Glide's accepting love draws many followers
9/29/1998 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York NOTE: This may be used as a sidebar to UMNS #551.
SAN FRANCISCO (UMNS) - Everyone at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church has a story to share.
A gay man who was "excommunicated" from another denomination has finally learned to let go of his anger and allow himself to trust because of the community he finds at the church.
A 21-year-old who grew up in the projects, first landed in jail at the age of 9 and acquired a juvenile record as a thief, hustler and drug dealer has turned his life around and now works at Glide.
A middle-class married couple wary of the institutional church has found inspiration and renewal through their worship and volunteer work there.
These members and others shared the story of Glide's mission and phenomenal success when visited Sept. 24 by the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
The story starts with the Rev. Cecil Williams, an African-American pastor who came to Glide 35 years ago with the assignment to build a significant urban ministry.
"I turned it (Glide) upside down," he told commission members. "That's when the walls began to crumble and people came into this place."
The pastor's free-form style of worship and philosophy that the church should offer both unconditional love and unconditional acceptance soon attracted a multiracial following, including many young people.
One of those young people was Janice Mirikitani, a Japanese-American graduate student who would later become Williams' wife. As an incest survivor, Mirikitani said she came to Glide not knowing who she was and not accepting of God.
"Cecil's presence shook me up," she recalled. Admiring the passion of his support for the poor and marginalized, "I could not help but get involved."
Together, the charismatic couple has transformed Glide into one of San Francisco's largest nonprofit social service providers. The powerful worship services also are an attraction, allowing the church to build its current membership of 10,000.
But accepting people as they are is not always an easy task. "Unconditional love says that you risk everything," Williams said, noting that the institutional church in general does not take risks. "That's what keeps us on the cutting edge. Glide is always willing to risk."
As president of the Glide Foundation, Mirikitani oversees 45 programs and a $6 million budget, addressing such needs as drug and alcohol recovery, HIV/AIDS services, child care, family support and job training. Last year, "Mo's Kitchen," a Glide food program that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, provided more than a million and a half free meals.
Fundraising is continuing for the $9.5 million Cecil Williams Community House under construction next to the church. Scheduled to open next May, the nine-story housing complex will provide shelter form the homeless, people in recovery and people living with HIV/AIDS. A block away from the church, another four-story building is being renovated for a December opening as the Glide Childcare and Family Support Center.
Growth, however, has not resulted in an overwhelming bureaucracy - probably because 60 percent of the 130 paid positions on Glide's staff are filled by people who have participated in its programs.
"We at Glide have been blessed with a minister who empowers us to use our own gifts," said Jean Jackson, who helps lead Bible study and caring ministries. A former drug addict, Jackson is now a seminary student at Pacific School of Theology.
"We give people hope here," Williams said. "And when you have hope, you rejoice."
Glide's new World Wide Web site can be found at www.glide.org.
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