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Refugia Church
Seeking Deeper Purpose, Courageous Action, and the Healing of the Earth
Debra Rienstra
Release: April 6, 2027
Publisher: Fortress Press
Retail Price: $28.00
Length: 314
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 9798341901605
“This is a crucial book for hard times—a user’s manual for the perilous moment in which we find ourselves. And Debra Rienstra, deep-souled veteran of the struggle for a living world, is the perfect person to be writing it. Read it, and then live it.”
Bill McKibben
Author of Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization
Refugia Church: Seeking Deeper Purpose, Courageous Action, and the Healing of the Earth is for Christian communities who feel a call toward deeper engagement with creation care, but don’t know where to begin. Instead of ignoring or helplessly worrying about climate disruption, biodiversity loss, and environmental injustice, Refugia Church invites gospel communities to respond with creativity and courage.
Christian communities offer distinctive gifts: meaning-making story, community, worship, spiritual practices, community partnerships, buildings, assets, talents, and more. Refugia Church casts a theological vision for transforming our distinctive gifts toward practical action, helping to catalyze transition toward a more just and sustainable way of life on our threatened planet. Debra Rienstra provides empathy, motivation, and numerous in-depth examples, leaving readers with the liberating sense that you are not alone. Together, we are called in this moment toward deeper faithfulness and a better way.
Drawing from her first book, Refugia Faith, this book explores the concept of refugia, a biological term for places that survive severe disturbance in nature, adapt, and become the seedbeds of renewed ecosystems. Rienstra considers how this biological concept can serve as a helpful metaphor for Christians today: How might we act as people of refugia in the name of Christ, creating and nurturing life-giving places in a time of global crisis and unprecedented change? How are people doing this already, and what can we learn from them?
The refugia model gives Christian groups encouragement and guidance, offering a fresh way to think about our role in the larger culture, our witness, and the vitality of the faith. With the grace of God and inspiration from each other, we have what we need to meet this difficult historical moment.
Endorsements
“I love everything about this book. Its topic is of utmost importance. Its author is a deeply rooted Christian and a clear and brilliant thinker and writer. Its tone is warm, encouraging, honest, realistic, and gracious. I love the thought that you might buy it, read it, and get your whole congregation reading it too. Who knows where that could lead? We need Refugia Church.”
Brian D. McLaren
Author of Life After Doom and The Last Voyage
“Debra Rienstra’s previous book, Refugia Faith, offered a hopeful way forward in our era of ecological and political crisis. Now she has given us a comprehensive handbook for congregations that wish to establish refugia as a communal practice. Refugia Church is a master class in purposeful, courageous ministry in perilous times.”
Mariann Edgar Budde
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, and author of How We Learn to Be Brave
“If you’re wondering how church can regain relevance in a climate crisis world, read Debra Rienstra’s Refugia Church: Seeking Deeper Purpose, Courageous Action, and the Healing of the Earth. Rienstra offers a deeply personal testimony alongside astonishing and inspiring stories of imaginative, visionary churches that together provide a universal invitation to restore God’s great gift of creation. Anyone seeking to be faithful in a time of climate catastrophe should read this book.”
Rev. Dr. Jim Antal
Special advisor on climate justice to UCC general minister and president
“This is a book of ecotheology and practice that will encourage many churches to respond to the challenges we are facing. By skillfully blending personal stories and models of change, it is accessible and inspiring. This is an invaluable resource for our times.”
Mary Evelyn Tucker
Co-director, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology; coauthor of Ecology and Religion
“This is the follow-up to Refugia Faith we’ve been waiting for! Refugia Church is just the right blend of prophetic truth-telling, motivating inspiration, and practical ideas for congregations committed to the renewal of God’s creation. In fact, this is a blueprint for renewing the church itself!”
Leah D. Schade
Associate professor of preaching and worship, Lexington Theological Seminary; author of Creation-Crisis Preaching
“The ecological concept of refugia is such a fantastic metaphor for the church these days. It probably is for all days, but these are our days, and we must learn to preserve and persist amid the polycrisis we face to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Most inspiring in Refugia Church are the examples of local congregations. Rienstra is a skilled guide leading us through a seemingly lifeless landscape, pointing out pockets of flourishing we might otherwise overlook. The land—both literal and spiritual—is not dead! These refugia may yet seed a larger renewal.”
