Come as You Are to a Berkeley Landmark on College Avenue
St. John's Presbyterian Church has stood at 2727 College Avenue in Berkeley's Elmwood neighborhood since 1907, and the spirit of welcome Pastor Max Lynn describes - a place where a loving God is sought through grace, forgiveness, and a deep engagement with the world's pain - has been on stage ever since. Members and newcomers gather at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings for what the church calls "informal, family worship," held in the Sanctuary and online through Zoom. St. John's is a friendly, multi-generational community of faith that openly welcomes all who seek to know and love God and that hopes to help spread God's vision of love, peace and justice in the world.
The congregation is rooted in the Reformed Presbyterian tradition but is best known for two things that set it apart from many Bay Area churches. The first is its 1979 Brombaugh pipe organ, Opus 20, a tracker-action instrument that has drawn organists and music lovers from across the country. The second is its century-long legacy of peace and justice work, which includes serving as one of the founding congregations of the Sanctuary Movement in 1982 and becoming a More Light congregation affirming the spiritual gifts of LGBT people in 1990. The Mission and Justice Commission, established in 2004, continues that legacy today through local, national, and international partnerships.
Three schools also operate on the property - Maybeck High School, Monteverde Preschool, and the church's own St. John's Child Care Program - and more than three dozen East Bay organizations use the campus each year for meetings, concerts, and special events. Together with regular church activities and community life groups, the building is "really an all-day, everyday operation."
Sunday Morning at Ten
The Sunday worship service is the heart of St. John's life. Worshippers arrive to find an usher offering the printed Sunday Bulletin at the door of the Sanctuary from the Narthex lobby. Sit anywhere you like. The order of service typically opens with music, followed by community announcements, a Call to Worship, and the Passing of the Peace, when people greet one another with the words "The peace of Christ be with you." Later, in the Prayers of the People, those gathered - whether in person or by Zoom - are invited to share joys and concerns, observing both personal and global needs.
Music at St. John's is unusually varied. On any given Sunday, the choir may sing a Renaissance motet, an Orthodox chant, a contemporary introit, a Kenyan Kyrie, or a Gospel anthem. The voices might be accompanied by the Brombaugh pipe organ, piano, congas, violin, oboe, the bell choir, or a capella. Some of the Bay Area's finest singers lead the sections of the choir, and amateurs are welcome to learn to read music and join the fellowship. Congregational singing draws on the Presbyterian Hymnal, choral music, Southern spirituals, and original compositions, supported at times by a chamber ensemble, a Dixieland band, or guest instrumental or vocal musicians.
Children and youth are part of worship from the start. After the opening music and announcements, the Simple Gospel gives young people a special time of their own within the service; the children are often invited to come forward. Around 10:20 a.m., the children and youth leave the Sanctuary with their Sunday School teachers to attend classes of their own. The weekly sermon is offered right after they leave.
Communion is observed on the first Sunday of each month, and all are invited to participate. Children and youth return in time to join the congregation for communion in the Sanctuary.
After the service, coffee hour is the moment to get hydrated, nourished, and to share lives with one another. Coffee Fellowship begins at 11:15 a.m. on the Patio or in the Campbell Reception Room and is hosted by volunteers each week. The Sunday Bulletin notes when an Adult Forum is offered; those Forums usually begin around 11:30 or 11:40 a.m. in the Fireside Room and address themes related to worship and to local, national, and international issues affecting the community. Nonperishable food items are collected each Sunday to stock the church's food closet for sharing with people who are unhoused.
The Sanctuary and a Brombaugh Pipe Organ
The Sanctuary that worshippers enter was designed by the firm of Ostwald and Kelly, with construction led by E. Paul Kelly beginning in September 1973. It was dedicated on April 13, 1975, in memory of Mildred Campbell, and the building carries her name on the Mildred Campbell Reception Room, separated from the Sanctuary by a rolling wall. The 1968 bequest from Dr. Howard Campbell made the construction of the new sanctuary possible. The chancel platform accommodates many uses beyond worship - concerts, lectures, drama - and the chancel furniture is movable and can be stored in rooms directly behind. The handcrafted oak podium was made by Al Dole, a sixty-five-year member of the church.
