Perched high in the hills of Pacifica's Manor District, Westside Baptist Church aims both locally and internationally with its ministry. At several times during the week, congregation members from Pacifica and surrounding areas can participate in music-rich services and Bible studies, or participate abroad through missions run by the World Bank. Westside Baptist's doctrine is fundamental and centered on the Bible.
Founded in 1956, the Parish of St. Peter Catholic Church is one of the longest-standing Catholic institutions in Pacifica. Beside Sunday mass, the church offers a variety of worship, educational and recreational opportunities for congregation members, including senior's, men's and women's social groups, religious education for elementary through high school students, a confirmation program, sports teams through the Catholic Youth Organization and a choir. The parish also runs an outreach program to the sick and elderly, wherein members can pray for and take the eucharist to people living with illness and residents of local retirement communities.
When Rissho Kosei Kai Buddhist Church opened its doors in September of 1979, it represented one of the first footholds for institutionalized Buddhism in what was then 20-year-old Pacifica. The church, housed in a building once occupied by St. Andrew United Presbyterian Church, is but one branch of Tokyo-based Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhism, which has locations around the world. Kazuhiko Nagamoto, the minister at the Pacifica sanctuary, said that the organization focuses on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, one of numerous Buddhist texts. The Rissho Kosei-kai website rk-world.org says the Lotus Sutra is a "teaching of human respect, both the study and practice of a spiritual path that develops human potential, and a way of living that seeks peace for all people."
Although the church's congregation of about 150 Pacificans and residents of surrounding areas is not heavily involved in the community through ministry or evangelicalism, Nagamoto says the church does participate in Pacifica's annual Fogfest and hosts a rummage sale every August. He said that his church primarily works to change the community through changing the individual, a strategy he believes sets Buddhism apart from religions such as Christianity.
Sea View Baptist Church is located near scenic San Pedro Valley County Park. Sea View hosts worship and study opportunities for congregation members of all ages. These include Sunday school, a youth group, women's Bible study and Sunday services at 10am. Community members are welcome to attend occasional potlucks.
Pacifica Baptist Church, founded in 1950, offers services and focused Bible study sessions throughout the week, including a discipleship group on Thursday and Sunday School for young adults and children. Worship services feature a praise team, which Pastor Stephen Cosgrove said is different than a choir in that "a choir stands up with robes, a praise team stands up with guitars." Cosgrove, who is the 13th pastor of the church, said that it is his and the congregation's intention to reach all people of all sectors of society with the word of Jesus Christ, even though the church's denomination is Baptist. "We don't push that," he said. As part of the Southern Baptist Convention--a sect within the larger Baptist method of Christianity--which was formed in 1845 in Georgia, Pacifica Baptist Church gives 20 percent of its income toward missionary programs, half of which target U.S. communities; the other half target communities across the world. More locally, the church sponsors little league teams, participates in Walk for Life West Coast, an annual anti-abortion demonstration held in San Francisco, and sets up a booth at Pacifica's annual Fogfest where congregation members hand out free Bibles.
The Coastside Community Church shares a campus with the Alma Heights Christian Academy in the Linda Mar Valley. Thanks to its close ties with the school, the church is able to use some of the school's facilities, including the gymnasium and ball fields.
The church's and school's relationship stretches back decades. What was to become Coastside began when Alma Heights Christian Academy leaders meeting every week for church, and over the years the church began shaping its own identity and hiring its own administrative staff and pastors.
Coastside offers seminars, small groups, missions efforts and community service outreach opportunities to congregation members of any age.
Church of the Good Shepherd has stood at its current location on Oceana Boulevard since June, 1953. Since then its congregation has grown to more than 750 families.
The church offers a variety of services besides mass, including grief counseling, retreats and information sessions on global crises. Clubs for Catholic men and women meet at the Church of the Good Shepherd's St. Rita's Hall, as do the Knights of Columbus and the Boy Scouts. The church hosts a crab feed every January.
The Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church is tucked away in Pacifica's Linda Mar neighborhood. Part of a group of Lutheran churches that form the Peninsula Evangelical Lutheran Church in American Cooperative Group, Holy Cross participates in regional events and activities that would otherwise be beyond the scope of its modest congregation.
Holy Cross hosts Sunday School for its congregation members, as well as an occasional Ladies Afternoon Tea, an annual Harvest Festival, a Mardis Gras celebration, musical performances from various artists and bands, a Thanksgiving feast for the community and a St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Our Savior's Lutheran Church observes and practices Christian faith as defined in the Nicene, Athanasian, and Apostles creeds. Adult Bible class and Sunday school are held every Sunday before the service at 10am. There is an additional Bible class every Thursday evening.
New Life Christian Fellowship (NLCF) was founded in 2007 when Grace Bible Fellowship and Vista Del Mar Baptist Church were joined under Pastor Jonathan Markham. A typical service at NLCF consists of singing, a Bible message from the pastor and praying, as well as a lesson for children in the congregation. Midway through the service, children are invited to leave for NewLifeKidz!, a scripture-based program designed for pre-adolescents and young teens. Childcare is also available for younger children during services.
There are diverse worship opportunities at New Life, including men's and women's study sessions, adult small group Bible study and a young adults group. Local and international evangelism projects, including missions, are part of New Life's overall vision.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church, grew rapidly in the 20th Century and continues that trend thanks to an intent focus on missionary programs. It is now an international organization.
Mormon values favor the nuclear family structure and a sense of community within the church, but some of its beliefs have brought the church into the international spotlight, most recently when it sponsored opposition to making same-sex marriages legal in the state of California.
Although the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints shares the same Christ-centric doctrine and reliance on the Bible as a holy book with other Christian denominations, it also incorporates other texts, supposedly prophetic, which were written by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the 19th Century. And, much like the Catholic Church believes the Pope is a conduit by which God's will may be known, Mormons believe the president of their church is a prophet through which the will of Christ may be known.
Pacifica's branch of the Mormon Church might be hard to spot as one is driving up Sharp Park Road. The entrance to its parking lot is located just before Milagra Ridge's entrance going east.
The San Francisco West Stake Family History Center, a branch of a national organization that collects historical materials so individuals may identify who their ancestors are, is also housed at this location.
Oceanview Church of Christ is located a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean in Pacifica's Sharp Park neighborhood. Its grounds are well-kept and the building in which the church is housed is modern, with a large parking lot for its congregation out back.
Worship services are on Sundays at 11am and 1pm. Bible classes for all ages precede Sunday services at 10am, but a second weekly class is held at 7pm on Wednesdays. Services rely heavily on singing and praying as means of worship, along with a Bible-centered sermon midservice.