Maria Francis
Community Life Associate
Maria Francis joined Christ Church in 2020 as Assistant Director of Ministry (now Community Life Associate), a position that marries her love for God’s church with her gifts and experience. Her career spans a wide spectrum of jobs in not-for-profit organizations, from refugee resettlement advocate to volunteer coordinator to communications director in a college music department. The common thread in her work is the satisfaction she finds in helping individuals and groups flourish. Maria and her husband Mike met as UC Berkeley students, and they are delighted to be back after 23 years in Florida, where Mike pastored a church until disabled in 2015 by a brain injury. Maria loves exploring Berkeley neighborhoods and Bay Area parks, and she can’t pass up a great local bakery along the way.