In the Beginning
Our church was first established in San Rafael in 1948, as First Christian Church of San Rafael. Our roots were with the Western Unity Movement, led by Alexander Campbell in the 1820s. In those days, no one denomination had enough Christians to plant a church. Campbell encouraged believers to cross denominational boundaries and join together, creating new churches that reflected Christ’s call for love and unity. Over time, we dropped the “First” and became simply Christian Church of San Rafael. In February of 1978, Bill Berry was appointed Senior Pastor and he would lead the church faithfully through the various movements of the 80’s & 90’s.
A Changing Climate
By 2006, it was clear that the cultural landscape in Marin Country had changed. The county had led the nation in post-modern thinking and was now an entrenched epicenter for church decline. The way forward would require a different ministry strategy. The American Church Research Project contained groundbreaking research on a national database of over 200,000 churches. In it, Marin County was cited as ground zero for post-Christendom in America. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, it was clear to Pastor Bill that it was time for a change in leadership. As a result, in 2007 a pastoral search team was commissioned. After an exhaustive, 12-month search, the team found Pastor Bill’s successor.
Same Gospel, Different Season
In February of 2009, exactly 31 years after Pastor Bill's appointment, Pastor Allen Coleman was commissioned to succeed him as the church's tenth Lead Pastor. In an unprecedented move, Pastor Allen agreed that Pastor Bill would remain on pastoral staff to help lead the transition. Shortly thereafter, we re-planted as Anthem Church. In September of 2013, after nearly five years of transition and 38 years of faithful ministry, Pastor Bill resigned his pastoral office to pursue other ministries.
Succession of Legacy
In February of 2021, Pastor Allen initiated an intentional season of seeking what’s next for Anthem Church. After a year long process of discernment, the Elders confirmed Pastor Allen’s decision to succeed his office to Pastor Andrew. On February 20, 2022 (13 years later) Pastor Andrew Clark was commissioned as our 11th Lead Pastor.
We continue in our early traditions of unity by actively pursuing and developing inter-denominational and inter-congregational relationships between Biblically based churches in our county through cooperation, combined events and friendship.