As part of our fall and winter events with Trinity and First Pres, make plans to join us on Thursday, December 15 at 5:00pm at the Bracketts’ home in Nob Hill to watch the Niners play. RSVP so we know how much Za to order!
As part of our holiday events with Trinity and First Pres, make plans to join us on Friday, December 9 at 7:00pm at the Robins’ home in Pacific Heights/Laurel Heights. The link to RSVP and optionally bring a side or dessert to go with dinner is in our Slack. Festive attire is encouraged!
Here at the Porch we believe that one of the best ways that the church can show the love of Jesus to the world is through foster care and adoption. Even if you aren’t a foster parent yourself, there are lots of ways to help foster families take care of these little ones.
Family Builders is the agency that Jon and Melissa are a part of as foster parents. Every year at Christmas, they do a gift drive where people can buy presents for foster kids. This year, our church is going to jump on board.
Here is the link to participate. Happy Shopping and thanks for pitching in.
Instructions from Family Builders: Each year we call upon our community to help make the Holidays a little brighter for the children and youth in foster care that Family Builders serves. Thank you for your generosity by giving a gift to a child who might not otherwise have one. We would like to have gifts in hand, at the Family Builders office, by December 2nd so we have time to distribute them to the children. You will find a child ID on most items. Please label any gifts that are mailed or dropped off with this ID. You may mail or drop off gift cards. Our address is 1900 Embarcadero Suite 303 Oakland, CA 94606. If sending from an online store and there is an option to send a note, please include the child ID number on the note. This will help us immensely in the sorting process. Also indicate in your shipping instructions that this is a business address so it will be delivered before 5:00pm. If you prefer to purchase any of the gifts from a different retailer, please ensure that it is the same item and in the correct size if applicable. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact ahwilliams@familybuilders.org. Thank you again for your generosity in making the holidays special for each and every child!
As part of our Fall events with Trinity and First Pres, make plans to join us on Friday, October 21 and Friday, November 18 at 7:00pm at Delores Park Church for game night. Bring Your Own Burrito; sodas and a selection of board games will be provided. If you have a favorite you want to teach and play, bring it too. Otherwise, come with your game face on and dice rolling wrist warmed up.
As part of our Fall events with Trinity and First Pres, join us on Wednesday, November 16 at 6:00pm at the Bracketts’ home in Nob Hill for our annual Friendsgiving dinner. Please RSVP in slack so we know how much turkey to roast and let us know what sides you’re bringing.
Q&A on November 13
On Sunday November 13th, we are doing a Q&A in our Sunday gathering.
Normally, we take a chunk of our time together each week to hear the word preached and the gospel proclaimed. We have been working through the book of Luke for two and a half years now, and it’s been great, but it’s also a one way conversation. So about once a year, we take a week to have a discussion where folks can ask Pastor Jon questions. They can be questions about a Biblical text, theological idea, a question about life, or really anything you can think of. All questions are completely anonymous and you are really encouraged to bring up anything that’s been on your mind.
Questions can be submitted anytime using the form below:
In John 17, Jesus spends some time right before he is arrested praying. This chapter is one of the most amazing parts in all of scripture.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20–21
In praying for his people, Jesus prayed that we would be a people of unity. Look at how he builds the idea: At the bottom, Jesus and the Father are united. Above that, he prays that we would have that same kind of unity among the people of God. At the top—and this is amazing part—he says that this kind of unity will display to the world the truth of the gospel.
Our world is fractured and broken. People don’t get along. Our sinful hearts push people who aren’t like us away. Sadly, that’s the normal pattern in our world and this pattern has played out over and over throughout history.
It’s into this darkness that the unity of the church can be a bright light. The people of God are called to stand out by being a diverse group of weirdos who love each other. We are a people united to Christ, and so we are united to one another.
In an effort to live into this truth, we are partnering with a few other churches in the city for Holy Week 2022. We invite you to not only come together and celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ our Lord, but to come together and join arms with a few other churches who also love the Lord and who are committed to San Francisco: First Presbyterian Church, Sanctuary Church, and Trinity Church.
— Pastor Jon
Holy Week Schedule
Palm Sunday. April 10 @ DPC. 5:00 PM
We will be joining First Presbyterian Church in the evening at their location for a traditional Palm Sunday gathering.
