Welcome to Old First Church!

Sharing God's love, justice, and welcome on our corner, in our city, and in the world for 175 years.

Join us for Worship every Sunday at 11:00 AM

1751 Sacramento St, San Francisco | Free Parking | Kid Friendly |  Get Directions  

        Join us in worship        

Click here for online streaming worship

Click here for the worship bulletin

Our pastor is away on sabbatical for a few months of rest and renewal, and we are privileged to have a variety of excellent preachers and worship leaders with us each week during this time. To find out who's preaching each week, scroll down to the bottom of this page and check the events coming up.  Our Parish Associate pastor,Erwin Barron, will preach roughly every other week. On the intervening weeks, we will hear from church leaders in our area, former interns and members of the church to hear a variety of excellent preaching and new ideas from these folks. 

See the "What's Happening at Old First" section below for the worship leaders coming up.

 


Click here to volunteer for the food pantry

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We Choose Welcome

Old First Presbyterian Church enthuiastically invites all people into  our community!

This church was the first Protestant congregation established on the west coast of the U.S. during the gold rush.  And we are  proud now to continue sharing Christ's love, justice, and welcome to modern seekers who arrive in San Francisco now 175 years later. We have taken a leadership role both locally and nationally welcoming LGBTQIA+ Christians into full participation in the life and leadership of the Presbyterian Church. We strive to bring hope, joy and justice reaching out to people of all ethnicities, incomes, races, and life situations, and like Jesus, we always try to offer a smile and welcome the outcasts.

We hope you will come visit and consider becoming part of our community. We want to know you and share your own particular gifts, experience, and insights with us on our corner, in our city, and in our world.

Old First Presbyterian Church is an Open and Affirming Church

Donate to Old First here 

Volunteer for Old First here

Worship & Music

We worship every Sunday at 11:00 am both in person in our beautiful sanctuary and on line via YouTube livestream. We celebrate communion on the third Sunday of the month. Worship is our joyful praise and thanks to God - our celebration of God's Love.

We have a wonderful choir singing a mixture of classical and modern music and singers are always welcome.  Our organ is one of the most renowned in the city.  We founded and support an amazing variety of new artists each week in our Old First Concerts programs.  

Service

Bringing God's love,  welcome,  justice, in our neighborhood, city and world and working to make the world a better place for all are important to us. We are a founding member of the weekly interfaith food pantry every Saturday and host a free community meal on the 4th Saturday of each month. We work with many local, national, and international groups to promote racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, and other human rights, to end gun violence, and to help immigrants.

We feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, and work for justice. We always need volunteers to help with all of these projects.

Learn More

Education

We believe that learning and growth are important for all ages. We offer regular book studies, Bible studies, theological discussions, and topical classes for adults on issues important in our culture.  Small groups meet on Zoom and in members' homes for study and support. We make time and space for children in worship and offer regular, broadly graded children's church school every 1st and 3nd Sundy. We also have excellent childrens' and adults' libraries.

We love to read and support the Little Free Library on Sacramento Street.  Bring you books to share with the community. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~What's Happening at Old First~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sept 13

Sabbatical Worship This Week

Keenan Kelsey leads worship

Keenan followed her daughter into Old First in the mid 90’s, and says “she was immediately put on a committee!” She stayed long enough for us to shepherd her through to ordination. She served Noe Valley Ministry for almost 14 years, was Moderator of Presbytery, and GA representative several times. Now retired, Keenan in Larkspur with her husband Mark and kids and grandkids close by.

She will be preaching a first person, narrative sermon called "I, Miriam" and leading communion.  Join us for a special worship on Sunday.

 

September 20

Sabbatical Worship Next Week

Laurie Garrett-Cobbina Will Lead Worship

Dean of San Francisco Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. Garrett-Cobbina will preach for us on Sunday, Sept. 20. She has been part of SFTS since 2006, holding various roles such as the Shaw Family Chair for Clinical Pastoral Education, Director of the Clinical Pastoral Education Program, and Shaw Chaplaincy Institute for Spiritual Care and Compassionate Leadership.

Prior to joining SFTS, Rev. Dr. Garrett-Cobbina served as director of spiritual care, a hospital-based healthcare chaplain, and clinical educator in Indianapolis, IN, Charlotte, NC, and San Francisco, CA. She has served as senior pastor at churches in North Carolina and San Francisco. She holds a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and a master's in theology and a Master of  Divinity from Princeton.

September 20

OLD FIRST CHURCH - past and future

BBQ and Movies

Bob Pekelnicky and family are smoking pork and will provide a fabulous smoked BBQ lunch.
Bring salads and dessert to share.
Afterwards, we will have the first viewing of our newly-discovered documentary on Old First from the 1970s

Join us on Sunday, September 20 after worship for a BBQ luncheon and film viewing. A few months ago, we discovered a mysterious old, 16mm film reel labeled "KGO/Old First Church." After much effort, we have had the film digitized and will show it for the first time. The film is undated, and we have seen only snippets, but the film has rare and interesting footage from the 1970s of our worship, senior center, fellowship, choirs, and other aspects of church life.  Come try to find people you know or knew.  After the film viewing about our past church life, we will get a report on the progress of our church's capital campaign to restore the church for the future life of our ministry in San Francisco.

Click here if you would like to attend, but you're welcome if you sign up or not.

Click to sign up for the pot luck