Trinity Presbyterian Church sits on a quiet stretch of Union Avenue in the southern part of San Jose, in a sanctuary that has been filling with worshipers since 1959. The congregation chose a motto years ago - "Loving the world God loves" - and that phrase still hangs over everything Trinity does, from the food pantry in its parking lot to the rose garden that wraps around the side of the property. The same address that has hosted Presbyterian worshipers for more than six decades also serves as the Sunday home of an Indonesian congregation, a campus of a men-operated preschool, and a neighborhood landmark where people come to take prom pictures, renew their wedding vows, and sit on a bench with their coffee on a quiet morning.
Two Trinitys and a Founding Pastor
Trinity San Jose began as the second church planted by the Rev. Dr. John R. Chandler. Chandler had already founded a sister congregation in San Diego in 1951; six years later, in 1957, he organized Trinity in San Jose. Construction of the present building was completed in 1959, and members were filling the pews soon after. By the time Chandler departed, Trinity counted more than 650 members.
Two senior pastors served the congregation from 1963 to September 1978, averaging six years each. In September 1978, Trinity called the Rev. Jack Longley as Senior Pastor. Longley would stay for 30 and a half years, until April 2009, becoming the longest-tenured pastor in the church's history. The Rev. Donald Hammond served as Associate Pastor from approximately 2005 to 2008 and was called back as Senior Pastor in March 2011, retiring in September 2013. The current pastor arrived at Trinity in a very different role, and his path to the pulpit is its own story.
The Pastor Who Came as a Youth Director
Rev. Dr. Vincent Arishvara arrived at Trinity in 2002 as a part-time youth director. He had come from Indonesia to the United States that same year, trained first as an architect. While working with the youth at Trinity he completed his seminary studies and was ordained under the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in February 2013 as an Associate Pastor. In September 2013 he stepped in as temporary pastor. The congregation called him as Pastor on January 11, 2015, and he was installed on March 1, 2015.
Vincent earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley in December 2023, with a focus on Art and Christian Spirituality. His theological studies came through Fuller Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. He lives with his wife, Vania Hendratna, and their two children, Viola and Varen. He loves anything that has something to do with art, music, writing, philosophy, and theology.
Trinity is also served by a Commissioned Ruling Elder and Pastoral Assistant, Tim Parmentier. Parmentier first served as an Elder at Trinity more than 25 years ago and preached his first sermon in 2017. He completed the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary's Congregational Leadership Program in 2024 and was approved in June 2025 as the Presbytery of San Jose's first Commissioned Ruling Elder. Before ministry, he served in the U.S. Navy as a helicopter pilot, retiring at the rank of Captain, and worked for more than 35 years at Lockheed Martin as a systems engineer.
The pastoral team is rounded out by Grace Setiowati, Children's Coordinator and Community Outreach; Laura Barragán, Worship Director; and Stephanie Cowman, Ministry Director. The Session (Elders) includes Bruce Appleton, Gail Briggs, Jon Cox, Julia Most, Tim Parmentier, and Carol Van Wyk. The Board of Deacons is led by Co-Coordinators Bev Anderson and Ida Strickland, with Cher Peterson, Cindy Von Raesfeld, and Pam Wilmert also serving.
Sunday Morning at 9:30
The Sunday morning service begins at 9:30 am in the sanctuary and is livestreamed at the same hour on Facebook and YouTube. The musical style is a deliberate blend of contemporary and traditional elements. Singing is led by the Worship Team, with accompaniment by the chancel choir and a band, while an organ anchors the more traditional hymns. A Facebook account is not required to watch the live broadcast, so a visitor who is not on social media can still follow along from home.
Worship at Trinity is family-shaped. Nursery care is provided for infants and toddlers from birth through age 2. Trinity Kidz Sunday School meets at the same 9:30 hour for ages 3 and up, using a curriculum that weaves in worship arts, songs, movement, and hand motions to bring the Bible stories to life. The youth group also meets at 9:30 am and gathers middle school, high school, and college students.
After the service, coffee, tea, and treats are laid out in Fellowship Hall. It is a tradition that keeps conversations going and helps first-time visitors meet the people who sat in the pews around them.
Music Across the Generations
The music ministry at Trinity is built around three groups. The Chancel Choir sings most Sundays and rehearses weekly. The Worship Team leads more contemporary songs with a band. Every other month, the music ensemble Pasada visits Trinity to add another texture to the music. Psalm 150 - "Praise the LORD! ... Let everything that has breath praise the LORD" - sits at the top of the music ministry page, and that verse captures the spirit of the program.
Laura Barragán, who directs worship, holds an AA in Music from West Valley College and BAs in Vocal Performance and Music Education from San Jose State University. She teaches in various private music studios in the area and performs with Opera San Jose, Opera Cultura, South Bay Musical Theater, and Lyric Theater of San Jose. Anyone interested in joining any of the music groups is invited to contact the church office.
