Why Berkeley, the East Bay, and the Bay Area?
Intersections bustle with energy. They are the veritable crossroads where “life happens.“ Cities are full of intersections, but only a few of those intersections serve as signposts — meeting spots, destination points, coordinates familiar to all. Likewise, the world is full of cities, towns, and villages, but only a few of them serve to both create and enlighten the global culture. Berkeley is one such city. Like an intersection that orders and shapes its outlying landscape, Berkeley is artistically fashioning the world around it.
The people in Berkeley, in the Bay Area, are brilliantly creative, they are civically minded, and they are on the cutting edge of culture. Entities of the East Bay reflect this. The University of California develops the leaders of tomorrow. Perennially one of the world’s best academic institutions, nearly every graduate school at Berkeley finds itself in the nation’s top ten. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory houses nine Nobel laureates and is shaping tomorrow’s energy systems and environmental solutions. PIXAR (located in Emeryville) has become animation’s clarion call. Much of the world’s video game development (an industry now larger than the movie industry) happens right here in Berkeley.
Berkeley is as diverse as it is creative and innovative. Its urban milieu keeps Berkeley socially, economically, and ethnically varied. By way of example, Berkeley High School remains one of the most integrated public high schools in the country. Unlike many homogenous suburban areas, life in Berkeley remains a potpourri of experiences, relationships, and conversations. Additionally, the weather, political climate, and university setting converge to spark the presence of a large homeless population. Telegraph Avenue remains a hotbed for a new generation of beatnik poets and other talented artists. The Hippies of the 1960s continue to keep Berkeley progressive and intriguing, while young professionals make Berkeley economically vibrant and productive. Students will always dot the Berkeley landscape, sprinkling it with youthful zeal and curiosity. And each of these people groups has much to give and much to take from the common good as they learn to work, serve, and live together.
To live in Berkeley is to love Berkeley! To serve our community is to make Berkeley even better. At Christ Church of Berkeley, we believe that this is done by joining with other churches in our area to re-aquaint Berkeley, the East Bay, and the Bay Area to the mercy and peace of Christ.