On a wide, flat lot that wraps around three sides of a two-story sanctuary, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church has been a steady presence on Saratoga Avenue in the West Valley of Silicon Valley for decades. The congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is best known for two things: an unusually open welcome that has earned it the designation of a Reconciling in Christ congregation, and the Rotating Safe Car Park (RSCP) shelter, a program that the church helped found and continues to anchor for neighbors who sleep in their vehicles.
Welcome Without Exception
From the front page of the church's own materials to the language on its welcome banner, Prince of Peace returns again and again to one sentence: all are welcome. The church's About page spells out what that means in practice. Full participation in the life of the congregation is offered to everyone, regardless of socioeconomic or family status, immigration status, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, previous faith background, physical or mental abilities, ethnicity, or age. To anyone who has felt excluded from a church in the past, the congregation extends, in Christ's name, a particular welcome.
Prince of Peace is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and belongs to the Sierra Pacific Synod, the regional body that supports ELCA congregations across northern California and Nevada. Within the ELCA, Prince of Peace is proud to be a Reconciling in Christ congregation, publicly affirming both racial equity and a commitment to be a welcoming community of faith for LGBTQIA+ people and their families.
Members describe themselves as a medium-sized congregation: large enough to offer programs for every age and interest, small enough that individuals are not lost in the crowd. The tone is intentionally light. The church notes that it does not take itself too seriously, that worship has structure but also room to try new things, from Bible lessons in Dr. Seuss-style rhyme to traditional hymns set to polka music. Laughter is welcome; perfection is not expected.
Sunday Worship at Ten
The central rhythm of the week is the Sunday 10:00 am service, held indoors in the sanctuary and livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel. Most services are also broadcast live. A typical service lasts about an hour, though announcements at the end can stretch it further on busy weeks. Occasionally a service moves outdoors, and those gatherings are not always available online.
Worship at Prince of Peace is pro-participation. Communion is offered nearly every Sunday, and all are welcome at the table regardless of membership or faith background. The congregation extends a special welcome to those who have been excluded from communion in other settings. The order of service moves through prayer, sung music, scripture, a sermon, and communion, with a children's message built into the middle of the gathering.
There is no dress code. Members of the congregation describe their attire as reflecting the neighborhood in the heart of Silicon Valley: jeans and shorts most weeks, team jerseys on big game days, suits and ties rarely, the occasional dress-up moment for a concert or Christmas Eve. Visitors are encouraged to come as they are.
Children are not just permitted but actively wanted. Wiggles, whispers, and the occasional climb are part of what makes the sanctuary a living place. A Joy room at the back of the sanctuary offers toys and comfortable chairs for parents who want a little extra space, with speakers so they can keep up with the service. A staffed nursery for children six months to four years is available across the courtyard in a classroom for parents who would like a Sabbath hour. School-aged children are invited to the front of the sanctuary for the children's sermon and then step out to Sunday Funday, a roughly twenty-five-minute program of stories, crafts, games, and conversation geared primarily to children in kindergarten through fifth grade. They return to their families in time for communion.
A Pastoral Transition
Prince of Peace is currently between settled pastors. After eleven years of leadership, the congregation's previous pastor accepted a call to a new ministry, and the church is now in the careful, prayerful process of identifying a successor. In the meantime, the professional staff, the church council, and a wide range of committee leaders have continued every program and ministry. The congregation's message to visitors during the transition is simple: come for Sunday worship, and you will be welcomed.
Day-to-day operations are led by an Office Manager named Anne, who has been part of the team since 2007, an Office Associate named Katie who joined the staff in 2023, and a Director of Youth, Young Adult, and Family Ministry named Veronica, a longtime member of the congregation with a background in education. The RSCP Leadership Team, which includes Pastor Sara along with lay leaders Norman, Karen, and Ulrike, continues to oversee the homeless ministry. An ELCA seminary intern named Sharon has also been part of the pastoral team during this season.
A Music Program with Deep Roots
Music is woven through nearly everything that happens at Prince of Peace. The Music Director Emerita, Barbara Day Turner, has been on the music staff for almost forty years and is also the founder and music director of the San José Chamber Orchestra and its family of youth orchestras. She continues to lead the Sanctuary Choir, which rehearses on Thursday evenings from September through May and sings on Sunday mornings, and she conducts the annual Advent concert that has become a highlight of the church year.
