Jesus in Austin, TX
Follow Jesus in Austin. No building required.
Want to follow Jesus in Austin with a few people near you? Start at a table on your side of I-35, read Matthew, eat together and keep meeting. Further down: weekday lunch at Caritas, a village built for people leaving the street, a 24-hour AA number and the East Austin church named "stone of help." Sources are linked inline, and the guide is free and independent.
- 💸 No money collected
- 🏠 Gather anywhere
- 📖 Free Bible studies
- 💧 Baptism, no waiting list
- ☀️ Follow Jesus daily
- 🤝 Love Austin
Updated 28 September 2026. Confirm hours before you go. Found something wrong? Write to us.
Austin traffic decides who shows up. A group that meets at 6 p.m. in South Austin will quietly lose the person coming from North Lamar, and nobody will say why. Ask where people are coming from before you choose the room. Then set a firm ending time, because somebody always has an early shift.
Lunch, housing and recovery in Austin
Caritas of Austin runs its Community Kitchen from its downtown building at 611 Neches Street, along with restrooms, water and walk-in help for asylees and parolees. Volunteers serve lunch Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. First-timers come at 8:45 for orientation. You must be 13 or older, and anyone under 18 needs an adult along. A second site, Caritas North at 9027 Northgate Boulevard, opened in 2015 and works by appointment.
In 1998 Alan Graham and four friends started handing out meals from the back of a green minivan. They got a lot wrong at first, Graham says, and a formerly homeless man named Houston Flake helped them fix it. Their group, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, now runs Community First! Village at 9116 Hog Eye Road in northeast Austin. More than 440 people who came out of chronic homelessness live there, and the plan is for about 1,900. The village offers tours and volunteer sign-ups, and it has a chapel on the grounds.
For drinking, Hill Country Intergroup answers 512-444-0071 around the clock. Its office is at 1825 Fort View Road, and the site has a meeting map.
Free library rooms and their limits
Austin Public Library meeting rooms cost nothing. The small shared-learning rooms are open to anyone, while the large rooms are for noncommercial meetings that are free and open to the public. The Austin Bible study page spells out the details: the Ruiz branch's small rooms hold up to ten for two hours, food stays outside, and a group can book a large room at one branch only three times in 90 days. For a weekly meal and study, use a home.
Rides, names and returning
In Austin a ride and some patient company can matter more than a program. Offer to drive someone to an appointment and wait. Learn the name of the man who sleeps near your bus stop. When the need is bigger than you, Caritas of Austin and Mobile Loaves & Fishes train volunteers. Go back to the same people, week after week.
Find or start a Bible study
Free, in living rooms and coffee shops. No church membership required.
How to become a Christian
What Peter actually said in Acts 2. Believe, repent, be baptized.
Serve your city
Real local places that need hands this week. With or without a church.
Honest questions about Jesus
Who is Jesus? What is the church? Why does church always want money?
How to use this guide
Jesus Saves Cities does not operate a church location in Austin. This page gives followers of Jesus and curious readers practical places to begin. A few people can read Matthew, share food, pray, and help somebody nearby. Local gatherings belong to the people who form them. A living room works, and so can an approved table at Little Walnut Creek Branch.
A "stone of help" on East Tenth Street
In February 1875 the Rev. C. Ward gathered eighteen people in the home of Elisa Hawkins at 1104 East Tenth Street. Most of the charter members were women. One of them, Henrietta Willis, named the church Ebenezer, "stone of help," after the stone Samuel set up to say the Lord had helped Israel (1 Samuel 7:12). The congregation built a brick sanctuary at East Tenth and San Marcos in 1885. Its present limestone building went up between 1950 and 1955, and the bell tower still holds the bell from 1885. Today it is Ebenezer Third Baptist Church, in the heart of East Austin.
Community First! Village has a newer faith story. Mobile Loaves & Fishes says it began by answering God's call to love your neighbor. The village groups 40 to 50 small homes around shared outdoor kitchens and laundry rooms, so neighbors cross paths every day.
Neither Ebenezer nor Mobile Loaves & Fishes is connected to this guide. Go and learn from them, and read the Scriptures for yourself the way the Bereans did (Acts 17:11).
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42). That's the whole model, and it moved into the streets every day. Learn Jesus' words, then live them in Austin: forgive, welcome, feed, serve, baptize, and help somebody else follow Him. The study is preparation. Love is the work.
Questions people in Austin ask
Where can someone get lunch in Austin on a weekday?
Caritas of Austin serves lunch at its Community Kitchen, 611 Neches Street downtown, on weekdays. Check its locations page or call before you go.
Can I visit Community First! Village?
Yes. Mobile Loaves & Fishes offers tours and volunteer sign-ups. It is a neighborhood where people live, so go on a scheduled visit and treat it like someone's home.
Who answers the phone about drinking in Austin?
Hill Country Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous answers 512-444-0071 day and night. Its site, austinaa.org, has a meeting finder and map.
Can we use a library room for a weekly Bible study?
For a small group, the free shared-learning rooms can work for two hours with no food. The large rooms can be booked only three times in 90 days at one branch, and the meeting must be open to the public. A home is easier for a weekly meal.
Does this guide cover Round Rock or Pflugerville?
It is written for Austin, but people from nearby towns are welcome. Tell us where you live, and we will look for people close to you instead of sending you across the metro.
Connect with people in Austin
Whether you're curious about Jesus or you've followed Him for years, tell us where you're at and what you're interested in. A real person reads every one of these and helps you take a next step: learning, serving, or finding others near you. No spam, and nobody will ever ask you for money.