Dear friends,

I am overjoyed and honored to accept the invitation from the Elder Board to serve as your next Senior Pastor. Last fall, I began a wondrous process of discernment with the search team and, with every conversation, there was a sense of increased confirmation from the Spirit that the hopes and needs of City Church San Francisco were in unique alignment with my own gifts, experiences, and understanding of what it means to be a pastor in this day and age.

As your next Senior Pastor, I am committed to leading and teaching from a place of anti-racist values: transparent communication and decision-making, an abundant worldview, both/and thinking, and cooperation and collaboration. (We put these things in writing so that we can be held accountable, no?) I hope you will join me in embracing these values; they will enable us to stay grounded in that which keeps us connected to ourselves, each other, and the God who gathers us together.

I have only ever imagined being able to serve a community that was willing to make thoughtful, faithful, and courageous commitments to follow in the way of Jesus. Across various conversations, as I learned about the celebrations and challenges along your journey, the phrase that kept coming to mind was, “we can do hard things.” City Church – congregants and staff alike – have done hard things while staying true to where the Spirit was leading. You have proven that you can do much with what God has given and shown yourselves to be rich soil for seeds of new life to take root and flourish. As I step into this role, I don’t see myself so much as chief expert but, rather, as one who is here to resource, midwife, and cultivate what God is already beginning to bring about–deep connection, honest questions, robust discipleship, and vibrant inclusion.

As we begin this next chapter, it is abundantly clear that the future of the church will look very different from the past. In the midst of this anxiety and possibility, we can find our trust in a God who makes all things new; our hope in a gospel which proclaims wholeness of life for all; and our wisdom from the Spirit who guides us through all circumstances. I look forward to this new thing that God is about to do among us; to build on City Church’s legacy of faithfulness and transformation so that those who follow after us might do more tomorrow than we could ever do today.

With Gratitude and Joy,

Rev. Emily McGinley