FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF SAN FRANCISCO

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Visit this page often to read out the results of progress on developing our new home -- or come meet us and consider joining our path.  We look forward to sharing our journey with Christ in this exciting transition time.
 
 

BUILDING 5 DESIGN

The details of our Building 5 development are provided on these pages: Part 1:  Moving the Congregation Part 2:  Defining our New Home Part 3:  Details of Our Proposed Building

Why "Building 5"?  This is the fifth building that First Congregational Church has built.  The name reflects the next building and the next generation of our historic presence in San Francisco.  Although exciting, it also recognizes that the building is just one project associated with the new beginnings of our congregational life.

Who is our architect?  The congregation has chosen Ron Case, prinicpal of Case-Abst Architects as our architects to work with us.  The project involves a unique amount of discussion and feedback from the congregation in design motifs, layout, and tradeoffs as the design progresses.  It's a special blend of theological discussion, design education (including understanding of building and planning codes), and Christian decision-making in a Congregational context.

Where is Building 5?  The congregation has purchased property at the corner of Polk and Bush Streets.

Why at the Polk and Bush corner?  The congregation embarked on a two-year-long search for appropriate property, given size, cost and locational issues.  After much exploring, the congregational chose to purchase property at this corner.

This corner offers many exciting opportunities for us:

1.  Building 5 enables the church to operate on a "main street" of the Nob Hill/Pacific Heights area.   We are part of the community -- high foot traffic, active in neighborhood events, complementary with neighborhood attractions such as coffeehouses/ restarants and local merchants.

2.  Building 5 is reasonably close to other areas of the central core of San Francisco.  The building is accessible by auto drivers (on a major thoroughfare and a public parking garage across the street), transit riders (major Muni lines, California Street cable car, Golden Gate Transit) as well as Polk Street pedestrians and bicyclists.

3.  Building 5 is a functionally well-designed facility for our unique church operations and needs.  The entry features direct front office access, so that all individuals can be greeted.  The fellowship area is on the street level, allowing for direct linking to the community for a daytime chapel, church functions and related community activities.  The worship area (soon to open) will be on the next level, allowing for a place of light and air (including a patio) enhancing our celebration of God. 

What is the opening date for Building 5?  Our building is NOW OPEN!
 

First Congregational Church of San Francisco, United Church of Christ, an Open and Affirming Church, is a fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ working together for the purpose of sharing in the worship of God, seeking God's will for our lives, and responding to the needs of God's people.  Our heritage is founded upon strong independent Christians striving to live a Christ-centered life sensitive to issues of peace, justice, inclusiveness and acceptance.  In fulfilling our mission we are committed to:

• Come together in worship and celebration of the love and message of Christ.
• Carry the Good News to others
• Recognize the gifts of God through our ministries of friendship and hospitality
• Welcome and affirm persons from diverse social, ethnic and religious heritages
• Respond to needs in the community and among our congregation
• Model and encourage good stewardship of the gifts God has given us.
• Honor the right of each person to follow the word of God according to the dictates of his or her own conscience under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
• Foster open inquiry and discussion of issues of faith, the Bible and Christian living
• Cherish life by attending to the health and welfare of each person, young and old, within our community
• Provide a life-enhancing environment that allows for freedom from harm and support for life enhancement

We are a Church strongly influenced by the words and actions of the historical Jesus.  Yet we are not a creedal Church in that we have no specific creed or set of doctrines that we insist be accepted by members.  Rather, we are a covenantal church in which we join together in a promise to accept and assist each other in our individual paths toward growth and understanding.  While on our journey, we seek to be an inclusive community where religious beliefs and doubts can be expressed openly and honestly, and where differences of faith are respected.

We are connected with the United Church of Christ (UCC).  The UCC is a non-hierarchical, progressive denomination committed to the unity of the church.  Its motto is "that they may all be one", words attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John.  With a rich history linking faith to social justice, the UCC continues to challenge its members to explore cutting edge theology and service to the world.  There are more than 6,000 UCC congregations (with 1.4 million members) through the United States and Territories.

We are just getting started and invite you to help us find our way!

