A Progressive Beacon on Tilton Avenue
The Congregational Church of San Mateo has stood at 225 Tilton Avenue for more than a century and a half, a self-governing Congregational body affiliated with the United Church of Christ and a long-time voice for progressive Christianity on the San Francisco Peninsula. Its vision is to be "a strong voice for Progressive Christianity on the San Francisco Peninsula and beyond, to build a beloved community and to lead in championing social justice for all." That vision is visible in every corner of the church's life, from the bilingual Wednesday service in Kloss Hall to the solar panels installed above the parking lot, from the Gordon Huether art glass behind the chancel to the Blessing Box food pantry that has become a fixture on the front walk.
The congregation has identified as Open and Affirming since 2002, a United Church of Christ designation that means it affirms the full inclusion of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions in the life and ministry of the church. In 2017, members voted to become a Sanctuary Congregation, opening the church's grounds to people facing deportation. The same openness shapes the welcome statement that greets every visitor: "Because of who you are, and where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here!"
Sunday Morning at 10:30 in the Sanctuary
Worship on Sunday mornings is traditional, gathered in the Sanctuary and livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel. The service follows a familiar pattern of scripture, prayer, choral music, and preaching, with the Chancel Choir and the Casavant organ providing much of the sound. A Coffee Happy Hour follows the service, an unhurried time for newcomers to meet members and for old friends to catch up. Worship bulletins are posted online each week, and an archive of sermons and full services reaches back many months, so anyone can follow along from a distance.
Parking is available in the church lot off Catalpa Street and on the surrounding streets along San Mateo Drive, Tilton Avenue, and Ellsworth Avenue. The Sanctuary itself is fully accessible, with wheelchair access and hearing-impaired assistance available, so that everyone can take part in worship in person.
The Ministerio Latino: Wednesdays in Two Languages
On Wednesday evenings at 7:15 p.m., the heart of the church moves to Kloss Hall for a bilingual worship service led by the Ministerio Latino. The service is held in Spanish and English, and a potluck dinner follows, a tradition that has grown into one of the warmest gatherings on the church's calendar. The Ministerio Latino traces its roots to 2009, when members began reaching out to Spanish-speaking neighbors in the North Central San Mateo area. In 2017, a regular Spanish-speaking Wednesday community organized around shared commitments to social justice, progressive spirituality, and an inclusive welcome.
Rev. Álvaro Durán, the church's Minister of Community Life and Ministerio Latino, leads the Wednesday gathering. A theologian trained in the United Kingdom and Central America, an Anglican pastor, and a human rights defender, Rev. Durán was the first openly LGBTQ+ religious leader in El Salvador. He presided over the annual Plegaria Rosa commemorating victims of homophobia and transphobia, co-founded the organization Libres en Cristo, and helped inaugurate the XVII El Salvador Pride March with a moment of prayer. The welcome that greets visitors at the Ministerio Latino service comes from him directly: "No importa quién seas o dónde estés en el viaje de la vida, eres bienvenida y bienvenido a este lugar. ¡Jesús no rechazó a ninguna persona, nosotras y nosotros tampoco!"
Children and youth have their own space during the Wednesday service, with a safe, welcoming room and caring adults offering age-appropriate activities so that parents and guardians can take part in worship. A WhatsApp group keeps the Latino community connected throughout the week.
The Casavant Organ and a Serious Music Ministry
Music is woven into the very bones of the Congregational Church of San Mateo. The Sanctuary houses a Casavant Frères pipe organ installed in 1955 by a French-Canadian builder, selected after a careful survey of the best instruments in the Bay Area. The organ was designed under the influence of S. Leslie Grow, then the church organist and a student of the great French organist Marcel Dupré. Built in the Anglo-American Romantic style, the instrument is unusual for its full ensemble of open flutes, its large and fully developed reed stops, and its two sets of Celeste stops. According to Jack Bethards of Schoenstein and Company, who maintains the organ, it is "one of the best organs in California," and few instruments of similar size can match its range and depth of sound.
Dr. Ondine Young directs the Music Ministry as Director of Music, supported by Resident Organist and Pianist C.J. Briggs and Julie Miles Berk, who leads the Joyful Noise Youth Choir. The volunteer Chancel Choir enriches Sunday worship with a diverse offering of choral music and presents a Christmas Concert and Spring Concert each year. The Carillon Handbell Choir adds its own ring when it is scheduled. Each Sunday, the Organist in Residence offers a postlude after the 10:30 a.m. service. A community concert series brings high-quality classical performances to the Sanctuary throughout the year, and Masterworks Chorale is among the regular guest ensembles.
