Ministries
Music Ministries
Besides performing at 115 Celebrations every year, the Glide Ensemble takes the church outside the walls for 30-40 additional performances every year. We share our message of love everywhere within the community. From Market Street to as far away as Shanghai, China, the Glide Ensemble has sang of justice and empowerment.
Whether they are raising funds for the church or donating their performances to a worthy cause, the dedication of the volunteer choir members who sing beyond Sunday is incredible. Collectively, they donate over 7,000 hours of volunteer labor every year. Their powerful gift is to make people feel faith, hope, and love wherever they travel.
Audiovisual Ministries
A team of dedicated volunteers, led by Glide Memorial Church’s Director of AV Ministries Mark Montgomery French, ensures high quality sound in our Sanctuary, puts engaging visuals on our screen, and of course ensures that our digital sanctuaries on Facebook and YouTube are able to welcome anyone in the world into our weekly Sunday Celebrations! A labor of love keeps services open and accessible for all. They also provide high-quality production services to other events at Glide Memorial Church, such as panels, ribbon-cuttings, and fundraisers.
Are you interested in developing your AV talents in service to a good cause? Please contact Mark at mmfrench@glide.org for volunteer opportunities.
Congregational Life and Community Engagement Ministries
Glide Memorial Church's Congregational Life Groups offer a diverse range of gatherings designed to translate the church's message of love into meaningful action. Groups meet throughout the week — in person, on Zoom, or both — and include wellness groups, religious practice groups, activist groups, and wellness, recovery, and peer support groups. All Congregational Life Groups are open to everyone! Please feel free to contact Freddy Martin at fmartin@glide.org to learn more.
Arts and Liturgy Ministries
At Glide Memorial Church, art is resistance, revelation, and a path to liberation. Our Arts and Liturgies Ministry is rooted in the belief that everyone has a sacred story, and that coming into voice is essential to self-defined freedom. We create sanctuary and safe space for transparent, vulnerable, and honest storytelling — welcoming diverse faith traditions, those who identify as non-believers, and those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious. We accept that God can be named or left unnamed, and we believe that everybody is an instrument of God's love and grace.
Through Writer's Church, our Poet-Theologian in Residence, and our world-class music ministry, we invite every person who walks through our doors to claim their own divine voice. We hold events to bring together musicians, artists and community members from across the Bay Area to explore belonging, justice, and the transformative power of creative expression.
Spiritual Care Navigation Ministries
Glide's Spiritual Care Navigation Ministry believes that every person — housed or unhoused, ill or well, believer or non-believer — deserves to be accompanied with dignity through life's most vulnerable moments. Rooted in Glide's mission of radical inclusion, our trained Spiritual Care Navigators bring holistic trauma-informed care directly to the people of the Tenderloin: on the streets, in shelters, in single-room occupancy hotels, and at the bedside. This is presence-based ministry — the sacred work of showing up, listening deeply, and walking alongside people facing health crises, end-of-life transitions, and the everyday struggles of survival.
