Menlo Church, previously Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, is a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church congregation located in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

with campuses in Menlo Park, Mountain View, San Mateo, and Saratoga, California.

History

The church was officially organized on November 30, 1873. Its congregation has over 3,863 members as of 2016.www.pcusa.org/media/uploads/research/pdfs/2012-cs-table6.pdf
/ref> It was listed as the 17th Most Influential Church in America according to a 2007 survey.50 Most Influential Churches in America
/ref> The original site was donated in 1874, less than a year after the church was founded, and MPPC met for 76 years at 700 Santa Cruz Avenue and Chestnut, until the church built its current facility at 950 Santa Cruz Avenue in 1950, where it remains now. The ''Open Doors'' campaign led to the openings of two new campuses: the North Campus in San Mateo and the South Campus in Mountain View, in 2007 and 2008. In 2015, the church renamed itself Menlo Church to unify the different campuses, and also launched the Menlo San Jose, Saratoga and South City campuses. On March 2, 2014, the congregation voted to affirm the recommendation of the session to depart

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its theological roots lie primarily in the Scottish Reformat ...

in order to realign with

ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is an evangelical Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As a Presbyterian church, ECO adheres to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. It was established in 2012 by former congreg ...

denomination. Menlo Church was formerly led by Senior Pastor John Ortberg Jr., a widely known evangelical author and speaker. Ortberg was placed on a temporary leave of absence in November 2019 after allowing a volunteer (later revealed to be his son), who had confessed a sexual attraction to minors, to continue volunteering with minors at the church. After an initial investigation by a third party, no evidence of wrongdoing was found.John Ortberg Investigated After Church Volunteer Confessed Attraction to Minors
/ref> Ortberg returned to the pulpit on March 7, 2020.Lessons Learned on Leave
/ref> The church later announced his resignation on July 29, 2020, citing broken trust and “poor judgment” in the aforementioned decisions. On October 27, 2020, Menlo Church named John Crosby as its Transitional Pastor. In March, 2021, the worship director of the Mountain View branch of the Menlo Church was fired after a claim was made of “inappropriate behavior online” many years ago. In November 2022, after a two-year nationwide search, Phil EuBank was confirmed by congregational vote to take on the responsibilities of Senior Pastor at Menlo Church.

References

External links

Official Website
{{authority control Presbyterian churches in California Churches in San Mateo County, California Menlo Park, California ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians Religious organizations established in 1874 1874 establishments in California