A Progressive Church in a 1914 Sanctuary

Foothills Congregational Church sits on Orange Avenue in Los Altos, a short walk from the city's civic core, in a 1914 sanctuary designed by the renowned architect Ernest Coxhead and fitted with stained glass and a pipe organ. The congregation that fills it is younger than the building by half a century. In 1961, 176 charter members gathered under the leadership of Reverend Charles M. Bezdek to register a new church in the home of a former Episcopal parish, and Foothills has been meeting there ever since.

Today the church is known around the South Bay as a progressive, science-friendly, Open and Affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ, a place that marries serious scripture study with a relaxed dress code and an explicit welcome to LGBTQIA2+ people, seekers of every background, and families with young children.

A Sanctuary from 1914, a Church from 1961

The bones of Foothills go back further than the congregation. The sanctuary was completed in 1914, when the property belonged to Christ Episcopal Church. Additions followed in 1926 and 1951, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. In 2014, the church invited the wider community to celebrate the centennial of the original structure.

The Orange Avenue property was purchased from Christ Episcopal when that parish moved to a larger home. Foothills' own story began in 1960, when a small and determined group of worshipers organized themselves with sponsorship from the First Congregational Church in Palo Alto, the Congregational Community Church in Sunnyvale, the Northern California Conference of Congregational Churches, and the Board of Homeland Missions in New York. A minister's study arrived in 1966, the Parish Hall (now Fellowship Hall) was built in 1973, and the Learning Center was remodeled in 1992 to make more room for music and youth programs.

Sunday at 10 AM

Worship at Foothills gathers every Sunday at 10 AM in the sanctuary. The service blends scripture, prayer, music, and an inspirational message, with a worship leader, choir, and frequently a guest musician or handbell choir. Music Director Fred Cummins, who has been the church's organist since 1983 and music director since 2001, weaves together traditional church music, classical repertoire, and contemporary styles. The dress code is casual, and children are always welcome in the service.

Parents who prefer can take their young child to the Nursery in the Learning Center and watch the livestream from there. Older children find activity and reading materials in the entry room at the back of the church. The service is also livestreamed on YouTube, followed by Fellowship Time on Zoom for those watching from home. After the in-person service, the courtyard fills with coffee and snacks for a mix-and-mingle with old friends and newcomers.

Each week the affirmation is the same: "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here!" The bulletin and worship program are posted online so that online participants can follow along. Visitors are told to wear whatever makes them comfortable, to be themselves, and to expect a warm welcome from greeters and ushers.

Music as Wide as the Bay

Music is one of the most distinctive things about Foothills. The choir rehearses at 9 AM on Sunday morning and sings at the 10 AM service, and there is no ongoing commitment required. Singers can simply pick a Sunday from the published schedule, look at the sheet music and listen to the recording linked in advance, and show up at 9 AM for a single rehearsal before the service. Anthems range from Renaissance polyphony to Beethoven's "The Heavens are Telling" to contemporary gospel, folk, and pop arrangements.

Guest choirs and musicians rotate through the year. Recent Sundays have featured the Friendship Singers, a 35-member auditioned ensemble that began in 2002, as well as chamber musicians and solo harpists. Joyful Noise, the handbell choir directed by Marquise Usher, rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 7:30 and rings in worship roughly once a month from October through June. The sanctuary holds a pipe organ and a piano, and Fellowship Hall has a grand piano on a small stage.

Open and Affirming, Always

Foothills is a member of the Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ, a designation that carries weight. The church's Open and Affirming Covenant states that the congregation "provides a spiritual home that welcomes each individual as a beloved child of God" and "affirms the humanity of all people, welcoming into the full life and ministry of the church, people of every ability, age, ethnicity, culture, economic status, gender, sexual orientation and religious belief."

The church joined other LGBTQ-affirming faith communities in the South Bay to sponsor a booth at SVPride in 2024 and 2025. Members of the Outreach Committee also gather each Monday at 11 AM on the sidewalk in front of the Los Altos Post Office for a peaceful demonstration, and the church shares educational resources from the UCC Office of Public Policy and Advocacy in Washington, D.C., and the Witness for Justice newsletter, alongside local partners Action Together West and Indivisible Palo Alto Plus.

Children, Youth, and Families

Children are part of the main worship service at Foothills. Those who want a quieter space can be in the Nursery with a parent and watch the livestream, and older children find age-appropriate materials in the back of the sanctuary. The Faith Development Committee coordinates children's activities across the year.

For middle and high school students, Foothills partners with the Youth Ministry program at Los Altos United Methodist Church, where junior high and senior high youth meet on Sundays from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. The connection lets Foothills' teens build friendships with peers from other congregations while keeping the smaller-church feel of their home parish.

Fellowship Groups and Conversation

A long list of small groups makes it easy to find a place at Foothills. Women's Fellowship meets on the second Tuesday at noon over Zoom for a wide-ranging conversation. The Men's Coffee Group gathers on the second Wednesday at 10 AM, in person or on Zoom, to discuss local and world events. Women's Brunch happens on the third Monday at 11:30 AM at a member's home, with the host rotating monthly. Circle of Women meets on the fourth Monday at 7 PM by Zoom for a smaller circle of confidantes. The Women's Weekday Wind-down gathers on the first Thursday at 6 PM in the Fireside Room at church.

