A Progressive, Inclusive Congregation on Kensington Road

First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo sits on Kensington Road in Marin County, two blocks from downtown San Anselmo and within sight of the historic San Francisco Theological Seminary. For more than a century it has served as a progressive, inclusive Christian community on the border of San Anselmo and Fairfax, with a particular reputation for thoughtful preaching, an ambitious music program anchored by two of the finest pipe organs in Northern California, and an active engagement with social justice, peacemaking, and climate work that has sometimes put it at odds with the wider culture.

Roots at Montgomery Chapel and a Heretical Congregation

The congregation's history begins with the San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS). When Montgomery Chapel was constructed in 1897 on the corner of Bolinas Avenue and Richmond Road, a small worshiping community associated with the seminary incorporated itself as a formal congregation under the name Seminary Presbyterian Church. Ten years later, when the town of San Anselmo incorporated in 1907, the congregation took its current name, First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo. Even after the church became its own separate entity, it kept a close association with the seminary, and many of the faculty and students who have walked through the doors of 72 Kensington Road over the decades went on to shape both the town and the wider Presbyterian Church.

That history has not always been quiet. The congregational record includes a heresy trial from 1909 to 1911 over biblical modernism, a sharp loss of members in the early 1970s over the church's support of the Angela Davis Defense Fund, and a walkout during a 1985 sermon critical of U.S. policy in Central America. The current sanctuary building was constructed in 1957, replacing the earlier chapel, and the campus has continued to grow and adapt since. For more than a century, members of First Presbyterian have worked out what it means to follow Jesus in a community that is sometimes called to stand apart from the powers of the day.

A Progressive and Inclusive Faith

The congregation describes itself as a progressive, inclusive Christian community blessed with meaningful worship, people who care for one another, diverse ministries for all ages, and a passion for justice and service. Its vision is a world transformed and made whole through God's love, and its purpose is to grow in love for neighbor, self, earth, and God. The church welcomes LGBTQ members, insists that Black Lives Matter, and identifies itself openly as a place where believing and doubting companions can lean into their faith together as they confront complex issues of compassion, justice, faith, and love.

The church is part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Synod of the Pacific, and the Presbytery of the Redwoods.

The statement of belief is succinct: God created the world in love, still loves the whole world, and that love is God's hope for all, borne out in the life and teachings of Jesus. Jesus points to the kingdom of God, a kingdom defined not by a list of unchanging beliefs but by the dynamic pursuit of love. The church is, in this sense, more of a school of love than a guardian of right doctrines. Above all, practicing love is more important than anything the church believes. Members are called to act on behalf of others and on behalf of God's creation, addressing injustice, healing the planet, and seeking peace with neighbors and enemies alike.

Sundays at Ten: Worship in the Sanctuary and on Zoom

Sunday worship is at 10:00 a.m. in a hybrid format that welcomes both in-person attendance in the sanctuary and a Zoom gathering online. The service includes choir and instrumental music, traditional and newer hymns, scripture readings, a sermon, and prayer; a printed pamphlet guides worshipers through the order and invites them to participate as they feel led. Communion is served on the first Sunday of the month and is open to everyone.

Coffee Hour follows the service at about 11:15 a.m., and Sunday Seminars typically begin at 11:30 a.m. in the sanctuary, with guest speakers, videos, and other presentations on topics that vary from week to week. Office hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., or by appointment.

Visitors are welcomed rather than singled out. From the moment they walk in, ushers help them get settled; name tags are available in the lobby for those who want to wear one, with an option to go incognito for those who do not. There is no dress code beyond wear clothes, and worshipers may be in jeans and t-shirts or in neckties and dresses. Doors into the sanctuary are wheelchair accessible, restrooms in the narthex and in Duncan Hall are wheelchair accessible, three or four handicapped parking spots sit directly in front of the church, and door deacons will help visitors from their car into the sanctuary rain or shine. Hearing aids are available on request. A campus map is provided for getting around.

Children, Wiggles, and the Sermon on the Steps

Children are full members of the congregation. Each Sunday, during worship, the children are invited forward for a Sermon on the Steps with the words You are a part of the family! Infants and toddlers are welcome to remain in worship with their wiggles and giggles, and activity packets and a kid-friendly pew with soft toys and books are provided. The congregation does not currently maintain a staffed nursery, so parents who want to step out can use the patio room or another space while still hearing the service.

After the children's time, children in kindergarten through fifth grade head to Sunday School, which begins around 10:15 a.m. Teachers tell Bible stories and stories from the Christian calendar and church sacraments, share wondering questions, and help kids develop a language for what they already know about God. In the process, the adults learn something too. The youth ministry extends into junior and senior high, gathering in fellowship and service, with trips in recent years to build homes in Mexico and Gulfport, Louisiana, and to glean and serve at local food banks, including Green Gulch Farm and the Fairfax Community Food Bank. All of this is overseen by Rev. Grace Hyeryung Kim, the Director of Family Ministries, an ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ tradition and a Doctor of Ministry student at the seminary.

