We Were Spiritual Refugees

Galileo Church is not a cool, hip, exotic breed; it’s just church, reimagined for a new day.

In We Were Spiritual Refugees, Katie Hays, planter-pastor of Galileo Church, shares the story of departing the traditional church (on good terms, though!) for the frontier of the spiritual-but-not-religious and building community with Jesus-loving (or at least Jesus-curious) outsiders. Now well-established, Galileo Church “seeks and shelters spiritual refugees” in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas; especially young adults, LGBTQ+ people, and all the people who love them.

Told in funny, poignant, and short vignettes, Galileo’s story is not one of how to be cool for Christ. Like its founder, Galileo is deeply uncool and deeply devout, and always straining ahead to see what God will do next. Hays says curiosity is her greatest virtue, and she recounts learning how to share the good news with people who are half her age and intensely skeptical.

Galileo both is and is not like the churches you have known. Every day of its existence has been an experiment in practical theology rehabilitated for a new context. It’s surprisingly orthodox but with peculiarities about life together that go beyond questions of style and aesthetic–peculiarities that are best communicated through story. And Katie has stories to tell. So if you are all-in with Jesus but have trust issues with church, We Were Spiritual Refugees will give you hope for finding a community-of-belonging to call home.