The design of the windows, copper roof, redwood siding and paneling, timber wood trusses, exposed roof decking, and special lighting fixtures provide a historic connection to the previous church buildings the congregation had used - structures designed by Julia Morgan and now designated as a State Historical Landmark. Several artworks, stained glass windows, plaques, and inscriptions were removed from those earlier buildings and reinstalled into the present St. John's. The large wooden plaques on the pulpit and communion table were designed by Victoria Stewart Kimball and carved by her son, Stewart Kimball; the plaque on the pulpit depicts the descending dove of peace. The Celtic cross on the west exterior facade is a gift from the Herbert L. Kimball estate, created in copper and plexiglass by Carl Jennings. The Rose window at the south end of the Campbell Reception Room is a gift of Dr. and Mrs. James Pfister, transferred from the former building.
The "Dalle de Verre" stained glass was financed by a hundred memorial gifts and designed by the Hogan Stained Glass Studios. The one-inch faceted stained glass design has many interpretations and also stands alone as a colorful abstraction. The three large windows facing Forest Avenue permit views into a garden and visual relief, while high clerestory windows on the east and south walls provide ventilation and light. The roof juts out to overhang these windows, softening the sunlight. Heat is supplied by a hot-water radiant system in the floor slab.
The Brombaugh organ, Opus 20, arrived in early 1979. In 1972 St. John's had decided not to move its 1957 Aeolian-Skinner to the new Sanctuary. Instead, the church turned to John Brombaugh, one of the pioneers of the small but growing group of American builders who since the 1960s had focused on a single historical type of instrument to illuminate the literature of a chosen style with breathtaking effect. St. John's became the home of Brombaugh's Opus 20 - one of three organs he built at the same time, from the same plans, and with nearly identical stop lists (the others went to Tacoma, Washington, and Storrs, Connecticut).
Opus 20 comprises 31 ranks, 22 stops, and 1,418 pipes. Its musical and structural design reflects principles of organ building that prevailed in the Protestant countries of northern Europe during the 150 years that ended with the death of J. S. Bach. The slider wind chests employ a suspended mechanical (tracker) key action and a mechanical stop action, which provides an especially smooth attack of wind to each pipe and permits gentler, more responsive voicing than electrical actions allow. The keyboards and pedalboard resemble those familiar to seventeenth-century Dutch organists in size, dimensions, and positioning. For Opus 20, Brombaugh devised an elastic temperament based on Kirnberger III, giving each key a unique character because of the way the subtle variations in intonation appear at different places in the scale of each key - a dimension of harmonic color that musicians took for granted three centuries ago. The wooden case, the facade pipes, and the pipe shades blend and project the sound in a way that an unencased organ cannot. The naturals of the keyboards are plated with cow shin bones, the sharps and stop knobs are of African ebony, and the keyboards and trackers are made from sugar pine. One need attend only one service at St. John's to know the power it brings to congregational singing.
The Music Ministry: Choir, Bell Choir, and Soloists
The St. John's Music Ministry enables church and community members to express and share their faith through music during Sunday worship and special concerts. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings in the Sanctuary from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. On most Sunday mornings during the academic year, the choir meets at 9:00 a.m. to rehearse for the 10:00 a.m. worship service. New members are always welcome.
The Minister of Music, The Rev. Todd Jolly, joined the staff in the summer of 2007. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Todd earned his M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary and a B.A. in music education from Trenton State College in New Jersey. A percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, and vocalist, he is comfortable in many styles including early music, classical, jazz, and rock. Noted teachers have included Tony DeNicola of the Harry James Orchestra, Hy Frank, Cloyd Duff of the Cleveland Symphony, Lloyd Pfautsch of Southern Methodist University, and Alice Parker of the Robert Shaw Chorale. Before St. John's, Todd served for a decade at Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church in San Francisco as Director of Liturgical Music. For twenty-one years, he taught music and was the choirmaster at Stuart Hall for Boys in San Francisco. He was the music director of San Francisco Renaissance Voices for the first decade of its existence and serves as the Associate Artistic Director of the San Francisco Boys Chorus. His compositions and arrangements have been performed across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Evangeline Wolfe serves as Organist and Pianist alongside him.