Music that Stirs the Soul

Music is one of the most distinctive features of First Presbyterian San Anselmo. The church offers a remarkable array of sacred and concert music each Sunday and throughout the year, anchored by Daniel Canosa, Director of Music, and Natsuko Murayama, Organist.

Canosa is a native Argentinian conductor and composer who has led orchestras and choruses in Argentina, Europe, and the United States, and is considered one of the best conductors of his generation. He holds both the chancel choir and guest orchestras to an extensive repertoire of symphonic and choral masterworks. Murayama plays both organ and piano at Sunday services; she holds a Master of Music in Organ Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, has studied at Westminster Choir College at Princeton, and earned her B.A. in Music Education from Kunitachi College of Music in Japan. She also accompanies the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

The chancel choir rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the sanctuary during the school year. In the summer the choir simply shows up at 9:00 a.m. to learn the music for the 10:00 service. Choir members need not make a lifelong commitment; anyone who can come is welcome. Twice a year the choir is joined by singers from the wider community and a small orchestra for performances of major works, with a varied repertoire that has included Durufle's Requiem, Kodaly's Missa Brevis, Schutz's Passion of Saint John, a compendium of spiritual arrangements by John Rutter, and Ramirez' Missa Criolla. In 2016, the chancel choir and guest singers joined three hundred other choristers to sing Karl Jenkins's The Armed Man at Carnegie Hall, the only American choir invited to take part.

The Buck Memorial Organ in the gallery is one of the finest in Northern California. A gift from Beryl Hamilton Buck in memory of her husband, Leonard W. Buck, it was designed by Lawrence Schoenstein and built with his son Terrence Schoenstein and Richard Harger; its sound first filled the sanctuary on Christmas Eve, 1965. Wilbur Russell, the church organist and Professor of Sacred Music at the seminary, and Ludwig Altman of Temple Emanu-el in San Francisco, served as design consultants. The chancel organ was added in the early 1980s for a more Baroque sound. Mr. Russell, who played both instruments for 45 years, once claimed that the Buck Organ contains 62 groups of 48 pipes, almost 4,000 channels of sound in total. The instruments have made the sanctuary a magnet for guest performers, including those of the San Anselmo Organ Festival, which ran from 1991 to 2003, and ongoing concerts and recitals.

The sanctuary's acoustics also welcome a wide array of performing groups, including ECHO Chamber Orchestra, Marin Baroque, the Marin Girls' Chorus, and Consort Chorale, all of which use the space for rehearsals and performances.

Small Groups and Zoom Groups

A wide variety of small groups, classes, and weekly gatherings make up the connective tissue of the church. Several meet on Zoom, with the active links posted each week.

The Book Group meets Mondays at 3:00 p.m. on Zoom and reads primarily non-fiction, taking on just a few chapters at a time and leaving room for off-topic conversation. The Transition Support Group meets Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m. on Zoom and offers check-ins and discussion around a book; the group supports one another through marriages, divorces, births, deaths, career changes, and economic shifts. Prayer and Connection meets Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. with Pastor Scott Clark, a time for prayer and shared conversation.

Centering Prayer meets Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. in the Patio Room for wordless silence using the centering prayer technique. The Fitness Group has met Mondays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. in Duncan Hall since 1993, an hour of non-impact stretch and tone, free weights, modified yoga for balance, mat pilates, and a simple ballet barre, open to everyone in the church and community free of charge. Sunday Seminars follow worship in the sanctuary, with topics and formats that vary. Theatre Outings, organized by Maureen Kalbus, follow the September-to-August season of the Ross Valley Players at The Barn Theatre in the Marin Art and Garden Center.

Service: Hunger, Homelessness, and Disaster Relief

Service is at the heart of the congregation's identity, and members often summarize their shared life with the phrase together we serve.

Every Sunday, donations to the SF-Marin Food Bank are collected during worship; a barrel in the lobby holds canned and boxed items, and members are encouraged to bring what they can. On the last Sunday of every month, the Cents-Ability collection invites every member of all ages to contribute a few cents from every meal, a small step that acknowledges what has been received and responds to Jesus' command You give them something to eat. Each spring, members walk and fundraise through the CROP Hunger Walk, with 25 percent of the funds raised staying in the local community to fight hunger. Every autumn, riders cycle down the coast in Pedal for Protein to raise money for Northern California food banks, particularly for protein foods that are rarely donated. For ten years, the church was part of the Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (REST), a partnership of more than forty local congregations that provided overnight shelter for up to sixty women and men every winter night. When the REST program ended in April 2018, the church remained an active member of the Marin Organizing Committee, working on a housing-focused solution to homelessness in Marin.

Disaster relief has been a particular focus. In response to the Butte County fires of November 2018, the church set up a fire relief fund and adopted a family that had suffered loss, accepting tax-deductible contributions to the church office with Fire Relief Fund in the memo line. Members have also given through the North Valley Community Foundation, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance's US Wildfire fund, and the Presbytery of Sacramento's Camp Fire Relief Fund.

Justice, Peace, and the Wider World

The church is known for taking a stand for the oppressed and defending human dignity. Its mission borrows the prophet Micah: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. Members march, write letters, speak out, and show up.