Kerry Lewis serves as Music Staff Associate. A published composer and a graduate of San Jose State University where he studied with Lou Harrison, Lewis assists with rehearsals, writes and arranges music for services, and maintains the music library. He and his wife Elizabeth are long-time members and sing in the choir. Organist and pianist Michael Touchi has been providing music at Prince of Peace for over twenty-six years; in addition to his church work, he serves as Creative Consultant for the San José Chamber Orchestra and has composed a body of choral, chamber, and orchestral works that have been performed locally and on recordings.
Three ensembles make up the music ministry. The Sanctuary Choir carries the bulk of the liturgical music, drawing on classical and modern pieces and often accompanied by professional instrumentalists. The Praise Band, made up of volunteer vocalists, sax, bass, drums, acoustic guitar, and keyboard, brings an upbeat, singable sound to services from time to time. A children's music program welcomes younger singers into the life of the church through processionals, holiday choirs, and other seasonal offerings. Throughout the year, the church hosts free concerts and special music-centered services that range from jazz to bluegrass.
Children, Tweens, and Teens
Children hold a special place at Prince of Peace. Sunday Funday is the foundation of the children's program, but it is surrounded by a busy calendar of retreats, day camps, and intergenerational events. Each summer, the church partners with Mt. Cross Outdoor Ministries to offer a Day Camp for the wider community, and an annual retreat at Mt. Cross draws elementary and middle school children in the autumn. Communion classes are offered occasionally for families preparing for a first communion, a renewed celebration, or a refresher at any age.
Junior high youth in grades six through eight take part in Confirmation, also called Affirmation of Baptism. The program runs on a flexible three-year track and uses a small-group mentoring model, with students arranged in groups of four to six alongside caring adult mentors from the congregation. The curriculum covers the Bible, the Lutheran tradition, and other faith traditions, with a strong emphasis on lasting friendships. Confirmation concludes with a Rite of Confirmation in the spring of eighth grade.
High school youth gather most Sundays from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm for lunch, conversation, prayer, games, and monthly off-site adventures. The high school program is led by the Director of Youth, Young Adult, and Family Ministry, with support from adult volunteers. Every few years, the high schoolers travel to a major ELCA gathering, including the National Youth Gathering, which drew 15,000 Lutheran youth to New Orleans in 2024. The next National Gathering will be in Minneapolis in 2027. An annual Youth Dinner and Silent Auction, planned and run by the high schoolers themselves, raises the funds that make these trips possible.
Rotating Safe Car Park: A Signature Ministry
Among all of Prince of Peace's outreach work, the Rotating Safe Car Park (RSCP) shelter is the program that has put the congregation on regional and national maps. RSCP's mission is to create safe and welcoming spaces where guests who are living in their cars can sleep, stabilize, recover, and gain access to social services. The model is a partnership among multiple faith-based organizations, local city governments, and service agencies; host partners take guests for a month at a time, and guests move from one partner site to the next, staying up to thirty nights at each location. Prince of Peace is one of the founding and most active host partners, opening its lot to RSCP guests regularly throughout the year.
At each site, guests have access to a hospitality room with a microwave, snacks, and outlets to charge devices, along with a community meal at least once a week. Case management is provided through partner organizations, including West Valley Community Services and Amigos de Guadalupe's Center for Justice and Empowerment, who help guests navigate applications, housing waitlists, and rental assistance. Support partners include the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, the Northwest YMCA in Cupertino, and the Southwest YMCA in Saratoga.
The church keeps the location of the current RSCP site private to protect guests, and participation requires a screening process, valid driver's license, vehicle registration, and insurance. Guests interested in the program are invited to call or text 408-641-0227 to begin. The program does not accommodate RVs and is aimed at people sleeping in vehicles no larger than a van.
