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~~~~~~~~~~~~


Fifty Year Old Film about Old First

125th Anniversary Film Discovered

Digging around in the church archives, we recently discovered a real of 16mm film labled KGO - "Old First Church."  It turned out to be a special documentary film produced for a local TV station in 1974 on our 125th Anniversary. We recently celebrated our 175th Anniversary and can look back 50 years to see how we have changed. It does seem amazing that the sermon of the pastor John Bodo so much reflects our current views of sharing God's love in our city and our world.  We continue to "enlarge our tent" as the film suggests at the end. Check out Old First in 1974 by clicking the button below

click here to view the film

October 11

Sabbatical Worship This Week

John Brett will lead worship

Director of our Community Meals

On Sunday, October 11, the director of Old First's Community Meals program, John Brett will lead our morning worship. John has worked with many of us serving hot meals to 100s of our housed and unhoused neighbors once each month. He works San Francisco Night Ministries. John is in the ordination process for the ELCA Lutheran Church. He is known for his activism and service across the city spreading a positive image of Christian love in LGBTQ+ and marginalized communities. He is also currently emperor of the San Francisco Royal Ducal Court doing service all over the city. John has preached and worship with us before and we look forward to hearing of his unique Christian witness.

October 18 & 25

Review of Ballot Propositions & Initiatives


led by Betty Voris

chair of SF Ballot Simplification Committee

Are you as confused by the myriad of ballot initiatives from the city and the state? We have help. Join Betty Packard Voris, member of Old First and chairperson of the San Francisco Ballot Simplification Council, for a review of the ballot propositions and initiatives. Of course, the church will not endorse any political position, but our faith should play a key role on how we vote on these initiatives which related to many justice and comassion issues. Tony Kelly, president of the Potrero Hill Democratic Club said, .“Packard’s broad experience has given her the principles she applies to her work on the Committee: ‘To be objective and considerate of both the process and the people involved,’”  Join the discussions with Betty and other church members. 

Sunday, October 18 at 2:00 pm on Zoom -  San Francisco initiatives

Sunday, October 25 at 2:00 pm on Zoom -  state ballot initiatives

Tuesday, November 3 - election day and final day to turn in your ballots

 

Click here to join the Zoom meeting for either discussion

October 10   

Finally! Mural Painting Begins

Help us turn this:

Into this:

Volunteers needed

Beginning Saturday, October 10, 10am

Bank of America Parking Lot, by the scaffolds

Wear old clothes, comfortable shoes, sunscreen

Bring a brushes, scrapers, sunscreen, and a willing spirit