The bell choir goes back several decades to the days when Dick Coulter was the music director. From the groups under his leadership emerged several other bell choirs, including the internationally known Sonos. The group has been resurrected with some of the old members and some new ones, and the Schulmerich bells themselves have been reconditioned with new pads and other equipment. The bell choir rehearses during the academic year twice a month, usually on the first and third Sundays, after worship, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Both beginners and seasoned ringers are welcome.
Children, Youth, and Family at St. John's
At St. John's, children and youth begin worship in the Sanctuary and participate in the Simple Gospel on those Sundays it is offered. Around 10:20 a.m., their teachers invite them to leave for their own programs. Through a variety of Sunday School resources such as Godly Play, the children learn about God through storytelling, play, wondering, and imagination; in the activities planned for them, the children are invited to express their faith in words, questions, writing, working with clay, drawing, painting, and movement.
The Youth Ministry program nurtures growth by encouraging young people to become comfortable reading and discussing the Bible, applying the Bible to their lives, getting to know one another, providing leadership in worship, discussing issues at a deeper level, engaging in prayer, and creating opportunities to grow in leadership both at St. John's and in the larger community. Throughout the year, children and youth also have the opportunity to grow through their participation in other church activities such as the Christmas pageant, community service events, the Easter Egg Hunt, and Camp Elmwood.
Chamanade Mataafa serves as Sunday School Director, and Manju Noone is the Christian Education Director. The philosophy Pastor Max describes on the Message from Pastor Max page is grounded in the fundamental assumption that "we are all children of God, loved unconditionally as we are," and in a vision of children learning that "there is a reverse blessing that comes from reaching out beyond our personal wants and needs: it makes us feel better about ourselves, it gives us strength and grounds our identity in a community with purpose." Children and parents may head to the snow to play, carve up vegetables for the homeless ministry, or go to the beach and help clean.
St. John's also operates the St. John's Child Care Program, a multicultural, non-denominational infant and toddler program that grew out of a 1971 committee set up to provide before-school care. The program now specializes in the care of infants and toddlers from three months to three years (and now preschool-age children as well) and has very low staff turnover. Daily activities are developmentally appropriate and play-based, with large and small motor opportunities, art and sensory experiences, language development, music and movement, and pre-literacy exposure through books, finger plays, and storytelling. Each day, an experienced cook prepares breakfast, lunch, and two snacks for all the children through the Federal Child Care Food Program. The program is a non-profit agency governed by a board of directors that includes parents, community members, and members of St. John's.
A History Rooted in Recovery and Welcome
In 1907, in the spirit of God's inclusive love, members of St. John's came together to worship, to rejoice, and to encourage gratitude and wonder in both the congregation and the community. The story begins after the devastating earthquake and fire that destroyed much of San Francisco in April 1906. Many families moved to the East Bay after losing their homes in that disaster. Some of those new residents joined about 100 people from the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley to consider the formation of a new congregation.
On May 15, 1907, these people petitioned Presbytery to establish a new church in Berkeley. On June 16, 1907, this church was officially organized by the Presbytery. Many of the first members who had come from San Francisco brought a cherished memory of the St. John's Presbyterian Church there, along with a hope that its pastor, Dr. George G. Eldredge, might accept a call to be the first pastor of the new church. On November 10, 1907, Dr. Eldredge did accept the call and brought one condition of his own, that the new church be called St. John's. Services were held temporarily in Stiles Hall, the University YMCA, until all the structures needed to serve the church could be built. The final stage of construction - completed that same year - included the sanctuary and was designed by architect Julia Morgan, whose work has been designated a State Historical Landmark and now serves as the Julia Morgan Theater.
After eleven years of faithful service, on October 9, 1918, Dr. Eldredge became a fatal victim of the great influenza epidemic. Although the church remained in heartbroken bewilderment, a retired minister in his eighties, Rev. E. S. Chapman, comforted and led the perplexed congregation through the coming months. On September 10, 1919, Dr. Francis W. Russell was called to be the pastor, and he served until 1923, when he left to become Executive Director of the Mr. Herman Association. In January 1924, Dr. Stanley Armstrong Hunter from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, began his ministry. For the next thirty years, Dr. Hunter played a major role in framing the history and future direction of St. John's, retiring in January 1954.
During the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942, St. John's quietly bought the property of Japanese Berkeley residents who were being shipped off, paying one dollar for each piece, so that it could be returned when they came back. The pastor visited all of the affected families. When they returned, all property was returned.