Wednesday, April 13
We will not meet for our regular Wednesday night dinner this week.
Maundy Thursday. April 14 @ Grace Fellowship. 6:30 PM
We will be meeting with the folks from Trinity SF, Sanctuary, and First Presbyterian Church for Christ in the Passover: A Seder, a meal where Rich Robinson from Jews for Jesus will be leading and teaching us. RSVP required.
Good Friday. April 15 @ Italian American Social Club. 6:30 PM
We’ll be with the same three churches again for a gathering where we remember the sacrifice of our Lord in our place. This service will focus on the last seven sayings of Jesus from the cross.
Easter Sunday. April 17 @ The Porch. 10:30 AM
For Easter, we will be back on Powell in North Beach to celebrate the pinnacle of the church calendar year—the day our Lord was resurrected and defeated death!
Grace Fellowship
Italian American Social Club
Hey Everyone. We took the holiday schedule survey the last few weeks to see who was in town and whatnot so that we can plan the next month and a half for our little church. Here is the schedule that we came up with. We’ll be taking off two Sundays in December and a few Wednesday night dinners.
November 24 - No Wednesday Dinner
December 5 - No Sunday Gathering
December 12 - Prayer Walk (Sunday morning)
December 19 - Christmas Sunday Gathering
December 26 - No Sunday Gathering
December 29 - No Wednesday Dinner
Here at the Porch we believe that one of the best ways that the church can show the love of Jesus to the world is through foster care and adoption. Even if you aren’t a foster parent yourself, there are lots of ways to help foster families take care of these little ones.
Family Builders is the agency that Jon and Melissa are a part of as foster parents. Every year at Christmas, they do a gift drive where people can buy presents for foster kids. This year, our church is going to jump on board.
Here is the link to participate. Happy Shopping and thanks for pitching in.
Instructions from Family Builders: IMPORTANT: Each year we call upon our community to help make the Holidays a little brighter for the children and youth in foster care that Family Builders serves. Below you will find requested items that you can sign up to purchase. You will find on most items a child ID. All gifts must be mailed or delivered to Family Builders by DECEMBER 3RD. Our Shipping address is 1900 Embarcadero Suite 303 Oakland, CA 94606. When possible, please label any gifts that are mailed or dropped off with this ID. If you are having the gift shipped from a supplier and there is an option to send a note, please include this child ID on the note. This will help us immensely in the sorting process. If you would prefer to purchase any of the below gifts from a different retailer, that is fine. Please ensure that it is the SAME ITEM and in the correct size if applicable. Thank you again for your support!
I just wanted to remind you all about our Sunday plans. Last week, we finished our Summer Sessions. We had a really great summer being back in person and talking about gospel basics. Starting this week at 10:30AM, we are going back to a more normal Sunday gathering. I’m very excited to be together with you all and get back into the book of Luke (don’t forget your Luke booklet if you still have it).
Before we meet together this week, I’d like you to spend a bit of time and think about how lucky we are to gather as the people of God. We aren’t just a group of friends getting together around a common interest. Something deeper happens when we gather as the church. Mike Cosper has a great little blurb:
“Theologian Jeremy Begbie calls the church gathering an ‘echo from the future,’ a foretaste of something we’ll see come to fruition when Christ returns and all things are made new, a not-yet life that we taste in part already. Today, we gather in exile, in the world but not of it, but one day the exile will end. God will rebuild creation, and not one corner of it will be stained by sin and rebellion. Until then, we have these momentary and imperfect glimpses and foretastes as we gather, hear the Word, and respond together. As flawed and imperfect as these gatherings are, they’re the most truthful moment of our week, an outpost of the kingdom of God, and a foretaste of eternity.”
I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday morning for “a foretaste of eternity.”
—Pastor Jon
We’re resuming in-person Sunday gatherings and are so looking forward to being together again! As Jon shared in the last update, these gatherings will be more informal than our regular liturgy: a relaxed hour of worship and collaborative learning, spending time together and growing as disciples of Jesus.
Sundays, June 13–September 5 at 10:30am, at the American Legion Hall at 1524 Powell Street, San Francisco.
As San Francisco moves into the new phase of reopening, we are continuing to operate within the official guidelines of the updated Safer Return Together health order effective June 15th. Most notably this means:
Everyone, regardless of vaccination status, is required to remain masked for the entire time we are indoors together.
