Tijuana Christian Mission started in 1965 as a church plant in Tijuana, Mexico. At the request of a church in the San Diego area, Sergio and Martha Gomez moved from further south in Mexico to serve as pastors of a church plant. It soon became apparent that there was a need for a children's home in the neighborhood in which they were living.

Before the opening of the children's home, the Gomez family would often have ten or more extra children staying in their home. In many instances these were children of prostitues or of families who worked as scavengers in the city dump. Regardless of the childrens' backgrounds, without the help that Martha and Sergio offered them the children would have been locked in their homes for hours at a time while their mothers went out searching for a way to feed their families.

After opening their own home and hearts for several years, Martha and Sergio were able to open City of Refuge Children's Home in 1972. Since that time City of Refuge has truly been a refuge for the children of Tijuana.