Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) is committed to the full participation of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life and ministry of the Lutheran church.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Goldstein

Lead Pastor Robert Goldstein joined the staff of St. Francis Lutheran in San Francisco, CA in November, 2005. He will be formally installed as lead pastor on March 26, 2006 at 2:30 pm.

Before coming to St. Francis, Pr. Goldstein served congregations in New Jersey and Chicago for the past 30 years. Born in Melbourne, Australia, he received his B.A. in Biblical Languages and Literature from Abilene Christian University in 1965, and a B.D. and S.T.M. at Yale, where he specialized in the philosophical writings of Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard under Professor Paul Holmer. He received a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1982 in Philosophical Theology. Pastor Goldstein has been a proponent of equal rights for women and LGBT people in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.