• Reflecting a rich diversity of understandings of faith
• Walking together as seekers united more by the search for God and genuine living than by any common expression of doctrine
• Presuming that God is too big to fit into any one religion and that there are many rich and varied paths toward truth
• Willing to be part of both this local community of faith as well as a broad ecumenical and interfaith religious networks
• Felling excited about both telling the story of our own faith through the arts and activism as well as learning from the faith stories of others

• Striving for a world where everyone is seen and valued as a child of God
• Challenging all forms of oppression and pursuing the human rights of all people everywhere
• Cherishing diversity and the richness of a rainbow world of differing races, genders, nationalities, backgrounds and sexual orientations
• Seeking global peace and reconciliation, knowing that there is no peace without justice
• Affirming that the resources of life are meant to be shared and that there is no excuse for the existence of hunger and poverty
• Believing that in God's world, there are not aliens or people outside the boundaries of community
• Treasuring the earth and protecting the integrity of creation
• Being bold, daring and creative in the pursuit of justice and equality

• Asserting that each person can help make the world better in the present and for future generations
• Countering any supposed "realism" that says that poverty and injustice are inevitable and must always be with us
• Attesting to the goodness of creation, the worth of humanity and the possibility of a new and better day

VISIONING OUR MISSION

The congregation held a workshop in the January of 1999 to discuss what our mid-range visions of the church and its mission would be.  While we may not meet every one, we would like to meet as many as possible!  A summary of the findings include:

Part 1:  Empowering internal faith journeys of our members and friends with worship, fellowship and local outreach.

Our vision of worship:  We will provide meaningful worship, with a variety of forms and times, with at least 3 services each week.  We will offer a premier music venue and an outlet for arts as part of our worship.  We will publish our own hymn book.  We will offer new ministers a place to train.  We will include taize dancing, meditation, healing services and house meetings as part of our worship program.

Our vision of community activism and mission:  We will be a bastion for liberal positive Christianity.  We will continue our multi-generational, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic diversity.  We will provide spiritual support for people living with life-threatening illnesses, including healing services and counseling.  We will sponsor service projects, including a visiting program for home-bound people and those in nursing homes.  We will encourage support groups.

Our vision of fellowship:  We will have a daily fellowship activity open to any member.  We will sponsor health-oriented fellowship, including a walking group.  We will support groups to explore city life, including dining events and an arts-oriented group.  We will conduct annual church and council retreats.  We will have a focused set of fellowship activities for children.

Our vision of education:  We will actively support education and small groups focused on interesting topics and spiritual needs.  We will have education of religion and society throughout the week.  We will encourage thought through a lecture series, coffee hour talk backs, laity training and workshops, and support of a library and archives.

Our vision of our building:  Our building will be flexible enough to enable all of these multiple activities, and allow for more than one at the same time.

Part 2:  Enhancing our San Francisco quality of life for all through sponsorships, partnerships and seeds for greater good.

We will support facilitating adequate housing for all, including providing affordable housing resources and information, and service to the homeless.

We will support education.  We providing resources for seminaries such as a minister training ground.  We will support programs for those who need literacy training.  We will expand our library resources for use by members and the wider community.  We will support counseling to those in need.  We will support lecture series and other forums for community education.

We will support music.  This includes providing a performance venue for community groups, and using music as a healing art.

We will support daily care activities, including care for both child care as well as seniors who require care.  We also will continue to support nutrition programs at our building.

We will support social justice issues.  We will offer an open forum for public decisions.  We will support our leaders who seek to address social justice issues.

We will support a mission to those in need.  We will "adopt" facilities which provide care, such as assisted living facilities, hospitals and other congregate living quarters.  We will provide a chaplaincy for sick people including those in San Francisco for medical treatments, tourists and recent San Francisco immigrants.

Part 3:  Providing contributions to the world as a community, such as resources and world missions.

We will provide a resource center for world concerns, and accept a leadership role when appropriate.  This includes providing resources to global concerns such as world hunger, balanced economic development, support and prayer for cancer patients, and information about key world events.  We will seek to have a prophetic presence on contemporary issues, establishing ourselves world-wide as a strong, socially-concerned liberal church.

We will explore improving human rights for everyone, especially those who suffer because of gender, race or ethnic reasons.  We will provide a resource for lesbian, gay and transgendered people.

We will provide a West Coast center for learning.  We will provide a resource for media, including a publishing house. We will support ecuminicism.  We will support teaching of Christianity that is integrated and healing.

Last update: March 19, 2008