Trinity Kidz and the Youth
The Children's Ministry serves families with children from birth through the elementary years. Sunday School for ages 3 and up meets at 9:30 am in age-appropriate rooms, with worship arts woven into the curriculum. The nursery covers infants through age 2 during the same hour.
Safety is taken seriously. All staff and volunteers have completed fingerprinting, background checks, and safety training. The Children's Director, staff, and volunteers are CPR/AED- and First Aid-certified for all ages. Grace Setiowati, the Children's Coordinator, grew up in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and has experience teaching neurodiverse students.
Beyond Sunday mornings, Trinity Kidz hosts seasonal programs through the year, including an Easter Egg Hunt, Vacation Bible School in the summer, the Annual Harvest Festival, and a Christmas program in December.
The youth group focuses on the spiritual growth and development of middle school, high school, and college students. Students are engaged with creativity and movement, encouraged to deepen their curiosity about God by asking questions and exploring their own theological stance, and invited to participate in Sunday services through Holy Communion, musical worship, scripture reading, and ushering.
An Indonesian Sister Church at Noon
At noon on Sundays, a second congregation fills the same building. The Indonesian Christian Church, known as GKI (Gereja Kristen Indonesia), has rented space at Trinity since 2002. Over more than two decades, the relationship has grown beyond a landlord arrangement. The two congregations share in God's one church with a united mission of building the Kingdom. They have collaborated on relief aid, children's ministries, and the food pantry.
GKI holds an Indonesian-language worship service at noon in the sanctuary and an English-language service at noon in the chapel. The two congregations shared a December 2019 "Tree of Life" Christmas Musical Play, presented by members and friends of Trinity and GKI together.
The Food Pantry That Began with Green Beans
Trinity's food pantry opened on October 7, 2010, after a member named Susie Smare opened a kitchen cupboard and saw a few cans of green beans. She felt the call to do more. The pantry that began with one woman's noticing has grown into a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank of Silicon Valley.
Today, the food pantry operates from 4 to 6 pm on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. It runs as both a drive-thru and a walk-up distribution. Drivers are asked to use the drive-thru if they can - parking in the church lot or in neighboring business lots risks a tow. Walk-ups are available for those who do not drive; visitors are encouraged to contact the office for details. The pantry asks visitors not to arrive before 4 pm.
Volunteers are always needed for distribution on Wednesdays, and youth seeking community-service hours are welcome to apply. The pantry's tagline, painted in big letters on its page, is simple: "A Ministry to Our Community."
The Rose Garden That Calls the Neighborhood Home
Behind the church, the Trinity Rose Garden has become an unexpected landmark on Union Avenue. It began in 2001 when a member named Joyce Jackson agreed to lead a small garden group of about 15 to 18 Trinity members. One afternoon, Pastor Jack Longley mentioned to a parishioner, Dave Coleman, that he had always wanted a rose garden in the oval where junipers and agapanthus were already planted. Coleman said, "I can build a large arbor and we can have climbing roses on it and a rose garden." He took the proposal through the garden group to the Session, which approved the plan with the proviso that the funding had to come from the group itself.
Coleman called in favors: heavy equipment, a surveyor to set the line for the arbor footings, and scrap lumber from his employer, the superintendent of the Shapell Homes project in Gilroy. The whole church pitched in to clear the dug-up plant material and level the area. A "Dirty Half Dozen" of volunteers worked for many weeks. When Longley asked for the front of the church to be cleared and planted with roses as well, the garden group added a Memorial Garden with remembrance plaques on a wall and a fountain surrounded by benches.
A gazebo from Jackson's own fiftieth wedding anniversary was eventually donated to the garden. Paul and Doris Coleman were the first to be married in it, and other weddings and vow renewals have followed. The garden now holds more than 200 roses and flower beds, and it remains what Jackson always hoped it would be - a great outreach for the entire neighborhood. People stop by to take prom pictures, sit on the benches in the afternoon, and admire the roses. Jackson and others have continued to tend the gardens since 2001.
Around the Building: Bible Studies, Small Groups, Recovery
Trinity's library (the Fireside room) hosts three ongoing Bible studies during the week. The Pastor's Bible Study with Vincent meets on Tuesdays at 10:30 am, in person and online. The Midweek Bible Study with Larry Perkins gathers on Wednesdays at 10:30 am, currently working through the Book of Hebrews. The Pastor's Evening Bible Study with Vincent meets on Wednesdays at 6:15 pm in person.
The church also runs a network of small groups that study Scripture, practice fellowship, and engage in mission work together. Quoting theologian Francis Schaeffer, the small groups ministry reminds its members that "our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful - Christian community is the final apologetic."
Several recovery groups meet at Trinity throughout the week. Alcoholics Anonymous gathers daily from 6:00 to 7:00 am and again on Mondays from 8:00 to 9:00 pm. Al-Anon meets on Mondays from 10:00 to 11:00 am and on Thursdays from 10:00 to 11:30 am. Sex Addicts Anonymous meets on Saturdays from 8:30 to 9:30 am.