Dr. Hunter's ministry was followed by Dr. James Comfort Smith (1954 to 1970), Dr. Robert A. McKenzie (1970 to 1983), and Dr. Thomas D. McKnight (1984 to 2001). In 1955, the church bought the present property on College and Forest and ten years later occupied the fellowship hall and adjoining classrooms while maintaining its ministries on two campuses. The generous bequest from Dr. Howard Campbell in 1968 made it possible to complete the new sanctuary and all the necessary accessory areas. In 1974, the congregation vacated the old church and temporarily held services in the Fellowship Hall until the sanctuary was finished one year later. In late 1978, the final mortgage payment was made on the entire property and a grand service of burning the mortgage was held.
In 1982, St. John was one of about twenty founding congregations of the Sanctuary Movement, protecting Central American refugees fleeing civil war. In 1990, St. John became a More Light congregation, affirming the spiritual gifts of LGBT people in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In 2012, St. John adopted a refugee family amid the children-at-the-border crisis; in the coming years, four different families and dozens of people were helped with court cases, housing, and many other necessities. Families won cases, became citizens, purchased homes with help from the church, and successfully paid back loans.
The Birth of the Sanctuary Movement
In late 1979, St. John's Session agreed to sponsor the release of a political prisoner from Argentina at the request of a Berkeley group. The youth group became the official sponsor of Claudio Vasquez, a young man brimming over with life who had spent three years in prison. A year later, the Deacons sponsored Horacio Martinez Baca, a high-profile prisoner and attorney general of one of the Argentine states. Both sponsorships were legal and at the instigation of the U.S. government.
In January 1982, the church was approached a third time by Catholic Charities in San Francisco to sponsor a young couple, Omar and Ingrid Mayorga and their infant son, who had fled the military assault on their campus in San Salvador and entered the U.S. illegally. Marilyn Chilcote and Rev. Bob McKenzie drove into San Francisco and picked up the family, finding a place for them to live. The following Tuesday, their six-member lectionary study group - ministers from five different congregations - was meeting in the Sproul Conference Room discussing this action. Gus Schultz, the Lutheran pastor, asked why their congregations did not declare sanctuary for refugees fleeing repression in Central America. It was decided that St. John's would take the lead and invite the other four churches to join in a covenant of sanctuary.
On March 24, 1982, St. John's formally declared public sanctuary, signing a covenant of sanctuary authored by Steve Knapp of the Session, telling the world that the church would defy the U.S. government's policy of returning refugees to their home countries. The idea of sanctuary was born, and the word sanctuary was first spoken, in the Sproul Conference Room. The six congregations quickly became more than thirty Berkeley churches. South Side Presbyterian in Tucson, years later providing refuge for fleeing refugees, formally joined on March 24. Sanctuary became an international movement on behalf of refugees across the world. The Rev. Robert McKenzie later wrote of those days, "The church is in the business of planting seeds."
Today, the Mission and Justice Commission cultivates local, national, and international engagements that advance that century-long legacy. St. John's was one of five founding congregations of the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, which has since grown to thirty congregations and has secured asylum from the U.S. government for over three thousand immigrants. St. John's is also a part of the East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition/Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and partners with its sister congregation, Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana in East Oakland, through a San Francisco Presbytery Partnership Grant first secured in 2021 and renewed in 2025. The grant supports a lending and life crisis fund that has facilitated microloans to individuals and families at PIPH. Since its inception in 2005, Mission and Justice has sent more than one hundred thousand dollars in benevolence funds to a core group of recipients doing important work rooted locally but often with a global reach: A Safe Place, Berkeley Presbyterian Mission Homes, Insight Housing (formerly Berkeley Food and Housing Project), East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, More Light Presbyterians, Presbyterians for Earth Care, and MECA, which supports children displaced by military campaigns in the Middle East.
The Mission and Justice Commission has championed climate justice, economic justice, education justice, food justice, gender justice, health justice, housing justice, immigrant and refugee justice, racial justice, and anti-militarism campaigns. The largest single giving campaign by the St. John's congregation has supported the opening of a school in El Aresh, Egypt, serving Palestinian refugee children displaced by hostilities in Gaza. In conjunction with the Synod of the Nile (Presbyterian Church of Egypt), the campaign has provided a return to the classroom and nourishing meals to 250 Palestinian children displaced by military campaigns in the adjacent region.
