Pastor
Rev. Keenan C. Kelsey
Keenan Colton Kelsey was born, raised, and educated on the East Coast – that is, Pelham, NY, Troy, NY, and Sweet Briar, VA. The edge of her social justice passion was honed in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960’s – her active involvements included civil rights, antiwar activism, gun control, DC riot response, Head Start, and Earth Day.
When Keenan came to San Francisco in 1971, her focus was still not yet on the church. She worked for the SF Ecology Center and KQED; she was a freelance editor/writer; she owned and operated a bird store; she married and had two children. Those children led her back to the church of her youth, and in 1987, she joined Old First Presbyterian in San Francisco.
Her first confrontation with a Call to Ministry was at an Old First Workshop on “The Church’s Response to AIDS.” As she listened to folks from Network Ministries, hospice, Night Ministry, Open Hand, Larkin Street, and others, she realized that these folk were doing what she wanted to be doing, and they were doing it through the church. Eight weeks later she was in Seminary!
Her initial pursuit was social justice or alternative ministry, but her years in Seminary convinced her that social justice must flow from a spiritual base; that God is and must be at the center of any life. This led her to parish ministry, to a desire to accompany people on a spiritual journey. She was ordained in 1996. After Interim Associate service at Church of the Roses in Santa Rosa, and at Old First Church, San Francisco, she was called as full-time solo pastor at Noe Valley Ministry Presbyterian Church in January 1999.
She loves being a pastor. And she loves having her son, his fiancé, her daughter and her husband, and her amazing grandson all in the Bay Area!
To contact the Rev., call 415-282-7798, or email pastor@noevalleyministry.org
Photo credit: Marshal Cousins