Other weekly rhythms happen in Fellowship Hall and the Learning Center. A Monday morning meditation class led by psychotherapist Sandy Roos welcomes drop-ins to learn to relax the nervous system and build a sense of calm. A Thursday morning Balance Class offers stretching, balance work, and tai chi for a suggested $5 donation. Pilates with Teresa meets weekday mornings on a varying schedule, drawing on her decades of experience at the Stanford University School of Medicine's Health Improvement Program.

Bible Study, Books, and the Big Questions

Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 3 PM on Zoom, digging into the scripture focus for the upcoming Sunday's worship. Members and Pastor David Green share the teaching, exploring the cultural and historical context of each passage from a modern scholarly perspective.

Truth Seekers meets on Thursdays at 4:30 PM, also on Zoom, for open conversation about progressive theology, spiritual practices, interfaith dialogue, consciousness, and personal growth. The Book Group gathers on the fourth Tuesday at 10:45 AM by Zoom, picking a new list of books each August across every genre; recent reads have included Marie Benedict's The Other Einstein, Attica Locke's Bluebird, Bluebird, and Geraldine Brooks's Memorial Days.

Care for Each Other

A monthly Caregiver Support Group meets on the third Saturday from 1 to 2:30 PM in the Learning Center. The gathering, facilitated by psychotherapist Sandy Roos, is free and open to the public, with no religious agenda and no RSVP required. Topics include caregiver burnout, isolation, anticipatory grief, balancing work and family, and cultivating joy. "You are not alone" is the recurring theme.

The Prayer Circle, led by Nancy Traficanti, offers the congregation a way to share prayer requests and ongoing concerns by email. Members serve on the Diaconate, which supports worship, memorial services, congregational care, and emergencies on campus. Public forums, like End of Life, Explained, bring medical, ethical, and spiritual perspectives on hospice, patient rights, and California's End of Life Option Act to the wider community.

Outreach: Loving Neighbors Locally and Globally

Loving and serving others is a central focus at Foothills, and the Outreach Committee channels that energy in several directions. The church's Outreach Endowment Fund underwrites a network of partner agencies addressing hunger, homelessness, and family services.

On the second Tuesday of each month, Foothills members serve dinner at LifeMoves Mountain View, and a 24/7 food donation box at 461 Orange Avenue collects non-perishable items year-round. In 2025 the congregation donated 3,595 pounds of food, with 5,000 pounds donated in 2024. All collected food is delivered to the Community Services Agency of Mountain View, Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills. Preferred donations include shelf-stable milk, ready-to-eat vegetarian soup in pop-top cans, and canned tomato products.

The church's Focus Partners include the Community Services Agency, the Ecumenical Hunger Program, LifeMoves, and Second Harvest Food Bank. Community Partners include ALAS, Family Supportive Housing's San Jose Family Shelter, Help One Child, Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, and Pacific Clinics. Emergency relief support flows through the Northern California-Nevada Conference of the UCC and World Central Kitchen.

Annual events include Relay for Life, where Foothills walks as the United We Stride team and decorates luminaria for the American Cancer Society; Compassion Week projects; the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot benefiting Second Harvest; and the South Bay/Peninsula holiday gift drive. The Outreach Committee also organizes the weekly peaceful demonstration at the Los Altos Post Office.

A Wider Story of Service

Foothills' outreach reaches well beyond the Bay Area. The congregation has a long tradition of Service Trips for youth and adults, with past destinations including the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Pacific Grove, Stockton, Jacksonville (Oregon), Lassen National Park, and Smith River in far northern California. Youth have focused on housing and environmental justice.

The church's longest-running international project grew from a chance connection. In 2007, a Kenyan immigrant named Stanley Imbali told his employer, Foothills member Sandra Overton, about his dream of buying books for the children of his village of Eregi near Lake Victoria. Authentic African dinners and other fundraising efforts raised about $12,000, providing a book for each of the 640 children at Ikhulili Primary School. By 2017, the village had moved from the bottom 3 percent of Kenyan school scores to 97 percent. Phase two brought clean water: villagers dug nearly two miles of trenches by hand for a pipeline fed by a hilltop spring tank, with more than $95,000 raised so far. Stanley has since finished his education and serves as a nurse, and his son Brian earned a PhD from Cornell.

Joining Foothills

Becoming a member of Foothills is intentionally simple. Prospective members arrange a visit with the minister, David Green. There is no requirement to assent to doctrines or recite a confession of faith, only a willingness to be a spiritual seeker and to do good wherever one is on life's journey.

The minister joined Foothills in 2023, after time as a hospice chaplain and as pastor of United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, and Disciples of Christ churches. He studied at the University of Texas and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The congregation is also served by Music Director Fred Cummins, Handbell Choir Director Marquise Usher, and Communications Director Kristin Burns. Lisa Teske serves as Moderator and Jo Pomeroy as Vice Moderator. Nathalie Mondésir serves as church administrator, bookkeeper, facility maintenance manager, and wedding coordinator.

The Building, the Grounds, and Visits

The campus includes the historic sanctuary, Fellowship Hall (built in 1973, 1,300 square feet, seating for 80 at a sit-down event and 170 for a meeting, with a full kitchen, audio and video, and a small stage with grand piano), and the Learning Center. Facilities can be rented for weddings and other events when available.

Weddings are officiated by Foothills' own minister or by an officiant of one's choice, and baptisms are offered for people of any age who wish to become members of the church. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 4 PM. The Sunday service runs at 10 AM in person and on YouTube, with Fellowship Time in the courtyard afterward and on Zoom.