Climate Care and Earth Justice
St. John's takes seriously what its leaders call "the twin existential crisis" of climate change and biodiversity loss. The Mission and Justice Commission has organized multi-day Earth Justice Weeks and has partnered with the Presbyterian Earth Care network, Interfaith Power and Light, and the California Interfaith Power and Light affiliate. Past forums have addressed carbon and energy, biodiversity, sustainable food systems, the spiritual care of young people in a climate crisis, the science of cultural cognition, and the Ubuntu philosophy of our common siblinghood with the earth. Presbyterians for Earth Care hosted "The Climate Crisis and Empowering Hope" conference at the Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center in Virginia, with satellite gatherings in Arkansas, Minnesota, and California. The California gathering in Berkeley in September 2023 included presentations by Dr. Ron Amundson, Professor of Soil Science at UC Berkeley; Dr. Cherie Holcomb on biodiversity loss and the "30 by 30" policy; Dr. Suzanne Jones on climate-friendly cooking; and Fr. Fikiri Deogratias, a Jesuit priest from the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the Ubuntu philosophy and ethics of being siblings from Mother Earth.
Congregation members have also worked with Berkeley Presbyterian Mission Homes on Earth Day witness events along Ashby Avenue and Regent, promoted the film Kiss the Ground, and screened Youth vov, the documentary about the Juliana v. United States climate lawsuit. The Sanctuary itself offers a fitting counterpoint: a solar-friendly copper roof, redwood paneling, a hot-water radiant system in the floor slab, and abundant natural light through clerestory windows. As one of the Sunday Forum topics put it, Christians are called to do all for the glory of God - including, in Dr. Suzanne Jones's words, "Eating for a Healthy Climate."
Community Life Throughout the Week
Worship is offered every Sunday morning, but most weeks at St. John's include far more than the Sunday service. The Activities @ S J calendar offers a steady rhythm of small groups, study circles, and hands-on gatherings for every age and interest.
On Tuesday mornings, the Prime Timers ceramics class meets from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Hunter Hall. Diana Bohn directs the program. Every age is invited, not only seniors. The small fee covers materials. PFLAG meets at Campbell Hall on the fourth Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. The Adult Children of Alcoholics group meets at 7:00 p.m. in Room 212.
On Wednesdays, the church kitchen is the hub of East Bay Food Not Bombs, with volunteer cooks preparing free vegan or vegetarian meals between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The Berkeley Community Chorus rehearses in the Sanctuary on Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m. The Choir rehearses on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary.
On Thursdays, Food Not Bombs is again in the kitchen, and the Horizons Bible Study meets on the third Thursday at 12:00 p.m. in Campbell Hall and online.
On Fridays, the Lectionary Bible Study meets online at 10:00 a.m. The Prayer Shawl Knitting Ministry gathers on the second and fourth Fridays at 2:00 p.m. via Zoom, knitting shawls for people going through difficult times, blankets for new babies, and hats, scarves, and baby blankets for the Berkeley Women's Daytime Drop-In Center. Even non-knitters are welcome for tea and conversation. The Flic Flac Film Group meets on the third Friday at 7:30 p.m. online, choosing two films to watch independently and then gathering to discuss them for about an hour and a half.
On Saturdays, the Men's Breakfast group, launched in September 2010, meets online from 8:30 to about 10:00 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month. It is an intergenerational group of members and non-members, with a brief volunteer presentation followed by unstructured sharing.
Boy Scout Troop 6 BSA meets at the church, and St. John's runs Camp Elmwood, a Teen Leadership Camp for ages fourteen to seventeen and a one-week camp for ages six to thirteen.
The Mission and Justice Commission, the Christian Education Commission, the Worship Music and Arts Commission, the Stewardship and Growth and Welcoming Commission, the Administration and Personnel Commission, the Center Commission, and the Grounds and Facilities Commission meet throughout the month, with a Board of Deacons meeting on the second Thursday at 5:45 p.m. The Session, the church's governing body of elected elders, meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom.