The impact of the work is real. A 2026 reflection, originally written by Amigos de Guadalupe staff and shared by the RSCP team, told the story of a guest who arrived in fall 2024 living in her car. Over the following months, with the support of case management, rental assistance, and the steady presence of church volunteers, she secured a studio apartment in San Jose and continued building her consulting business. The RSCP, the article observed, did not just give her a parking spot; it gave her a foundation to rebuild from. The church has marked similar transitions in the lives of other guests over the years, including a former guest who returned to a Christmas Eve service with gas gift cards to give back to the program that had helped him find housing.
Prince of Peace is also a longstanding supporter of Family Supportive Housing in San Jose, providing quarterly meals for shelter families, running a Kids to Camp fundraiser, and delivering weekly sack lunches through its Meal Ministry. The Meal Ministry prepares fifty lunches at a time for delivery to the shelter, with a rotating group of volunteers assembling sandwiches, fruit, chips, drinks, and a treat. A separate Emergency Meals team prepares meals for members of the congregation during times of illness, the arrival of a new baby, or other moments of need.
Service to the Wider Community
Beyond RSCP and Family Supportive Housing, the church maintains a small on-site food pantry, well used by neighbors, and collects non-perishable donations on Sundays. The Linus Project gathers on the fourth Wednesday of each month to make tied-fleece blankets for children in stressful situations, with no sewing skills required. The Adopt-a-Highway crew collects trash along the northbound stretch of Highway 85 between Saratoga Avenue and De Anza Boulevard several times a year, a project the team has sustained for over five years. A Caring Center, set up in the narthex each Sunday, makes cards, stamps, and an address book available so that anyone can write a note to someone who needs a pick-me-up.
The Wednesday Work Crew keeps the church grounds in shape, gathering every Wednesday morning from 8:30 to 11:00 am for repairs, weeding, painting, and odd jobs, with a coffee and fellowship break at 10:00. Special projects take place on the third Saturday of the month from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, and the work has been a popular source of school volunteer hours for local teens.
The church is also a financial supporter of a wide range of outside organizations, with a Social Ministry Team coordinating the congregation's relationships with groups including West Valley Community Services, Amigos de Guadalupe, Destination Home, and Homefirst Santa Clara County, along with partners abroad through Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Disaster Response. The Mission Endowment Fund, governed by an elected board of congregation members, distributes grants of typically $1,000 to $5,000 to outside individuals and organizations whose work extends the church's mission of education, relief, and charitable service. The fund is supported by gifts and bequests separate from the general operating budget.
Adult Formation and Small Groups
Faith formation for adults at Prince of Peace is built around conversation, study, and shared meals. Theology in the Pub, a long-running favorite, meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 pm, usually in a backyard or member's home, to discuss a theology-related topic in a casual setting. Table Talks, a newer series that has drawn seventy to a hundred people to each gathering, centers on a single speaker and a shared meal, with discussion over dessert. Recent Table Talks have covered immigration, the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II, depolarization in divisive times, gender-affirming care, homelessness in Silicon Valley, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the work of Harmony Community Cares on Chicago's West Side.
A women's retreat takes place in the fall, offering meals, group sleeping rooms, activities, and free time for meditation or socializing, with scholarships available. The 2026 retreat is set for early November in Aptos. A standing Weavers Circle meets on the first Wednesday evening of each month for fellowship and discussion of a current events topic from a Christian perspective. The Rebekah Circle, a group of more experienced women, meets on the second Monday of the month at 11:30 am for lunch and a monthly Bible study. A small-group meals ministry coordinates seasonal potluck dinners in host homes throughout the year.
Other regular groups include a Book Club, which meets on the second Sunday after worship, a Moms of Young Adults support group, a Careers and College group for young adults roughly eighteen to twenty-five, a Tea Sympathy and Hope gathering for conversation and prayer during divisive times, a Movement Ministry that pairs prayer or meditation with walking, biking, or scootering on the Los Gatos Creek Trail, and Theology at the Movies, which gathers four to six times a year. The LGBTQ+ and Friends group meets on the fourth Sunday of each month at the church and at other times in between for support, friendship, and activism.
