A Church With Two Languages Every Sunday
In the Hillsdale neighborhood of San Mateo, just off El Camino Real, Hillsdale United Methodist Church gathers a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural community that worships in English and Tongan on the same Sunday. Its motto, "Christ in the World, Making a Difference," reflects a congregation that sees its identity as both deeply Wesleyan and openly social, curious about its neighbors, willing to host and feed them, and shaped by seven decades of life in this particular corner of the San Francisco Peninsula.
Hillsdale United Methodist Church is part of the California Nevada Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. Its vision is to bring people into a relationship with Christ who is present in the world and making a difference in their lives. Its mission focus narrows that vision into two clear commitments: serving those in need and building community, and growing and nurturing the next generation. The church states, "As a faith community, we make a difference by making disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world."
Sunday at Hillsdale
Sundays at Hillsdale are layered. An early morning English worship service gathers at 8:30 AM, in person only, for those who prefer a quieter hour. The main English worship at 10:30 AM is offered both in person and on Zoom, with meeting ID 395 362 5326. Children and adults who want to dig into the Scripture texts then meet from 12:30 to 1:30 PM for Sunday School and Bible Jeopardy, hosted on a separate Zoom link.
At 2:00 PM, the Tongan worship service begins. Held every Sunday except the first of the month, it is the heart of the Tongan fellowship that has called Hillsdale home since 1971, when the first Tongan-language worship anywhere in the United States took place in this sanctuary. On first Sundays, the Tongan and English congregations join together for one combined service at 10:30 AM. Choir practice follows at 3:00 PM.
Worship itself is intentionally varied: singing, multimedia, preaching, and prayer blend traditional United Methodist elements with contemporary visual resources. The same lectionary readings are used across the English and Tongan services, and a weekly list of speakers and readings is shared so families and friends across languages stay connected to the same text.
Wesleyan Roots, Neighborhood Mission
Hillsdale describes itself as Wesleyan in theology and intentionally social in practice. Its core values are plain: Loving God and Loving People, being rooted in God's Word, serving the needs of the community, cultivating authentic relationships, and embracing diversity and inclusion. The congregation takes both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission seriously, framing discipleship as service and service as discipleship.
Those values show up in long-running partnerships. The congregation has distributed food through Second Harvest Silicon Valley every first Friday of the month at 3:30 PM in the church parking lot since 1992, with volunteers gathering to load cars and offer a kind word. Hillsdale hosts the Tutor Learning Center, a mentoring program started in 1993 with the Laurel Elementary School that has matched hundreds of members with students who need extra academic support. The congregation is also a Stephen Ministry provider, training lay people since 1996 to walk alongside those going through grief, illness, or other hard seasons.
When a family is welcomed to Hillsdale through church channels, the congregation often opens its doors more literally. From 2000 onward, Hillsdale has participated in the Interfaith Hospitality Network (now known as Home & Hope), hosting families experiencing homelessness for a week at a time in Wesley Hall. Members cook, sleep overnight as hosts, and provide the steady company that makes a long stay feel less lonely.
Serving the Next Generation
"Young People" sits alongside "Service" as a top mission focus, a commitment that stretches back to the 1960s when the Methodist Youth Fellowship was among the most active groups in the church. Today, that heritage takes several forms.
Pastor Catharine Morris has a long history of advocating for children and youth in the broader San Mateo community and works in partnership with local schools and community organizations. Each Sunday, children and youth are woven into the 10:30 AM worship, and the afternoon Sunday School and Bible Jeopardy hour invites learners of all ages to play with the same texts the preachers are unpacking. The church also has deep ties with Troop 27 of the Boy Scouts, which has met at the church since 1952, and with local Girl Scouts.
Two named scholarships carry that emphasis beyond Sunday morning. The Mac Nash Scholarship, begun by John Nash in memory of his wife Marguerite "Mac," the church's first woman Lay Leader, a beloved youth group leader who also started Hospice in San Mateo County, has raised thousands of dollars every year since 1979 to help young people from the church attend college. The Forcellini Scholarship, established in 2008, adds a second route. Together they are supported by an annual Bake and Craft Sale, a Thanksgiving Holiday Basket raffle, a Christmas Floral arrangement, and other fundraisers.