Children, Youth, and Families
The church's children, youth, and family ministry is built on a progressive, open-minded approach to Scripture and a deep commitment to social justice as an expression of Christian faith. On Sunday mornings, children begin in worship with their families and are invited to Faith Formation in the Betsy Woodward Christian Education building during the Passing of the Peace. There, a Godly Play curriculum brings Bible stories to life through hands-on activities, creative expression, and conversation.
The age groups are intentionally flexible. Nursery care is available for infants and toddlers, with loving, age-appropriate play in a safe room. The Pebbles Class welcomes Pre-K and Kindergarteners (and older children if it is a better fit), the Elementary Class engages 1st through 5th graders with interactive projects, Gran'Its gathers middle schoolers for discussion and service, and 60 Minutes offers high school students a monthly, youth-led conversation on topics they choose. The Joyful Noise Choir sings on Sunday mornings at 9:45 a.m. in the Fireplace Room, with rhythm instruments and laughter.
Sunday afternoons add another layer. From 4 to 5 p.m. in the CE Building, separate groups gather for elementary and middle/high school students, with a snack supper at 5 p.m. and Youth Group in Kloss Hall from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The Wednesday night rhythm, designed with bilingual families in mind, includes a snack supper, Faith Formation, and Youth Group before the 7:15 p.m. service. Corrin Morrison serves as Director of Children, Youth, and Families. On Sunday mornings, free childcare for children four and under is provided by Lily Gonzales, who has been part of the CCSM community for more than 25 years.
Confirmation is offered every other year. The program explores the Bible through liberative readings, surveys historic and current movements of faith and justice, and engages with the many faces of Jesus, with the goal of affirming a desire to be in relationship with a faith community. The program often includes retreats, mentoring, service projects, visits to other faith communities, and spiritual practices. Each spring, the church offers scholarships to high school seniors, college students, and graduate students who are active members of CCSM.
A Sanctuary Church and a Ministry of Service and Justice
Justice work is a defining mark of this congregation. In 2017, members voted overwhelmingly to join the National Sanctuary Movement, and the church has since provided physical refuge on its grounds to members of the TransGay Caravan and to a Honduran father and son. The congregation remains ready to provide emergency housing for anyone experiencing an immigration crisis. A free food pantry, called the Blessing Box, stands outside the main sanctuary doors, allowing neighbors to take what they need. Over the past several years, an emergency assistance fund has distributed more than $142,000 to people in the neighborhood who are facing hardship.
The Ministry of Service and Justice, often shortened to MSJ, organizes this work under a single guiding image: "God has no hands but your hands, no feet but your feet and no face but your face." The ministry works locally and globally, on long-term partnerships and short-term responses, partnering with organizations such as LIFE MOVES (with the church now adopting two of its facilities, Vendome and First for Families), Second Harvest Food Bank of Silicon Valley, Samaritan House, Home and Hope, the San Francisco Night Ministry, Swords to Plowshares, Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse, Help a Mother Out, Planned Parenthood, Intercommunal Pre-school, Homework Central, Prison Renaissance, Together Rising, and the International Rescue Committee for Ukraine. Every week, the plate offering is given to one of these nonprofit partners.
Faith in Action Bay Area, a multi-racial, multi-lingual, intergenerational organizing network, and the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort, a group of 40 interfaith clergy that addresses social needs across San Mateo County, are both closely tied to the church's work. Rev. Dr. Penny Nixon, Minister Emerita, co-founded the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort and was named 2019 Woman of the Year for Assembly District 22 for her work in the community. The Ministry of Service and Justice is one of several ministries that share in a Second Hour discussion series after Sunday worship, where recent guests have included historians, theologians, Pacific School of Religion president Rev. Dr. David Vasquez-Levy, and activists on issues ranging from climate to gun violence.
Care for the Earth, Care for the Neighborhood
The Environmental Justice Ministry, formed in 2019, has helped the church put its values into practice on its own campus. Solar panels were installed in the parking lot in the spring of 2023, the landscape is being converted to drought-tolerant California-native plantings, and the ministry encourages members to reduce, reuse, and recycle as part of everyday faith. The work is grounded in a clear conviction that environmental justice underlies social justice, because the underserved and disinherited bear the heaviest burden of climate change.
The Campus and the Memorial Garden
The campus at 225 Tilton Avenue is a small village. The Sanctuary, designed in classic Spanish colonial revival style with a bell tower and carved double wood doors, is the heart of the property. Its stunning visual focal point is a five-window art glass installation by Gordon Huether of Napa, the same artist whose work has appeared in churches, airports, and public buildings across the country. The Sanctuary seats 400 and is fully accessible. The Betsy Woodward Christian Education building houses classrooms, the Buckham Room, the Community Room, and the Fireplace Room where children sing. Kloss Hall hosts the bilingual Wednesday service, large gatherings, and rentals. The Loggia building holds the church offices. A Memorial Garden with a labyrinth, a columbarium, and a Wall of Remembrance offers a quiet open-air sanctuary for prayer and meditation.
