Pastor of Vast S.F. Church Prepares for Retirement

After 35 years as the outspoken pastor of San Francisco’s venerable Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, the Rev. Cecil Williams is stepping aside to take his mission to a new level.

“I don’t call it stepping down. I call it stepping over or stepping up,” Williams said Monday. “Most people say that when they retire they can go on vacation and do things they’ve always wanted to do. Well, what I’ve always wanted to do is be a minister.”

Williams, 69, said he has two years to put in place a team to take over the vast operation at Glide before he must retire under the denomination’s rules. The popular pastor announced his plans Sunday during services, after rumors circulated that he might resign.

“When I step away, I will become the training person for all the people at Glide--not only training people at Glide, but training people from other communities,” he said. “There are churches, there are community groups and organizations all across the nation that have come to Glide to ask for help.

“I know the church can open up to the nation,” he said.

With 9,000 members, Glide is the largest Methodist church in Northern California and one of the largest in the nation. Located in the heart of the city’s largely poor Tenderloin district, the church is racially diverse and decidedly liberal, welcoming members from all walks of life.

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The often-overflowing Sunday services at Glide are a San Francisco institution, replete with rousing gospel music and inspired sermons.

Williams came to Glide--then a more traditional church--in 1963, turning services into “celebrations” and starting a wide range of community programs. Along the way, he never shied from political and social issues, ranging from gay rights to compassion for the homeless.

In 1970, Williams told the Associated Press, “This is a church that sees as its main task people . . . and their concerns, and trying to be responsive to those needs.”

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), former mayor of San Francisco, once called Williams “an extraordinary man who has made a real difference.”

The idea of Glide without Williams at the helm was difficult for members to grasp.

“I’m sad,” Nancy Scotton, 51, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I think it will be hard for this congregation to let go of him. It will be hard for a new group to come in and take over. Cecil is almost an institution in San Francisco.”

Williams said he will serve as a “minister emeritus” after his retirement.

“We’re going to make sure what Glide stands for, unconditional love and unconditional acceptance, is practiced,” he said. “If we’re going to be a church, we’re going to make a difference.”

Williams said a nationwide search will be conducted for a team of at least three co-pastors to handle church programs, ranging from a soup kitchen to a computer training academy.

“One reason I’m doing what I’m doing is Glide always wants to be responsible,” he said about the extended search process. “We don’t want to see the bottom fall out when I step aside.”