Small Groups, Bible Study, and Connection
Pastoral leadership at Hillsdale leans heavily on small gatherings. The church hosts a weekly Bible Study that previews the upcoming Sunday's passage, an inviting entry point for newcomers who want to walk into worship already immersed in the text. Small groups meet throughout the week in homes and on Zoom for prayer, study, and spiritual support, building the close relationships that the church lists among its core values.
Two denominational groups keep the long heritage of United Methodist service alive. United Methodist Women gather for fellowship, spiritual growth, mission work, and advocacy, with fundraisers such as the "Just Be Green" reusable utensil kits supporting missions locally and beyond. United Methodist Men host a Community Speaker's Forum on the fourth Saturday of each month at 9:30 AM, an open gathering on Zoom (meeting ID 884 722 0885) where members and guests hear talks on faith and life.
Threads Within: A Quiet Teaching Ministry
A separate thread of the church's teaching runs through "Threads Within," a set of devotional reflections the church publishes online. Each entry pairs a wondering question, such as "Think about a time when you were particularly trustworthy," with a Scripture story (often the Gospel account of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee) and a tangible practice like the "Faith Cross Necklace," made from a 24-inch leather shoelace cord and six pony beads. The cross stands only as long as each bead holds its neighbors in place: "perhaps we are like that center bead, held up and held tightly by others around us." The format is designed for households and small groups to pray together through the week.
Since 1949, and Counting
Hillsdale United Methodist Church takes its roots seriously. Seven couples from Burlingame Methodist Church planted the new congregation in the expanding Hillsdale neighborhood, holding the first service on August 21, 1949 and officially opening on Charter Sunday, October 2, 1949. The 1950s saw construction of Wesley Hall in 1950, the classroom wing, and the sanctuary in 1956, the building members still worship in today. The Peterson Room was added in 1964.
The 1960s brought programs and partnerships, including the sponsorship of a Dutch-Indonesian family for resettlement in 1961, the first of several such sponsorships through the decades. The 1970s brought significant change: the first Tongan-language service anywhere in the United States took place at Hillsdale in 1971, beginning the multicultural ministry that defines the church today. A major renovation of Wesley Hall followed in 1977.
In the 1990s the church received around 80 transferred members from the closing Carlmont UMC in Belmont in 1993 and launched the Tutor Learning Center with the Laurel School that same year. Pet blessing services, a beloved tradition in many United Methodist congregations, made an early appearance at Hillsdale in 1994. Stephen Ministry came to the church in 1996, alongside a music program that produced four signature concerts that year. The 50th anniversary in 1999 brought a new Church Vision Council to guide the church into its second half-century.
The early 2000s deepened outreach. Mission trips to Tonga began in 2002. Pastors Nadine DeWitt, Steve Thompson (whose tenure began in 2003), Sa'ia Fasisila (2004 onward, now at Shoreview UMC), and the consulting pastor John Dodson shaped a season of small growth groups and Prayer Brothers and Sisters. Members traveled to New Orleans in 2007 to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, the Tutor Learning Center celebrated its 15th anniversary that same year, and Hillsdale marked its 60th anniversary in October 2009 with the Hillsdale Children's School, Troop 27 Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the Tutor Learning Center all taking part.
Today, members still cook for Home & Hope families, still load cars with Second Harvest boxes on the first Friday of every month, still sit with Laurel School students, and still gather in small groups around the same passages their grandparents studied.
Joining Sunday
Sunday mornings at Hillsdale are designed to be welcoming to first-time visitors. The 8:30 AM English service is in person only and tends to be a quieter hour. The 10:30 AM English service is offered both in person and on Zoom and is the largest gathering of the morning. The Tongan service follows at 2:00 PM (joint with English at 10:30 on the first Sunday of the month). Sunday School and Bible Jeopardy for children and adults fill the 12:30 PM hour, and the choir rehearses at 3:00 PM.
The church office can be reached by email at office.hillsdaleumc@gmail.com or by phone at (650) 345-8514. Worship services on the 10:30 AM English and 2:00 PM Tongan services are accessible by Zoom. Giving to the church's ministry may be sent by mail to 303 West 36th Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94403, dropped through the mail slot near the main entrance, or made through the church's online giving page.