Churches in San Francisco

Notable evangelical churches in San Francisco

• City Church San Francisco — one of the most discussed evangelical congregations in the city; planted in the 1990s; served San Francisco's young professional population; went through a significant theological and leadership transition in 2017 over LGBTQ inclusion; its story reflects the particular pressures on evangelical churches in a progressive urban context.
• First Baptist Church of San Francisco — historic evangelical Baptist congregation; long history of ministry in the city.
• Cornerstone Church San Francisco — evangelical non-denominational congregation; urban ministry focus.
• Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church — theologically conservative Presbyterian congregation in the PCA tradition; serves San Francisco's working population.
• Redemption Church — Reformed evangelical church plant; Acts 29 network; serves the city's young professional demographic.

Catholic San Francisco

The Archdiocese of San Francisco covers San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo counties. The Catholic presence in San Francisco has deep roots in Spanish and Mexican colonial history — the city grew around Mission Dolores, founded in 1776.

• Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, Cathedral Hill — the striking modernist cathedral (1971) that replaced the old Saint Mary's destroyed in 1962; serves as the archdiocesan mother church; its dramatic concrete and hyperbolic paraboloid design is architecturally controversial but structurally remarkable
• Mission Dolores (Mission San Francisco de Asís) — the oldest intact building in San Francisco (1791); the original Spanish mission; active parish alongside its newer basilica; essential to understanding the city's origins
• Saint Patrick Church, South of Market — historic Irish Catholic parish in the tech-industry heart of the city
• Growing Filipino, Chinese, and Latino parishes — the Archdiocese serves extremely diverse communities; Filipino Catholic life is particularly strong in Daly City, which has one of the largest Filipino American populations in the country

Asian-American churches

The Bay Area has one of the largest Asian American populations in the country, and its churches reflect this:

• Chinese evangelical churches — San Francisco's Chinatown community has supported Chinese-language Baptist, evangelical, and Presbyterian congregations for over a century; First Chinese Baptist Church (1880) is one of the oldest Chinese American churches in America
• Cantonese and Mandarin congregations — the Bay Area's large Chinese community supports dozens of Chinese-language and bilingual evangelical churches
• Korean evangelical churches — significant Korean American presence in the South Bay; multiple large Korean-language Presbyterian and evangelical congregations
• Japanese American churches — historic Japanese American Presbyterian and Methodist congregations dating to pre-World War II
• Southeast Asian congregations — Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Filipino evangelical churches serve growing communities throughout the Bay Area

Progressive and mainline churches

San Francisco's progressive culture has produced distinctive mainline congregations:

• Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, Tenderloin — one of the most famous social-justice churches in America; led for decades by Cecil Williams; radically inclusive; well-known for feeding thousands daily through its social programs; theologically post-traditional
• Grace Cathedral, Nob Hill — the Episcopal cathedral; stunning neo-Gothic building; labyrinth walk; progressive Episcopal tradition; significant arts programming
• First Presbyterian Church of San Francisco — historic PCUSA congregation; progressive orientation

Frequently asked questions

Is it hard to be a Christian in San Francisco?

Socially, yes — San Francisco is one of the cities where Christianity has the least cultural cachet and where countercultural pressure to conform to progressive values is most intense. Evangelical Christians in San Francisco often describe a sense of being a minority holding countercultural views on issues where the surrounding culture has near-total consensus. Churches that have thrived here have typically been very clear about their theological identity, excellent at building community, and willing to engage honestly with the questions the culture is actually asking.