News At First Church

We are very pleased to announce that Micheline La Mont has begun work with First Church as our new Community Relationships Manager. “Mich” will be in charge of First Church’s events calendar and venue rentals, assisting our 18 Community Partners and the public with...

First Church has a new Parish Associate, Rev. Joel Mackey. Joel is a long time Bay Area resident and has served most recently as Parish Associate at Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church. Joel is currently a professional clinical counselor at Bay Area Community Resource...

After four months and eight days without heat, the campus is warming up tonight. The new gas-fired high-efficiency boiler (and adjacent equipment) has been installed, adjusted, tested, re-adjusted and finally fired up for use. The project cost, approximately $150,000,...

Oakland Civic Orchestra, an all volunteer group led by Music Director Martha Stoddard, performed their first concert at First Church, in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday. The free concert featured the world premiere of Burlesk for Two Solo Violoncelli and Orchestra by...

Pastor Matt helped guide the Empower Initiative Team on a pilgrimage to Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma Alabama in February, a trip that coincided with Black History Month. The pilgrimage retraced sacred sites of the Southern Black Freedom Struggle. Those attending...

First Church’s annual celebration of Black History wrapped up on Sunday with an invitation to attend the Black Joy Parade in downtown Oakland. The parade, which begins at 12:30 pm extends along Broadway, from 14th Street to 20th Street. A performance and vendor area...

Carols & Lessons Sunday, December 19, 10 am We will be joined by Brass Over Bridges quintet for a traditional Advent service of Carols and Lessons, with a special focus on examining the “Song of Mary,” in which Mary rejoices at God’s promise to “lift the lowly,...

With Oakland’s gun-homicide count reaching 138 deaths as of publication, First Church members joined Faith in Action East Bay for a second “Night Walk,” joining other faith communities in Oakland in calling for an end to gun violence and for peace. Six members from...

A standing-room only crowd filled First Church for the Oakland School for the Arts annual Winter Concert on Friday evening. Performers included various middle school and high school level ensemble groups, performing choral renditions of mostly popular music and some...

On November 14, representatives from the San Francisco Presbytery and as far south as El Cajon, California, were welcomed for the installation of Rev. Matt Prinz as pastor of First Presbyterian Church. Matt is the nineteenth person installed by the Presbytery as...

When the City of Oakland experienced its one hundredth gun homicide in September, the City Council declared a public health emergency. Since then, the toll has risen to 119 shooting deaths, just shy of the 120 shooting deaths reported for all of 2020. Oakland is not...

Cat calls, groping, teasing, and unwanted advances are a regular part of the school day for many girls at Oakland Technical High School, where a culture of permissiveness and passiveness had left many victims feeling unempowered – until last week when students...

The Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus, headquartered here at First Church since June, performed their first concert since the Covid Pandemic began in March 2020. The performance, sung to a socially distanced crowd of approximately 200, consisted of Chorus standards including...

When the blocks around First Church began to transform into the city’s most densely packed residential hub, we all knew that there would be changes to how the neighborhood behaved. The First Church lawn, one of the only green spaces available to many of apartment...

The Community Women’s Orchestra will be making its new home at First Church, starting this week. The orchestra, which consists entirely of women, will rehearse in the Fellowship Hall on Thursday evenings, from 7:30 – 9:30 pm. They will also have seasonal concerts...

The Building the Beloved Community team continues to make available pronouns buttons for anyone in the congregation who wishes to use them.There are many reasons for making our preferred pronouns evident, among them helping everyone to feel included and respected and...

The Sacred & Profane Chamber Chorus joins four other choral organizations in calling First Church home – at least temporarily. The Chorus, whose repertoire consists of a cappella music from the medieval through contemporary era, was started in 1977. They ordinarily...

The Alameda County Registrar of voters arrived early Friday morning with equipment for the Oakland’s Northgate-Waverly precinct voting location. First Church was selected as an “accessible voting location” and was open to receive voters at 8 AM Saturday. It will...

The Lucy Kinchen Chorale met together for the first time since the pandemic began on Saturday, for a rehearsal that was filled with warm embraces and lots of laughter. “We are like a family, it was wonderful to back together,” said conductor Lori Willis. “There were...

The Vituity Care Foundation, established by physicians with Vituity Health Care, is committed to bridging the health care divide in the US. The Foundation is interested in partnering with First Church to provide “pop-up clinics” on the church’s front lawn, intended to...

Twenty-six framed photos adorn the perimeter of the Reception Room, each offering a unique perspective on a common experience: lock-down. The congregation was asked to submit photos that showed where they found God’s presence during the difficult months of the...

At the August meeting of the Buildings & Grounds Committee, a major project was reviewed that could eventually move the entire First Church campus toward energy independence. The Committee is considering installation of a new photovoltaic array, equipped to...

Twenty-seven people attended a Building the Beloved Community discussion of United, an essay from Cathy Park Hong’s collection entitled Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. The essay touched on topics including racial bias, racial self-hatred, psychology, and...

On Tuesday evening in the Fellowship Hall, the Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus began preparation for their fall concert. The Chorus recently became First Church’s newest tenant, renting a new office space in the former “Women’s Robing Room.” Started in 1999, The Chorus is a...

First Church Deacons met on Zoom, Tuesday, August 10, at 7 pm. The eight deacons, elected by the congregation, are responsible for administering compassionate care to the First Church community. The deacons meet with Pastor Matt, but they are moderated in their...

Every Friday afternoon, a queue stretches its way up the church parking ramp and onto 27th Street – it consists of a diverse group that includes all ages, races, and walks-of-life. They have one thing in common: they are all currently, or recently struggling with a...

“Fred Korematsu was such a humble man,” said treasurer Rose Mary Richmond, speaking of the man she knew who helped count the offerings on Monday mornings with his wife Catherine. “A humble man with a huge legacy,” said Rich Jones, who also knew the former First Church...

An old Victorian hotel sits on Washington Street, it’s upper floors covered in 1880’s gingerbread. The ground floor storefronts have been replaced with a dining hall, kitchen and meeting room. The hotel’s former suites are now home to men enrolled in Cityteam’s Renew...