Menlo Church, previously Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (or MPPC), is a congregation located in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

with campuses in Menlo Park, Mountain View, San Mateo, Saratoga, and San Jose. It was officially organized on November 30, 1873. Its congregation has over 3,863 members as of 2016.50 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. The church also holds two Sunday services at the site of its original location, 700 Santa Cruz Avenue, behind Ace Hardware store. 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.) 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 led by Senior Pastor John Ortberg, 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, John Ortberg III) who had confessed a sexual attraction to minors, to continue volunteering with minors at the church. After an 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 announced his resignation on July 29, 2020, citing broken trust and “poor judgment” in decisions to allow his son, Ortberg III, to continue to volunteer with students at the church after learning of his attraction to minors. 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, church leadership said.

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