The Visioning Process
The congregation’s vision process is our shared effort to discern and live into God’s call for Sunnyvale Presbyterian over the coming years. With assistance from the consulting group Ministry Architects, more than 100 people participated in listening sessions and the Vision Summit (spring 2026) to name our church's vision and a set of shared values. This process gathers those commitments into one coherent direction so we are not just a collection of separate ministries, but a congregation moving together.
The vision process is formally under Session’s authority, through a Session-appointed Task Force. That task force has created several working groups to focus on specific areas, and it reports regularly back to Session. The working groups are: the Volunteer Leadership Team, the Campus Utilization Task Force, and the Housing Working Group. Each group meets regularly to make a current assessment and to propose plans for the future.
The Vision Team will regularly update the congregation about the progress of each group, as our church lives into our vision of being a community that "inspired by Jesus' love, embraces all—to serve each other and our neighbors."
Our Vision, Values and Goals
Our Vision
Inspired by Jesus’ love, we connect in a community that embraces all, serving each other and our neighbors.
Our Values
The spirit by which we go about the work
Affirming: We honor the God-created goodness of all.
Jesus Following: We shape our community after the life and teachings of Jesus.
Hospitable: We create space where all can feel at home.
Caring: We cultivate authentic relationships by showing up for one another.
Grace: We leave room for mistakes and the possibility of repair.
Genuine: We are earnestly friendly, have respect for doubt, and are transparent.
Our Goals
Three-year revolving goals
These are written in past tense for 3 years from now. Each goal should have clear measurements of success so that yearly benchmarks can also be determined. Each goal is then reviewed every year around the anniversary of its initial creation.
1) 2029 Goal — 45% of weekend worship attenders (adults and students, but not children) are serving regularly in a volunteer role.
2026 Benchmark — A volunteer management team has been recruited, trained, and launched to oversee volunteer systems/processes at SVPC and has completed an initial season of volunteer recruitment.
2) 2029 Goal — SVPC has an updated financial plan that includes at least one new partner and one new source of income, which will provide financial stability/security moving forward.
2026 Benchmark — SVPC has met with at least five different community partners who are considering basing their work out of the church; a plan to reach an endowment of $10 million by 2029 has been created and is ready to launch.
3) 2029 Goal — Plan for campus redevelopment is ready for congregational presentation.
2026 Benchmark - Multiple options for campus redevelopment have been considered and three have been selected for continued, in-depth research and analysis.
4) 2029 Goal — We have 50 families with children/youth participating once a month who say they feel connected to SVPC.
2026 Benchmark — We have 20 families with children/youth participating in the ministry, and a survey/process has been developed to get feedback from families on their connection, involvement, and needs.
5) 2029 Goal — We have four intentionally intergenerational events and an intergenerational all church retreat every year.
2026 Benchmark — One existing event and one new event have been offered with an intentionally intergenerational focus; a plan for an annual, intergenerational all-church retreat has been developed.
6) 2029 Goal — 85% of Sunnyvale Pres (members/regular attenders) can say they belong to a group, and all new attendees have been contacted by a group convener within 30 days.
2026 Benchmark — A comprehensive list of all groups at Sunnyvale Pres has been developed, and clear, strategic communication about these opportunities (and how to connect) has been shared with the congregation.
We are grateful to members of our church community for helping facilitate this process: the Vision Team (Kirk Hinton, Bill Coleman, Debbie Stoddard, Rabin Sugumar, Megan MacDonald, and Richard Collins) is working to help guide us into the next chapter of ministry and service, while the Prayer Team (Keyla Zorzella, Jim Peterson, Lisa McManis, Debbie Shaver, and Beth Treitel) is upholding the Vision Team's work and each member individually in prayer.