About
What EKLI is for
A local discovery board for the Church. It exists so the Church can see itself, and so finding it does not depend on already knowing the right people.
The problem it solves
Most of what the Church is doing in any given city is invisible to the people who would gladly take part. A recovery group meets on Tuesdays and nobody outside the congregation knows. A food pantry runs short on volunteers while three churches down the road have people looking for somewhere to serve. Someone new in town spends a month of Sundays trying to find a congregation that fits.
None of that is a failure of willingness. It is a failure of visibility. Church calendars live on church websites, prayer requests live in private group chats, and needs surface only where someone already has a connection. EKLI puts all of it in one searchable place, tied to the map, so taking part does not require insider knowledge.
The name
EKLI comes from ekklesia, the Greek word the New Testament uses for the church. It does not mean a building. It means the gathered ones, an assembly called together. That is the whole idea behind the site: not a directory of institutions, but the gathered Church made visible to itself.
What you can do here
Prayer
Requests from real people, tied to real places. Pray, encourage, and follow along when God answers.
Churches
Search by denomination, service time and distance, and see what a congregation actually does midweek.
Gatherings
Worship nights, studies, prayer meetings, youth nights and service projects, all on one map.
Service
Food banks, recovery groups, shelter partnerships and storm response, with the actual need stated.
Ministries
The organizations doing steady work in your city, findable without knowing someone who knows them.
Businesses
Local shops and trades run by believers, listed plainly so neighbors can support neighbors.
Resources
Counseling, recovery and material assistance, gathered where someone in need can find it fast.
Study
The Beit Midrash: the library of Scripture, Biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek, and how to read well.
What we commit to
Every tradition, no house position
Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, nondenominational: all of it belongs here. Where Christians read a question differently, the study material says so and names who holds what, rather than quietly picking a side.
Local before global
A listing is only useful if you can walk into it. Everything is anchored to a place and a time, and search starts from where you are, not from what is trending.
No engagement games
There is no algorithmic feed, no streak pressure, no infinite scroll. Prayer counts exist so you know someone is carrying it with you, not to rank anybody.
Free where it counts
Discovery, prayer, listings and the entire study wing are free and always will be. The study material is built on open, public-domain texts so it can stay that way.
Where it stands today
EKLI is early and built in the open. The prayer map, church finder, gatherings, service listings and the study wing all work now. The church directory is being seeded city by city, starting with Houston, which means some listings are unclaimed placeholders waiting for the congregation to take them over and correct them.
If you find something wrong, say so. If you represent a church or ministry that is listed, you can claim it and take control of the details. The what’s new page tracks what has shipped recently.
Have a question, or want to help?
Corrections, feature requests and partnership conversations all reach a real person. There is no support queue to disappear into.