Trinity United Methodist Church of Berkeley

Pastor Mark gives awesome and inspirational sermons! 10 am service. Very politically active church.

The church has very poorly maintained grounds. I’ve injured myself there twice, running into a metal protrusion of a fence, and falling in one of many pot holes in their parking lot. I contacted the church to request a meeting with the pastor to show him or her where these spots on their property are in need of attention.
The facilities manager said she had just requested the parking lot pot holes be repaved the day before my fall (what a coincidence) and that the pastor had a sick child and couldn’t meet with me. This sounded dishonest and evasive to me. The pastor emailed me that there was too much going on around Christmas to meet with me. Maybe they believe in God and want to do the right thing, but they need to check with their lawyer first?
The parking lot contractor, from whom they collect rent, said their insurance will reimburse me for copayments, etc. That was the only responsible person whom I dealt with in this whole process.
You would think that church personnel would care about safety and take responsibility, and preachers would practice what they preach, but it hasn’t been in evidence in this incident. Seems immoral to me to profit off this negligently maintained property, especially for a church.
Had they said, «we’re concerned, we want to see where this occurred so we can fill these pot holes, and fix this fence, so people are less likely to injure themselves,» I wouldn’t be writing this negative review.
The uneven surface of their parking lot is probably not code compliant, and may be a lawsuit waiting to happen. I hope they repave their parking lot.

Face it… Church shopping is hard. Trying to satisfy our family of a lifelong methodist and a lapsed-​catholic-​agnostic, we visited several other places first. Trinity was the balance. It has a congregation that is genuinely caring, with its full cast of Berkeley diversity. Definitely worth a visit if you are church-​shopping or just looking for a change of pace on Sunday morning.

Ummm… I hate to be the dissenting voice, but I think it’s important that folks looking for a church in the Bay Area have as much info as possible.
I am appalled at how activist this place is.
At least 2 – 3 times each service some sort of political commentary is made. Completely inappropriate.
For Example:
Last weekend, a guest speaker was brought in to talk about some of the work he does with immigrants in the Bay Area. Instead, for 30 minutes, I was subjected to a lecture about how illegal immigrants are being discriminated against. Again, I do have compassion for those trying to seek a better life and become US citizens, but I DO NOT want to be lectured in CHURCH about a particular special interest group. That type of talk would be appropriate for an AFTER church voluntary discussion, NOT being forced upon those who have come to worship.
Let me be clear, I am definitely on the left as far as my political leanings, but I really don’t want to hear about folks opinions on the war, the presidency, etc. Even if I happen to agree with them.
If you want a place to express your particular political viewpoints with a dash of «religious ceremony», you’ll love it there.
If you are looking for a place strong in ministry, worship, and learning about Jesus Christ, this may not be the place for you.

So my husband and I were becoming more and more disillusioned with Christianity because we felt it had been totally taken over by the religious right and thus associated with intolerance and used to justify the ugliest of actions (oh, like, say, WAR) that were not in our definition of Christianity. But we made some last ditch attempts at finding a church for ourselves, as we were both baptized in a Methodist church, wanted our child to have some kind of spiritual roots, and were not yet ready to give up on our cultural past. After searching and searching, we stumbled upon Trinity and never looked back. I actually wept during that first visit, feeling so relieved that I wasn’t leaving a sermon seething with anger or feeling like I was choking under the weight of oppression and judgment. Instead, I felt intellectually engaged and joyful to have found a place that was so inclusive, thoughtful, and challenging. This church is rooted in social justice, compassion, and love.
We are a young family and have found a great community here — and are thrilled about the fact that we’ve found a place with more young families like ours as well as enthusiastic youth and seasoned members who provide thoughtful insights to difficult questions and who are kind, kind, kind. This church is active, purposeful, and fun. Check us out!