the first residents of a new 12-unit apartment complex recently constructed on site move in.