Two partner organizations also call the campus home. The Muslim Children's Garden School, a preschool committed to teaching and growing children through group learning and Islamic values, shares the grounds. So does Little Wonders, a play-based, cooperative parent-child education center that teaches parents about child growth and development. The Memorial Garden's columbarium offers niches for two urns each at $4,000, with care in perpetuity, while the Wall of Remembrance allows names to be engraved in granite for $800.
Weddings, Concerts, and the Sanctuary as a Performance Space
CCSM is also a sought-after venue on the San Francisco Peninsula. The Sanctuary, with its capacity of 400, its warm acoustics, and its pipe organ and tuned piano, hosts weddings, receptions, concerts, and community events. The church is proud to bless and proclaim the union of all people, including same-gender and interfaith couples. Weddings and special events can be livestreamed or recorded upon request. Inquiries can be sent to the church office.
Coffee Hour, Affinity Groups, and the Wider Community
Life at CCSM extends well beyond the Sanctuary. Coffee Hour follows the Sunday service and is a friendly, low-key entry point for newcomers. A wide range of affinity groups offer more focused ways to connect. Back Nine Before Church gathers golfers for nine holes at Poplar Creek before Sunday worship. CC Riders cycles together on Saturday mornings. Coffee with the Boys meets Tuesday mornings in San Mateo. The Music and Art Circle meets monthly over a light lunch, often with a guest sharing a music or arts-related topic.
Spiritual life offerings include Band of Brothers, a men's group building deep friendship through shared spiritual practice, and In the Spirit of Sharing, a group connecting with self, Spirit, and one another. Spiritual Conversations is a discussion group that explores books and ideas through a spiritual lens. The prayer team lifts up joys and concerns each week; some are shared aloud during worship, others are held in confidence by the pastoral team. The Congregational Care Ministry reaches out through phone calls and visits, sends cards on special occasions, supports memorial receptions, and delivers poinsettias at Advent. The Posey Posse turns Sunday's flower arrangements into small gifts for members who need a lift, from April through September.
Guiding Principles
The congregation has named six guiding principles that shape its shared life. As a spiritual community, it welcomes the full participation of believers, agnostics, and seekers from all faith traditions. As a Christian community, it follows Jesus's example as a way of life and a way of love, while also learning from other traditions and sacred texts. The community is committed to being "God's hands, feet and face," feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, housing the homeless, and advocating for a more just society. It is inclusive, celebrating the differences of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, language, age, and mental and physical ability. It is open-minded, listening to different points of view in order to learn and grow. And it is evolving, experiencing faith as a quest, not a set of absolute truths, and trusting that God is still speaking.
Leadership
Rev. Jessica Vacketta became the church's Senior Minister in 2024, arriving from University Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Fort Worth, Texas, where she served for 14 years, most recently as Minister of Outreach. She is passionate about creating sacred space for retreats, service, and gathering at Christ's table. She and Rev. Álvaro Durán, who joined the staff in 2025, are the two ordained ministers of the church. Rev. Dr. Penny Nixon, who served as Senior Minister from 2007 to 2022 and was the first woman to hold the role, was honored with the title of Minister Emerita upon her retirement. A volunteer Board of Directors and a Council of Ministries share in the governance of the church, with Frank Garritano serving as Moderator.
The Music Ministry, the Children, Youth, and Families team, the Latino Ministry, the Spiritual Life Ministry, the Liturgical Arts Ministry, the Congregational Care Ministry, the Engagement Ministry, the Service and Justice Ministry, and the Environmental Justice Ministry together form the Council of Ministries. Each of them invites members and friends to share in the work.
Joining the Life of the Church
Newcomers are welcome at any of the church's gatherings. Coffee Hour after the Sunday service is a natural first step, and the Welcome page on the church's site offers a way in. Membership is open to all youth and adults and is a way of declaring commitment to a particular community of faith. Baptisms are celebrated at any age, and the ministers work with families to choose the language, ritual, and practices that resonate, including multi-faith and 2SLGBTQIA+ families. The church's Connections weekly email and the Pine Tree newsletter keep members informed about events, learning opportunities, and the rhythm of the year. Giving is supported through the church's online platform, Church Center, where donations, pledges, and recurring gifts can be managed along with the church calendar and directory.
Whether someone arrives in the Sanctuary on a Sunday morning, in Kloss Hall for a Wednesday potluck, or at the Memorial Garden on a quiet afternoon, the welcome at the Congregational Church of San Mateo is the same: a progressive, inclusive, justice-rooted community where everyone belongs, where the music of a Casavant organ still fills the room, and where the church's long tradition of sanctuary, both spiritual and physical, continues in the present tense.