Schools at St. John's
Three schools operate on the St. John's campus Monday through Friday, making the church a hub of educational life in Elmwood. Maybeck High School, named after the regional architect Bernard Maybeck, was established in 1972 as a small, college-preparatory school that values academic excellence, mutual support, respect, and responsibility. Monteverde Preschool offers a mixed-age setting with light-filled classrooms opening onto a large play yard, a dedicated art room, a sandbox, climbing structure, garden, and a children's wilderness area they have named The Bongo. The church's own St. John's Child Care Program, established in 1973, serves infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children with play-based, developmentally appropriate activities in a multicultural environment. Together, the schools share the building with the church's many community groups and are part of what makes the church a true presence in the area "socially, educationally, artistically, and spiritually."
Facility Rentals, Weddings, and the Wider Berkeley Community
St. John's Presbyterian Church and Center is a community resource providing space to non-profit organizations for meetings, events, classes, rehearsals, and concerts. With the exception of weddings and memorials, space is available to non-profits only. The Sanctuary seats up to 275 people and offers amphitheater-style seating with redwood paneling, copious natural light, excellent acoustics, and a Bösendorfer grand piano. Campbell Reception Room, Hunter Hall, the Fireside Room, the Hunter Hall Patio, Choir Room 212, the Sproul Room, and the Ark and Ark Annex can be reserved through the church office. The facility is available from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and all of St. John's rooms are ADA accessible. No events are scheduled on Cal football game days.
St. John's is a progressive Christian community, affirming of individuals and families of all shapes and sizes, with a strong tradition of biblical commitment to justice and peace. Couples considering a wedding at St. John's should know that the church believes God affirms the commitment of love between two people regardless of gender, and all couples are held to the same standard. If one of the church's ministers is to officiate, at least one of the two to be married must be a member of the Presbyterian church, and the couple must attend premarital counseling. The space gives testimony to the commitment and love of the members of St. John's to their relationship with the Spirit of all life and the community of Christians called the Church.
Reformed, Presbyterian, and Connected
St. John's is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), affiliated with the San Francisco Presbytery. Presbyterians trace their history to the sixteenth century and the Protestant Reformation. Reformed thinking, much of which was crystallized by the French lawyer John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland, lives on at the core of Presbyterian belief: the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture, justification by grace through faith, and the priesthood of all believers. The Presbyterian Church in the United States has split and parts have reunited several times; the largest body, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), was formed in 1983 from the reunion of the so-called southern branch and northern branch.
The PCUSA seal, with its cross, scripture, descending dove, and flames, gives visual form to the church's heritage, identity, and mission. The Session of St. John's Presbyterian Church of Berkeley serves as the Board of Trustees of the church, and elders are elected by the congregation to three-year terms. The Session is responsible for governing the congregation and guiding its spiritual life, ensuring that the Word of God is truly preached and heard and that the Sacraments are rightly administered and received.
The current elders include Diane Morrison as Clerk of Session; Class of 2026: Ron Amundson and Ralph Lastuka; Class of 2027: Fred Goff and William Harvey; Class of 2028: Lisa Blampied, Diana Brown, Jeanine Castello-Lin, Robert Hemmer, and Susan Hunn. Parish Associates Marilyn Chilcote, Sally Juarez, and Robert McKenzie, together with Pastor Max and the Rev. Todd Jolly, share in the church's preaching, music, and justice work. Office Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Donations can be made in the weekly Sunday offering, by check to the office, or online through Stripe and the PayPal Giving Fund QR code. St. John's is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization (Federal Tax I.D. 94-1156850).
The church is a "friendly, multi-generational community of faith" that invites "all who seek to know and love God to join us on Sunday mornings and to help us to spread God's vision of love, peace and justice in our community." The 10:00 a.m. hour on Sunday - whether experienced in the Sanctuary under the Brombaugh organ or through Zoom - remains the heartbeat of that century-old promise.
Plan a Visit
For more information about the Sunday service, the Brombaugh organ, the Children's and Youth Ministry, the choir, the Sunday Forum, the Mission and Justice Commission, or any of the community groups that meet at St. John's, email sjoffice@stjohnsberkeley.org or call (510) 845-6830. The Sunday Bulletin, with the order of service and the Zoom link, is sent by email every Saturday morning to anyone who subscribes. Visitors are always welcome to stay for Coffee Fellowship after worship and to meet Pastor Max and others who are part of the St. John's community.