All available windows and doors will be open to improve ventilation and promote air circulation.
Sanitizer will be readily available for use after you have contact with high-touch surfaces.
If you are ill, please stay home and get tested for COVID-19.
We strongly urge everyone twelve years and older to get vaccinated as soon as you can if you have not already done so. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kala at admin@porchsf.com.
Hey everyone. As the city moves towards reopening, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what we should do going forward. I wanted to share with you all the plan we’ve come up with. We are going to start meeting in person again every Sunday starting June 13th. For the summer, it won’t be a normal looking church service; we are going to do a paired down liturgy. If you were on the Zoom Wednesday nights, you probably heard me call it “diet church” as a joke, but the official name we’ve come up with is Summer Sessions. We are going to meet at the Powell location on Sundays at 10:30am for about an hour. We will sing a song or two campfire style, just someone with a guitar leading the group. Then I’ll do a bit of teaching, but it won’t look like a normal sermon: we’ll watch videos, have a bit of Bible reading, and do a little more back and forth discussion. Hopefully, it’ll be a great summer spending time together again and growing as disciples of Jesus.
So what are we asking from you all during the summer? Since we are a small church who is just getting started, the first big ask is for you to make an effort to be there. We are really hoping to use the summer sessions to build up some momentum for a bigger relaunch on September 12th, but that’s not going to happen if all of us only show up occasionally. So I’m really asking that you make Sunday mornings a priority in the summer (when you’re in town of course).
The second big ask is for you to really take ownership of our growth plan moving forward. Remember, we are looking to grow in two areas: first, in people who are partners in the kingdom who are joining us in what we are doing. Second, and more importantly, we want to invest in people who are the mission. As we think about our church growing, our focus needs to be on loving and investing in our neighbors and friends who aren’t followers of Jesus. These Summer Sessions are going to be a great avenue to invite people from both of those groups.
That’s what Sunday will look like. What about Wednesdays? We are only going to keep doing the zoom meetings until June 9. Let’s be honest, zoom is a huge blessing and a huge curse. It’s a blessing in that it allowed us to see each other and meet during the height of the pandemic, but let’s be real, we all hate it and if we never had to look at another zoom screen, it’d be too soon. We also want to move back to our in home missional family gatherings, but we don’t have the details worked out yet. At some point in the summer, we will start hosting dinners up at our place during the week, but a lot of this depends on the city’s restrictions and how things look in a few weeks. So stay tuned for more updates (hopefully really soon).
I know it’s been a tough year to plant a church. I thank you all for your dedication and passion to keep with it. I am really looking forward to getting back together every week and plowing forward in our kingdom work together.
—Pastor Jon
I am super excited to announce that we actually get to see each other again. Some churches are already meeting for normal services, but we’ve decided to ease back into our normal routine. The first step will be meeting at Marina Green every other Sunday in April and May. We started on Easter and it was great, so we want to keep it going.
You are encouraged to bring your own food and a blanket or chair if you want. We still want to wear our masks and practice social distancing. Some folks are vaccinated but a lot of us aren’t yet, so we want to continue to be careful.
I really look forward to seeing you all there!
—Jon
Dates: April 18, May 2, May 16, May 30
Time: 12:30-2:00 PM
Easter at Marina Green | Sunday, April 4 | 12:30pm
Easter is our most important day of the year as followers of King Jesus. It’s the day when we celebrate the fact that our Savior defeated death and rose from the grave. It’s the day we celebrate that he’s made a downpayment on our eventual resurrection.
As a church, we want to celebrate this amazing holiday together. We missed our first in-person Easter as a church last year because of COVID-19 and state regulations for shelter in place. This year, things have opened up a little. We still aren’t ready to meet indoors yet (just to be safe), but we are ready to see each other face to face as a church for the first time in what seems like forever.
So we are going to get together outdoors on Easter. Here is the plan: we are going to have our normal Sunday gathering online at 10:30am. I’d encourage you all to get up, make a nice Easter breakfast, and watch that on your TV or phone or however you normally stream it. Then jump in the car or on your bicycle and head on over to Marina Green and meet us for an Easter Church Picnic at 12:30pm. Towards the east side of the parking lot there is a white building (on google maps they call it a “Degaussing Station”). We’ll be on the lawn somewhere close to that building.