Through Keep Hope Alive, a peacemaking program of three San Francisco Bay Area Presbyteries in partnership with the YMCA of East Jerusalem and the YWCA of Palestine, the church sends two delegations to Palestine-Israel each year, one in February to plant olive trees and one in October to harvest olives. Since 2005, the Bare Roots Project has partnered with Afghans 4 Tomorrow to plant more than 200,000 fruit and shade trees with Afghan communities.

Climate Action and Earth Care

First Presbyterian San Anselmo is an Earth Care Congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), having affirmed a four-part Earth Care Pledge that integrates creation care into worship, education, facilities, and outreach. The congregation has installed solar panels on its buildings, called for divestment from fossil fuel companies, and supported education about climate science.

The Climate Action Team believes the church has a moral obligation to preserve the planet for subsequent generations and works to reduce the congregation's carbon footprint. Green Chautauqua, the church's ongoing speaker series, has brought national and local voices to Marin since 2014, including Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, journalist Dahr Jamail in conversation about The End of Ice, permaculturist Brock Dolman on California drought, Mark Hertsgaard on the aftermath of the Paris climate talks, the Marin Carbon Project's John Wick on carbon farming, and a panel on the deadly Redding fire tornado. The series is co-sponsored by 350Marin, the Sierra Club Marin Group, Sustainable Fairfax, the Marin Water Coalition, and other partners.

Caring Ministries and the Deacons

Pastoral care is shared among the pastor, Rev. Nancy Wiens (Director of Caring Ministries and Parish Associate), and the deacons. Nancy Wiens practices spiritual direction and wilderness rites of passage, teaches seminary courses and a contemplative parenting program she designed with her daughter, supports presbyteries in dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, and cultivates Indigenous Revitalization work.

The deacons are elected to a ministry of care and compassion both within and outside the congregation. They pray for members and friends, provide meals in times of need or crisis, deliver flowers to shut-ins and to those recovering from illness or surgery, provide rides to church and to weekday appointments for those unable to drive, and host the reception following a memorial service.

The Memorial Garden

Established in 1998, the Memorial Garden provides a place of remembrance and celebration shaded by a magnificent coast redwood tree. Cremated remains of members and their loved ones are interred in the garden, and bronze plaques mounted on the wall around the garden commemorate those whose ashes are interred there, or those interred elsewhere. The garden can be entered through the Fireside Room or through a gate on Mariposa Avenue. The church holds that in life and death we belong to God, and offers a ministry of love and hope to all who grieve.

Pets at Church

The church celebrates the joy pets bring and welcomes them as part of the community. Service animals and well-behaved, leashed pets may join worship, activities, events, and memorial services. During worship, pets are most comfortable in the back of the sanctuary, considering those with allergies. For events where food is served, pets should be kept away from food tables. The full pet policy is available as a printed guide.

Pastors, Staff, and Governance

Scott Clark is Pastor and Head of Staff. A former Chaplain and Dean of Students at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, he also worked with the seminary's Program in Christian Spirituality. Before ordination, he was a member of this church, and before moving to California with his partner Jeff, he practiced law in Alabama, focusing on constitutional law and complex institutional employment-discrimination cases. He joined the church as Interim Pastor and was called as installed Pastor and Head of Staff in August 2020.

Grace Hyeryung Kim is the Director of Family Ministries. An ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ tradition and a Doctor of Ministry student at the seminary, she most recently served as Minister of Young Adults and Families (English-Language) at Crossway Korean Immigrant Presbyterian Church in Hayward, and previously served children, youth, and families at Mills Grove Christian Church and at Lafayette Christian Church.

Nancy Wiens is the Director of Caring Ministries and Parish Associate, a spiritual director and teacher who has supported presbyteries in dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery and cultivating Indigenous Revitalization.

Daniel Canosa directs the music program; Natsuko Murayama is the organist.

The church is governed by the Session, the Presbyterian equivalent of a board of elders, whose members serve as Clerk, Members-at-Large, and committee chairs for Connections, Church and Society, Adult Education, Worship, Resources, Education, Finance and Resources, and Personnel. The Session works to ensure that the resources of time, talent, and money are used to meet the goals of the church.

Becoming a Member

All programs and ministries of the church are open to everyone, regardless of membership. Those who have worshiped for a while and want to learn what it means to become a member of a Presbyterian church, or who wish to transfer their Letter of Membership from another Presbyterian church, are encouraged to contact the pastor. The congregation includes families and singles, children and seniors, LGBTQ and straight people, all representing diverse ethnicities, interests, and backgrounds.

Giving

Members and friends support the church's work through annual pledges, online giving, bequests, and offerings during worship. Checks may be mailed to the church, and online giving is available through a secure portal; giving and pledge materials for the year are available online and at the church office. Online giving makes one-time and recurring gifts possible.

Sermons are recorded and published. Audio recordings, written texts, and YouTube recordings of each week's service are accessible through the church, and a podcast of recent sermons is available. Pastor Scott Clark writes a regular blog with prayers, sermon texts, and reflections on the lectionary, as well as shorter pastoral notes for the Friday Email newsletter.