Church of the Month
First Baptist San Francisco
In 1849 this was California's first free public school and first Baptist church.
Pastor Lewis J. Julianel has been at First Baptist since 1936; has built it into one of strongest in denomination.
A downtown church w ith an evangelistic outreach
S an Francisco is known as the city that knows how and in the heart of this metropolis is an historic old church that lives \up to this slogan. The First Baptist Church was organized July 6, 1849 by Dr. Osgood Wheeler. It was the first Baptist church in California, the first non-Catholic public worship building and also used for the first free public school in the state.
The church property now consists of eight buildings, six of which have been added in the last 12 years. The Sunday school facilities consist of nine assembly rooms .and 118 individual class rooms. There are 88 classes with 118 teachers. Record attendance so far has been 1,082 with an average attendance of 705. The Sunday evening Baptist Training Union consists of 12 groups ranging from pre-school to adults with an average attendance of 392. More than 175 consecrated young people have gone out from this church in the last 12 years to receive Christian education and training for full time service for the Lord. The present membership is over 2,700. Total assets of the church have increased from $27,500 in 1936 to $500,000 in 1953. The missionary giving of the church has increased from $500 in 1936 to $47,500 in 1^53. During the last 16^4 years 6,169 new members have been received of which 2,019 came by baptism. In the last 16i4 years the church has had an annual average of 136 baptisms per year, the second highest average of any church in the entire American Baptist Convention. In September 1947 the church established the San Francisco Baptist College in its service center building at 121 Haight Street. The building consists of four floors and includes a men’s dormitory, eight class rooms, a chapel seating 200 students, a library, office rooms, social hall, dining room, kitchen and gymnasium. The enrollment is 172. Dr. Lewis J. Julianel has held three pastorates since the completion of his college and seminary training. He began as pastor of the First Church in Coalinga, Calif., in 1928 and was there until 1930. From there he went to the Scott-Memorial Church in San Diego. In 1936 he began his work in San Francisco.
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