Welcome to Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of San Jose, CA

Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of San Jose, California, was founded in 1884 when the Rev. John Telleen of Ebenezer Lutheran Church of San Francisco sent a young seminary student, named G. Ristrom, to begin gathering the Swedish community in San Jose together for worship service. 40 Swedish immigrants signed the charter roll on November 23, 1884. The legal name of the church at that time was Svenska Evangeliska Lutherska Emanuel-Kyrkan, or Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church. A sanctuary building was planned for the corner of Market and Auzerais Streets in downtown San Jose, and construction was complete in time for the Christmas season of 1885.

The original church building was demolished in 1952. Although the building had survived the 1906 earthquake and had been refurbished numerous times, it was too antiquated and small to meet the growing demands of the congregation. Construction began at our current site at the corner of Leigh and Moorpark Avenues in 1953 with the building of the current Parish Hall, and the main sanctuary was dedicated on May 23, 1965. The memorial organ was dedicated in July of the same year, and at that time was the third-largest organ in San Jose.

Currently Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church is the spiritual home of over 60 families, all from different cultures and backgrounds. Although Swedish language services have not been held since 1940, we still celebrate our Swedish roots with the observance of the festival of Santa Lucia. We also have celebrated German Oktoberfest, Irish St. Patrick’s Day, Jewish Passover Seder, the festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Black History Month, and our most recent addition, the Latin American celebration of Las Posadas. We are proud of our multi-ethnic congregation. In 1999, Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church became a Reconciling in Christ congregation, welcoming all God’s people to worship and share with us.

As active participants in our community, we seek to provide services to our surrounding neighborhoods. In addition to support of various community- and faith-based organizations, we host many outreach programs. We are active in MIRA, (the Menker/Richmond Neighborhood Association) and offer an after school recreation program and a summer recreation program to the kids in the neighborhood. These outreach programs are teaching the community kids life skills, life setting personal goals, money management and employment opportunities. We know the kids in our neighborhood and church will someday be in charge of our future- so we want to invest in theirs. Part of our commitment to social justice as commanded (Micah 6:8 "He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.") is to ensure that these kids have what they need to build honest, prosperous futures. We are networking with local schools, colleges, neighborhood associations, grant agencies, special interest groups and cultural programs to initiate many exciting services and programs. In the kaleidoscope of dreams we are exploring a mentoring program with San Jose City College students, on on-site computer lab and internet business for on the job training, a monthly restaurant workshop, and much more. We also host a popular program called St. Nick’s Workshop, providing Christmas gifts for needy families in our community. In 2001 on the site of our former parking lot, building was completed for Brooks’ House, a low-income senior housing facility.