ABOUT US
Welcome to Hillcrest Church!
Hillcrest Congregational Church is a progressive Christian congregation in Pleasant Hill, California, affiliated with the United Church of Christ (UCC). We have been part of this community since 1950.
We are an Open and Affirming congregation — the UCC's formal designation for churches that explicitly welcome LGBTQ+ people at every level of church life: in worship, in membership, in leadership, in marriage. This is not a footnote for us. It is a conviction.
We follow Jesus without requiring you to check your questions at the door. If you have doubts, if you have been hurt by religion, if you were told you didn't belong — you will find a different kind of church here. We take the life and teachings of Jesus seriously, and we hold our theology with intellectual honesty. Faith and doubt are not opposites here; they often travel together.
What we believe, plainly stated:
Being human — fully, freely, authentically human — is not a problem to be solved. It is the point.
The story of Jesus Christ is good news for the whole person, and for the whole community.
Justice is not separate from worship. It belongs at the center of it.
No one has to earn a place at this table.
What Sunday looks like:
We gather at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday at 404 Gregory Lane, Pleasant Hill. Worship includes scripture, a sermon, music, and once a month we celebrate communion (open to everyone — no membership required). Services are also live-streamed. Children are sometimes part of the service, and other times offered Sunday school programs. They are always central to us.
We get together in fellowship after the service and welcome anyone to join.
Our pastor:
Rev. Niels Teunis has served as Senior Pastor of Hillcrest since 2024. He brings a background in hospice chaplaincy and graduate theological training to preaching and pastoral care that takes human experience — including suffering, doubt, and grief — seriously. Before joining the ministry, Niels worked as an anthropologist. He holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He taught at San Franciso State University for nine years.
Who worships here:
We are a congregation of families with children, longtime Christians, people returning to faith after years away, people questioning everything, LGBTQ+ individuals and couples, and neighbors from across Contra Costa County. We are predominantly white but actively working toward greater racial and ethnic diversity in our community and our leadership.
What we do in the community:
Hillcrest runs a Food Room and a Clothing Room serving neighbors in need — practical, direct service, no questions asked. Hillcrest also runs a Bright Beginnings program, providing baby essentials for mothers. We are engaged in social justice work locally and nationally through our UCC affiliation.
Our denomination:
The United Church of Christ is one of the most progressive mainline Protestant denominations in the United States, with a long history of leadership on civil rights, LGBTQ+ equality, racial justice, and care for creation. Hillcrest is part of the Northern California Nevada Conference of the UCC.