About Us

San Jose Christian Reformed Church consists of people from every generation and from every walk of life who are being renewed by God’s grace to join together in worship, community, and mission.

Grace—the gift of kindness from God that we don’t deserve and cannot earn—is foundational to our beliefs, who we are, and what we do. Grace starts with God and is revealed throughout the Bible, clearly embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. However, grace doesn’t end with God’s work in the world. God’s grace renews the Church to live a life of grace in the world. Thus, grace is our foundation and our mission in all that we are called to be and do in the world.

Our church was founded in 1953 by a group of people who had been moved by God’s grace to start a Christian Reformed church in San Jose. As a larger body, San Jose Christian Reformed Church is part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, which has about 300,000 people in the U.S. and Canada.

We’re Small

Over the years, as happened to many churches, San Jose CRC has been growing smaller. Right now, our attendance hovers at around 30 to 40 people. We are sad about the fact that we have lost some attenders for all kinds of reasons, but we rejoice in being a close community of people who can get to know each other more deeply and “show up” for each other like family. We try to truly act as sisters and brothers to each other—because we are sisters and brothers in Christ.

When you visit us, you will find that we are a friendly bunch. It’s almost guaranteed that someone will notice they have not seen you before and introduce themselves. Don’t be intimidated by that! We understand you might not want a bunch of attention, and we respect that. We will invite you to join us for coffee after the service, but, again, no pressure. And we won’t beg for your contact information—but we welcome the opportunity to let us contact you after a visit if that is what you would like.

We hope you will like our smallness. Ironically, you sometimes feel more alone in a big crowd than a small one. Eugene Peterson, a well-known theologian who wrote The Message, a popular translation of the Bible in plain English, said when someone asked him how to pick a church, “...my usual answer was, go to the closest church where you live, and the smallest. And if, after six months, it’s just not working, go to the next smallest.”*

We are far from perfect. We mess up and say or do the wrong thing sometimes. But San Jose CRC is full of people who want to love you.

  • Eugene Peterson and Krista Tippett interview, “On Being” podcast, “Answering God.”