Jim Stump
Vice president at BioLogos; author of The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to Deeper Faith
“What a joy to find a book that, with such clarity, sobriety, and grace, not only reckons with the social and ecological breakdown in which we find ourselves but also provides a pathway for faith communities to become seedbeds of vitality! Refugia Church is an absorbing account of how congregations can become agents of transformation that embody God’s yearning to heal and reconcile our relationships with our fellow humans and with the rest of the natural world. I wish I could put this book into the hands of every Christian. It is essential reading.”
Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, PhD
Coeditor of Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis
“In the face of the worsening climate crisis, anxious Christians ask, “What can I do?” Debra Rienstra’s answer: Be the church, the Refugia Church. This book is a handbook of hope. Inspiring examples from Blue Theology in Monterey Bay to the Black Church Flood Security Network in Baltimore testify to how a congregation’s building, grounds, worship, song, prayer, preaching, sacraments, education, advocacy, and heating pipes can all testify that the earth is the Lord’s. All this is framed by persuasive theology that even consigns distorted assumptions to the compost pile. If you are part of a congregation wondering what is possible, read this book. It will leave you with no excuses.”
Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
General secretary emeritus of the Reformed Church in America; author, The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action
“Refugia Church is a book written the way its subject demands: patiently, locally, with mud still on its shoes. Debra Rienstra has renewed the notion of refugia, as she went around the country searching for communities of faith trying to learn how to do worship as they grow food and pay attention to other beings. This is an eco-ecclesiology of creatures among creatures. The book brings new ways of thinking about what church and communities can become as they consider the land and their inhabitants a full part of their faith and ways of being.”
Cláudio Carvalhaes
Union Theological Seminary
“Refugia Church takes readers on an informative and inspirational journey that pushes individuals and communities to move out of complacency and connect faith to the environmental crises in their own neighborhoods. A rich collection of best-case practices that offers realistic steps on this crucial journey of responding to the pressing needs of the earth while reintegrating a sense of the earth’s goodness into our faith practices.”
Paul Galbreath
Professor emeritus of theology, Union Presbyterian Seminary
“The concept of refugia is bracingly honest about the crises all around us, while gently cultivating the resilient hope we need for the road ahead. In an era when environmental, cultural, and spiritual challenges converge, Debra Rienstra transforms a textbook biological metaphor into an evocative theological vision. In our own struggles against the crises of our time, she calls us to turn away from denial, anxiety, and triumphalism to embrace a hopeful realism nurtured in attentiveness, prayer, and faithful witness, each grounded in wonder at the persistence and renewing power of God’s love for a wounded world.”
John D. Witvliet
Chief officer for University Missional Initiatives, Belmont University
“Debra Rienstra has given the church a much-needed gift. Refugia Church starts with a clear-eyed look at reality: The systems and habits that shaped North American Christianity were made for a world that is fading away. We cannot solve climate change, political unrest, ecological loss, or the changes in church life with simple solutions. Instead, Rienstra offers a wiser approach. She imagines the church as refugia—small, brave, and life-giving communities where people stay human, build resilience, repair relationships with each other and the earth, and nurture the beginnings of what comes next. What makes this book stand out is that Rienstra does not just use refugia as a nice image. She brings us into real places—congregations, gardens, watersheds, worship groups, resilience networks, and everyday church buildings—where people are already trying new ways of being church. This book is not a survival guide or a desperate plan to save old institutions. Instead, it invites us to rediscover our calling. At a time when so much feels out of our hands, Refugia Church reminds us that being faithful matters, small communities matter, and caring for places where life can grow may be some of the most important work we can do.”
Rev. Dr. Cameron Trimble
CEO of the Center for Progressive Renewal; author of Piloting Church and Searching for the Sacred
“Well-researched and excellently written, Refugia Church is itself a refuge, a shelter amid the polycrisis of our time. Rienstra is clear-eyed about where we are environmentally and as the church, weaving deep research and poignant stories with a ribbon of hope that leaves the reader inspired and energized. Truly a magnificent and important book. Every churchgoer, every nature-lover, and every spiritual person should read this immediately.”