The Building and the Grounds
The church campus sits on a park-like property at 12770 Saratoga Avenue. The sanctuary, a two-story worship space, seats about 275 comfortably. The Fellowship Hall seats 200 for dining or 300 theater-style, with room for another 100 on the patio. The hall is available for rental on most days of the week, with Saturdays and some summer weekdays the most flexible; the church does not book events on Sundays. The rental rate is $225 per hour with a four-hour minimum, a $1,500 room rental and cleaning deposit, and proof of event insurance listing Prince of Peace as an additional insured. Use of the kitchen, which is equipped for serving but not cooking, is included.
For weddings, the sanctuary fee is $2,000 for non-members, which covers a one-hour rehearsal, three hours in the worship space and surrounding gardens on the day, use of candelabras and pew candles, a pianist or organist, and a staff wedding coordinator. Couples are asked to provide sheet music for contemporary and popular selections. There is an additional $700 fee for the Prince of Peace pastor to officiate if the couple are not members, which covers required pre-marital counseling and materials. The Fellowship Hall is occasionally available for wedding receptions.
The grounds host a rotating cast of community groups. A farmers' market sets up every Wednesday in the parking lot on the Cox Avenue side of the property, with local growers offering fruit, vegetables, bread, and prepared foods from 2 to 6 pm in the summer and 2 to 5 pm in the winter. Over ninety parking spaces remain available during market hours. Level Up Montessori Preschool operates a preschool and pre-K program out of a newly renovated classroom building on site. The Korean-speaking congregation of Noel Korean Presbyterian Church worships at Prince of Peace on Sundays at 1:30 pm, followed by a community meal.
Recovery groups are part of the weekly rhythm as well: Alcoholics Anonymous meets on Tuesdays at noon in the Fellowship Hall and on Wednesdays at 6:30 pm in Room 7, and Al-Anon meets on Fridays at 10:00 am in the Worship Building. Scout Troop 325 gathers on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Education Français Bay Area offers accredited French classes for children and teens. The South Bay Military Veteran's Chorus rehearses on Sundays at 7:00 pm, and the Orchard City Chorus, a community ensemble from the Santa Clara Valley, rehearses on Mondays at 7:00 pm.
Supporting the Mission
The church operates on an annual budget of more than $830,000, funded primarily by offerings and donations, with facility rentals and the Prince of Peace Mission Endowment covering the remainder. Members and friends can give in several ways: by check or cash in the offering plate on Sundays, by mailing a donation, by text-to-give at 408-413-0600, by online giving through the church's Breeze platform, by ACH transfer through Vanco, by PayPal Giving Fund, by directing Thrivent Choice Dollars, and by credit card through Square for event fees.
The Mission Endowment Fund accepts applications each year from individuals and organizations whose work extends the mission of education, religion, and charity in the wider community. Grants are not made to members of the congregation for personal use; they are meant to benefit the broader community.
Worship Music, Hospitality, and the Rhythm of the Week
Behind the visible schedule is a deep bench of lay volunteers who make Sunday morning happen. Greeters stand by the sanctuary doors welcoming everyone who arrives. Lectors read the scripture lessons, with a how-to video available for newcomers. Ushers hand out bulletins, guide members through communion, and collect the offering. Communion servers, recruited in part from church council members and including children who have completed communion classes, assist the pastors. Counters work in teams to count the offering after the last service and walk it across the street to the bank. Coffee hosts set up, brew, serve, and clean up the coffee hour that follows worship, with detailed instructions available for new volunteers.
Hospitality extends past the sanctuary. A Bread Ministry bakes and delivers a loaf of bread to first-time visitors during the week following their visit, a no-strings-attached gift. An Evangelism Team helps connect new and current members with the groups and ministries of the church, conducts a Small Group Ministry Fair, and coordinates New Member Sundays. Game Nights and Patio Parties are scheduled throughout the year, with the main course provided and attendees bringing a salad or dessert to share.
Identity and Outlook
At its heart, Prince of Peace is a congregation that takes seriously the Lutheran conviction that grace is a free gift, and that believes the church should look like the neighborhood around it. The members describe themselves as an open-table, open-hearts, open-minds community, with meaningful music and a kind of welcome that has been officially recognized by Reconciling in Christ. They are out in the world feeding the hungry, caring for those who hurt, and celebrating God's love, week after week, in the sanctuary, in the parking lot, and across the wider valley of which they have been a part for more than sixty years.