In 1990, a Chinese congregation was formed in St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Sunnyvale. The Diocesan Missioner, the Rev. Fred Vergara celebrate the Eucharist once a month and Becky Shan helped as a Lay-reader. The Episcopal Asia-America Ministry (EAM), a department of the national church, agreed to give a grant $10,000 for 1992 and provided seed money to hire Becky Shan as a part time Church Worker. Weekly services were started in January 1992; the servicess were held at 5:00pm on Sunday until April when they shifted to 12:00 noon.
On March 27, 1993, Becky was ordained as Deacon, serving as the first Chinese person in Holy Orders in the Diocese of El Camino Real. On November 6, 1993, Becky was ordained priest. Since that time Becky has served the congregation as its Vicar. The Diocese and other Anglican parishes in Hong Kong, Canada, and the United States have provided grants.
On January 15, 1995, the congregation moved to St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church and was given the name Holy Light Episcopal Church by the Rt. Rev. Richard Skimpfky, the Bishop of El Camino Real. For the congregation, this move was made to achieve:
The ability to have simultaneous Chinese and English language service allows different members of Chinese families to choose the language expression that is most comfortable; for example, children can go to the English-language Sunday School while their grandparents attend a Chinese-language service.
The long-term strategy under which Holy Light moved to St. Jude's was established in discussions with the Rev. Canon Jim Mcleod and the Rev. Fred Vergara in late 1994. According to that strategy, Holy Light had become a Parochial Mission of St. Jude's, its business systems were being merged with St. Jude's and it was to gradually become more fully incorporated in the Parish. Two members of the Holy Light congregation had served on St. Jude's Vestry.
As matters developed, it became increasingly apparent to Holy Light that they needed more autonomy to service the needs of the Chinese population than was afforded in the Parochial Mission arrangement with St. Jude's. Early in 1998, Holy Light requested a change in it's status and was converted into a Bishop's Congregation in the Diocese of El Camino Real. However, Holy Light continued to share in the use of the St. Jude campus until late 2001 when the Bishop requested that Holy Light move their base of operation to Campbell. The move to Campbell was part of a "Joint Venture" with the Holy Spirit congregation to create a greater Episcopal presense there and to help each congregation grow. Holy Light shares the mission facilty there with the Holy Spirit congregation in a completely autonomous arrangement.