The San Francisco Night Ministry provides middle-of-the-night compassionate non-judgmental pastoral care, counseling, referral and crisis intervention to anyone in any kind of distress. Through our Crisis Telephone Line staffed by trained volunteer Crisis Line Counselors; and through person-to-person encounters with ordained clergy on the streets, this ministry is available every night of the year from 10:00 pm - 4:00 am.

In 2008, Crisis Line Counselors answered nearly 5000 phone calls from around the Bay Area and Night Ministers engaged in nearly 9000 significant conversations. For San Francisco, this is a ministry as urgently needed as it is challenging.

When requested, the Night Minister will meet anyone, in person, anywhere in San Francisco.  Occasionally other agencies will ask the Night Minister to provide transportation for a battered person to a hospital or shelter.  Calls to our Crisis Line come from the entire Bay Area and beyond.

All persons are eligible for assistance regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, life style, social or economic status, religion or no religion.

Night Ministry does not give out money, but tries to help in other ways.  Food bars and bottles of water are always available for distribution. Occasionally other items that have been donated to us can be distributed.  These generally include socks, coats, blankets, sleeping bags, rain gear, hats, gloves and scarves.

In addition to making referrals, Night Ministry accepts referrals from other helping agencies such as Suicide Prevention and WOMEN Inc.  Police and 911 dispatchers as well as telephone operators sometimes route callers to us.  We are a listed agency with United Way’s HelpLink and 211 services, San Francisco’s Free Print Shop and 311 Information service, among others.

Night Ministry also provides an open-air worship service which includes preaching, praying, singing and Holy Communion each Sunday at 2:00 PM at Leavenworth @ McAllister near United Nations Plaza.  Everyone and anyone is welcome.  We gather together, we worship God, we honor each other.