6:00 p.m. Midweek Supper All are welcome to join for a community dinner prepared by church members in Heritage Hall prior to worship. 6:45 p.m. Midweek Worship You are invited to give yourself a gift in the middle of your week. This worship service will refresh you and leave you with a sense of calm and security. You will be fed through singing, and quiet contemplation of scripture. In our peaceful Sanctuary lit with candles, you will feel God's presence and trust more deeply that you are God's beloved child. Come and be fed.
Historical Timeline
Timeline of Significant Events in St. Mark's History
1849
During the California Gold Rush Herr Pastor Frederick Mooshake began ministering to San Francisco German Lutheran immigrants and by 1859 had formed the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church. The roots of St. Mark’s lie in Pastor Mooshake’s early ministry, giving this church the distinction of being the oldest Lutheran Church in the 48 contiguous states west of the Rocky Mountains.
1863
An early church, St. Markus Evangelical Lutheran Church whose name reflected our German heritage, was built on Geary Street in Union Square on the current site of Macy’s.
1894
June 24. Cornerstone laid for present church building, St. Markus Kirche, during the tenure of Rev. Julius Fuendeling, pastor for 29 years from 1883-1912. A German-American architect, Henry Geilfuss, designed the grand unique red brick church with Romanesque Revival style exterior and Gothic Revival interior.
The roots of St. Mark's trace back to 1849 in the California Gold Rush days when the first wave of German immigrants began to arrive in San Francisco. The dedication of the present church building in 1895 marked three decades of effort by German immigrants to establish Lutheranism in California. Rev. Frederick Mooshake from Goettingen University arrived in 1849 to minister to the immigrants. Initially, services were held in homes, then in the Congregational Church of Christ, which was later bought by Rev. Mooshake and his followers, and the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed in 1859. In 1860 Rev. Jacobus Matthias Beehler arrived to lead the liberal leaning church, and in 1862 a new church building was constructed on Geary Street facing Union Square. Pastor Beehler resigned in 1867 to form more conservative St. Paulus Lutheran Church at Eddy and Gough. During a tumultuous time there were nine pastors who served St. Mark's between 1867 and 1883, and for a brief period financial difficulties compelled the church to rent pews for $10 each.
