Saturday, January 25, 2014

Mission


The life and mission of our church can not only be found on Sundays at our 10am service, but in all of the ways people live and work in our building.  We invite you to join in all the ways we express our faith and learn how to care for our neighbors and all of creation.




Gala and 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Grace Infant Care Center

The Grace Infant Care Center was recently renovated after a flood and we are raising money to do some additional upgrade work to enable the center to have a washer and dryer. 
·        3-5pm Open House for the newly renovated center.
·        4-6pm Silent Auction
·        5-7pm Gala

Gala tickets are $50/person
or $300 for a table of eight.
You may buy additional tickets for those who are unable to afford a ticket, or donate without attending. 

Individuals may choose their own payment price if they are unable to afford the full price.  Simply send an email to Pastor Megan Rohrer (pastor@gracesf.com) to let us know the amount you would like to pay and you can pay at the door of the event.

Individuals may also contact Pastor Megan if they would like to volunteer and come to the event for free.

Help us reach our goal of raising $2,400, so we can receive $1,200 in matching funds from:
The San Francisco Chapter of Thrivent Financial

 

Grace Infant Care Center A non-profit, state-licensed caregiving facility providing care for infants from the ages of two months to thirty months.  Staffed by the founding Director and four full-time and three part-time caregivers. Provides care for a maximum of 15 infants.  For more info, see their web site at http://www.graceinfantcare.com

Grace Lutheran's Women's Circle Meets the second Thursday of the month in Brotherhood Hall at 1 pm.

Grace Lutheran's Bible Study Meets every Wednesday in Brotherhood Hall at 11 am.

Hope Presbyterian Church   (A Korean Congregation)
Everyday 6am - 7am; Tuesdays 7pm, Wednesdays 8 pm; Thursdays 7pm; Saturdays 8 pm - 10 pm; Sundays 1pm - 5 pm   For more info, see their web site at http://www.sfhope.org/

SFOP - LOC   The Local Organizing Committee of the San Francisco Organizing Project is on hiatus.  For more info on SFOP, see their web site at www.sfop.org

Cable Car Chorus  Meets every Wednesday in Fellowship Hall 7 pm

Daughters of Norway  Meets the second Sunday of every month in Fellowship Hall at 1:30 pm

S.P.E.A.K. (Sunset-Parkside Education and Action Committee)   Meets the third Monday of every month in Brotherhood Hall at 6 pm

Friday, January 24, 2014

Breif History of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church


Parkside Lutheran Church 1944

 Reposted from the Western Neighborhoods Project

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church began as a Sunday school in 1940 when Dr. Olive Erickson volunteered her home on 19th Avenue and Quintara so that the area's children didn't have to travel all the way out to the Mission district for their tutelage.

The group outgrew the doctor's office and began renting a place at St. Francis Episcopal Church Parish House, but actual services for the fledling congregation had to be held in midweek. Soon after a vacant storefornt was rented at 22nd Avenue and Vicente and Parkside Lutheran Church officially formed with the first services held on November 28, 1944.
Grace Evangelical Lutheran 1947
In 1945, Omar Otterness arrived as the first pastor and the name "Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church" was adopted. Naturally, a storefront was a step up from a room in a private residence, but the congregation sought a more permanent home. With a loan from the United Mission Advance, Grace Evangelical puchased a suitably-sized lot at 33rd Avenue and Ulloa Street. Marion Carlsen described the big obstacle:

"...the lot was a sand hill rising 100 feet in the air and known to kids in the neighborhood as the 'greatest sliding hill in these parts.'"

Altar of Grace Lutheran When enough sand was cleared away on the corner, a metal-roofed barracks went up as a temporary home. It was cold at night and on rainy days the din on the roof drowned out all sound within, but the barracks provided a home for services, Sunday school, community meetings, luncheons and more from 1947 to 1949.

Finally, on May 1, 1949 the first permanent building was dedicated on the western part of the property. In the late fifties, the congregation outgrew the modest building and commissioned architect Alfred W. Johnson to design as an addition a new sanctuary over a meeting hall which was completed in 1960.

Images: 1) Parkside Lutheran Church, 1944. 2) The barracks building beside the first permanent structure bing built, 1947. Both from "Celebrating 50 Years of Amazing Grace", Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1994. 3) Altar of Grace Evangelical Lutheran, 1967. Postcard courtesy of Bernice Lassiter.
 
Bibliography: 1) 1988 Directory of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church. 2) "Celebrating 50 Years of Amazing Grace", Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1994. Thanks to Bernice Lassiter for the materials!