Our History
- 1890: dedicated first building on Geary Blvd between Octavia and Gough Streets
- 1906: Great San Francisco Earthquake, minor damage to church building. Church serves as medical center for disaster victims
- 1946: building sold, congregation moves to San Francisco’s Richmond District; .
- 1918: General Synod merges with two other groups to form the United Lutheran Church in America
- 1963: ULCA merges with three other Lutheran denominations to form the Lutheran Church in America
- 1988: LCA merges with two other Lutheran Church bodies to form the ELCA
- 1989-1990: Extended call to Jeff Johnson; subsequent ecclesiastical trial by ELCA.
- 1996: Church expelled from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America following call to Jeff Johnson.
- 2007: Church sells Geary Street property and begins meeting in chapel of First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco
- 2012: Following the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s vote in 2009 for full inclusion of LGBT persons in the ministry of the church, on July 15, 2012, the congregation voted unanimously to rejoin the ELCA.
- 2012: In August, the congregation begins worshiping at St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco.
- 2012: On October 14, with the Bishop of The Sierra Pacific Synod in attendance, the congregation celebrates a Service of Reconciliation & Healing in observance of First United’s return to the ELCA.