We are still going to be taking COVID precautions: We ask that you all wear masks and maintain social distance. We will also have hand sanitizer available. You are welcome you to bring something to eat (or grab some Philz coffee from the coffee truck), but if you do eat we ask that you be socially distanced from folks not in your household while you have to take off your mask. We know it’s a hassle, but we still aren’t out of the woods, and we don’t want to be the church that ends up on CNN because we all got each other sick.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I am personally really excited to see you all again and build up some momentum as a church as we move toward meeting in person again. But really, I’m excited about celebrating Jesus’ resurrection with you all. See you all on April 4th.
— Pastor Jon
Thoughts on Recent Events
It’s been a crazy few weeks. On January 6th, we saw a lawless mob breach the Capitol building in an attempt to force elected officials to overturn the presidential election. This was followed by an impeachment and an inauguration all within two weeks. If you have followed the news at all, you know that our country is divided and tensions are high.
How should we think about and process all that is happening? How should the church view these events? How should we respond?
While I was growing up here in San Francisco, I was taught two ideas. The first one came from school and the second one came from mostly conservative church folk. From school I learned the idea that people are basically good deep down and that humanity is getting better and moving towards the utopia of something like Star Trek. From my more conservative church and family, I was taught that America is the greatest nation ever and that we are a beacon of light.
As I grew up and started really digging into scripture, I saw something else. First, the gospel tells us everyone is not “basically good” but that we are sinners (Romans 3:23). Deep down within the heart of humanity is a rotting sinful nature. Second, I read about the pattern of Babylon: broken people form societies and governments all under the sinful influence of the enemy. And because our societies and our governments are run by fallen people, they oppose the things of God. Because of the influence of the enemy, we see injustice, oppression, evil, and war as the norm. The Bible says that these systems of Babylon will repeat until Christ returns. Babylon. Persia. Greece. Rome. The pattern keeps rolling. And no human nation is a “Christian Nation” but all are nations that are filled with sin. The United States of America is in many respects a great nation. There are a lot of things to love about our country. But we aren’t perfect. In many ways, we are a part of the ongoing system of Babylon. It should be no surprise that we are divided. It should be no surprise that sin has its hands all over our history and our current political system.
My favorite book of the Bible is Revelation. The main idea in the book of Revelation isn’t about an end times timeline. The idea behind the book of Revelation is to teach the people of Jesus how to live for his kingdom while surrounded by Babylon; how to conquer by following the pattern of Jesus. He models for us the path to victory. He won by dying for his enemies. He died by losing. He won his victory as the lion by dying as the lamb.
So as the world around us keeps up with the pattern of Babylon, his people are called to persevere and bear witness to our king all while facing oppression and injustice. In the book of Revelation, a choice is presented to God’s people. Will you fall in with Babylon, or will your resist is the manner of Jesus? Will you place your hope in a system of injustice? Will you make an idol of a political party or a political figure, or will you have Jesus as your Lord?
It breaks my heart that what I see from a lot of church folk here in the US is the choice to follow the first path. So many people who claim to follow Jesus have placed their ultimate hope in something or someone who can’t deliver. And that has had an effect on the reputation of all of us.
So what do we do?
First, we shouldn’t be surprised that the sinful world around us is falling apart. We should be prepared for it, and we should be ready to point people to King Jesus through our love and humility. We shouldn’t rest our hope in Donald Trump or Joe Biden, in Republicans or Democrats. We should rest our hope in our true king.
Second, I believe that God has called our church to this city for a reason. I do not want you to think that we should just ride it out and let Babylon do its thing. We are called to make a difference in the world (for more on this, check out this sermon). We are called to show people what the new heaven and earth will look like, but we are called to do that by loving our King and loving our neighbors well. People should see us and see that our ultimate allegiance isn’t to a political figure or system grounded here on earth, but to a king who sits on a throne in heaven. A king who is coming back to put the world back together. A king who will ultimately defeat sin and put an end to Babylon (see Revelation 18).
So let us be a people who live in the pattern of Jesus the slain lamb. Let us persevere with hope in him. Let us be a people of prayer—especially prayer for the broken people in our nation.
(1 Timothy 2:1-2) First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people—for kings and all who are in high positions—that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
-Jon