From San Jose to Tijuana to India to the Philippines
Trinity supports a network of mission partners that reaches from its own parking lot to the other side of the world.
BASICS Tijuana Ministry is a non-profit that sends teams to build small homes for the poor in Tijuana, Mexico. The ministry focuses on house building, a children's outreach program, a mother's outreach program, and social justice. Members engage in community service and share friendship, faith, hope, and love across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Rancho Santa Marta is a non-denominational Christian ministry for needy children in Mexico, located on a 450-acre working ranch 175 miles south of the border in Baja California, about 15 miles from the ocean. The ranch operates an orphanage for more than 50 abandoned children and a special education multi-center school that educates more than 300 children from surrounding villages, including those with various learning disabilities. During the summer a vocational trade school serves older teens.
In India, Asha Deep School - "Lamp of Hope School" - was established in 2004 to give children a chance to break free from the cycle of poverty through a quality education. The school teaches regular academics, provides school lunches and educational supplies, and supports the mental, physical, and social development of more than 200 students from kindergarten through 8th grade. After 8th grade, students are connected to sponsors so they can continue studying through high school and beyond.
Faith in Action, Philippines, is led by Dave Matthews, a former Trinity member who has ministered in the Philippines since the early 1990s. He began on the island of San Miguel, where he established four churches, a radio ministry, and a youth camp; the four churches have since become self-supporting under national leadership. Matthews now disciples students at Bicol University in Legazpi, where Bible training seminars have equipped a core group of young believers to plant a small but vibrant church that reaches fellow students and community members.
Rise Against Hunger, a global organization that has packaged more than 500,000 meals and distributed them to over 75 countries, also counts Trinity among its supporters. Trinity members have gathered for "TASK Force Sundays" to pack meals that feed school children in the Philippines and other communities facing food insecurity.
Closer still, Trinity's Convalescent Hospital Ministry is an organization of volunteers with the goal of bringing human comfort and spiritual nurture to residents of skilled nursing facilities across Santa Clara County. Before the pandemic, 50 volunteers made rounds visiting the lonely and conducting services with prayer, music, and Bible studies. More than 20 volunteers are now waiting for these facilities to allow them to enter again. The ministry notes that 60 percent of residents in Santa Clara Valley's 300 nursing facilities feel abandoned by their families.
The Presbytery and the Wider Church
Trinity is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and belongs to the Presbytery of San Jose. The church's motto - "Loving the World God Loves" - echoes the Presbyterian principle of Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda: the church reformed, always being reformed. The PC(USA)'s polity shapes the governance by elders and deacons, the connection to a wider network of congregations, and the basic shape of Sunday morning worship.
Trinity also keeps a Safe Church Policy Manual to ensure that all persons - and in particular children, youth, and vulnerable adults - who participate in programs and ministries or use the facilities are cared for with compassion and kept safe.
What to Expect When You Visit
Visitors who arrive on Sunday morning will find parking in the church lot at 3151 Union Avenue and a greeter at the door. Dress tends to be the relaxed-but-respectful mix that one would expect at a mainline Protestant congregation - jackets and ties are not required, shorts are not unusual. The sanctuary holds both the contemporary and traditional music, and lyrics are projected so first-time visitors can sing along even if they do not yet know the songs.
If a family arrives with young children, the nursery is open at 9:30 am for infants through age 2, and Trinity Kidz Sunday School is offered at the same hour for ages 3 and up. Visitors who would rather worship online can join the livestream on Facebook or YouTube, with no Facebook account required.
For those who cannot make Sunday morning, weekday options include three Bible studies, a Wednesday evening food pantry drive-thru, and the recovery groups that meet throughout the week. The rose garden and the parking lot are open during daylight hours for anyone who wants to walk through the grounds.
Office, Building, and How to Connect
The church stands at 3151 Union Avenue in San Jose, California, in ZIP code 95124. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm; the main number is (408) 377-8930. For pastoral needs beyond office hours, the office line directs urgent calls to Pastor Vincent or Stephanie Cowman.
Springs of Life Christian Preschool shares the Trinity campus, an arrangement Trinity welcomes warmly. The preschool operates independently but is part of the daily rhythm at 3151 Union Avenue.
Sunday morning worship begins at 9:30 am in the sanctuary and is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. Previous services are archived on Trinity's YouTube channel. Giving is available online through easyTithe (by web, iPhone, or Android app), and one-time gifts can be sent via Zelle to TrinitySJTreasurer@gmail.com. The calendar of upcoming events is on the church's website.
Trinity Presbyterian Church has been gathering at 3151 Union Avenue for more than six decades, ever since a founding pastor named John R. Chandler organized the congregation in 1957 and saw the building rise on its lot by 1959. The same address now hosts a blended Sunday morning service, an Indonesian-language congregation, a children's wing, a recovery community, a food pantry, and a rose garden that draws neighbors from across the area. "Loving the world God loves" still reads at the top of the page, and that phrase continues to guide everything from a can of green beans in a kitchen cupboard to a rose arbor that has welcomed people in for more than twenty years.