Pete Nunnally
Episcopal priest, founder of Water and Wilderness Church, and author of Catching Hope
“In Refugia Church, Debra Rienstra takes the hopeful ecological metaphor she introduced in Refugia Faith and grounds it in the practical, daily life of gospel communities. With unflinching honesty about our related ecological and ecclesial crises, and steady confidence in the God who works through small, unlikely resurrection places, Rienstra offers pastors, congregations, and lay leaders a wise and eminently practical guide for becoming refugia: communities of shelter, healing, and courageous hope for a wounded world and a wounded church. This is a book for our times and a gift to God’s people everywhere.”
Rev. Dr. Ben Lowe
Executive director, A Rocha USA
“This book is accessible, clarifying, and practically helpful if you and your faith community want to take steps toward the creation you care for, being a living witness to the kingdom of God and not to the patterns of this world. May these words plant seeds of refugia that bear fruit for generations.”
Jonathan P. Walton
Writer of The Crux on Substack and author of Beauty and Resistance: Spiritual Rhythms for Formation and Repair
“Debra Rienstra’s previous book, Refugia Faith, introduced the most compelling metaphor I know for the possibility of Christian life and witness in our time of disruption, climate crisis, and ecological upheaval. Her new book, Refugia Church, shows us what that metaphor looks like when it becomes embodied in churches and Christian communities across the country. Full of hard-won wisdom and practical advice that I pray may be widely taken up, it is the quiet beauty and goodness of the stories Rienstra tells that will stick with me. A book of joyful possibility that gives me hope for the church and life on earth.”
Dr. Jonathan Moo
Bruner-Welch Chair in Theology and professor of New Testament and environmental studies, Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington
“Refugia Church combines a beautiful vision for the church’s future with practical realism about the church today. While fully acknowledging the interwoven crises we face, Debra Rienstra has found words to show the way toward more abundant life for us and for God’s whole world. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.”
The Rev. Canon Nurya Love Parish
Author of Resurrection Matters: Church Renewal for Creation’s Sake
“Like a branch growing from a well-established tree, here comes Refugia Church, in which Debra Rienstra extends the insights from her beloved text Refugia Faith into the particular soil of church life, exploring how they can take root in the practices, challenges, and possibilities of faith communities. In this polycrisis moment, Refugia Church is the book every congregational and denominational leader needs—to clarify our call, nurture our commitments, bolster our courage, and propel us toward faithful regenerative action.”
Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill
Executive director, The BTS Center
“This beautiful book reflects my own heart and life’s work. Refugia Church provides readers with theology and science, along with practical and inspirational examples of faithful living as members of the body of Christ. All followers of Jesus should read this book to learn how to connect Christianity to the more-than-human world, to be encouraged and equipped to take the next right action, and to practice hope and joy in our particular places and communities.”
Rev. Carol L. Devine
Senior director at Blessed Tomorrow; founder of Green Chalice
“A growing number of people and churches want to respond to the crises we face with honesty, faithfulness, creativity, and hope, but they do not know how. Refugia Church illuminates the possibilities before us with wise reflection and practical examples. Debra Rienstra is a trustworthy guide and a gifted writer—she has blessed us with a field guide for the work of renewal that beckons us and our communities. Reading this book will help you find your way forward.”
Rev. Dr. James Amadon
Executive director, Circlewood
“Rienstra names what so many of us feel: the polycrisis of a world on fire. She knows firsthand how the church can break our hearts. And yet, in the wonders of God’s paradoxical love, that’s also where we can still find healing—and maybe creation too. Read this with your community as an act of defiant hope.”
James K. A. Smith
Professor of philosophy, Calvin University; author of How to Inhabit Time and Make Your Home in This Luminous Dark
“Refugia Church is a challenging book for a challenging time. Where Refugia Faith wrestled with the questions of what kind of people we need to be in the context of a world that is facing multiple levels of crisis, Refugia Church asks the messier question of what the church needs to become in a climate-changed and deeply polarized world. It forces us to resist the very American temptation to think of our individual roles and to instead imagine a reordered communal life that seeks healing both for land and for people. Rienstra doesn’t offer platitudes or simple answers. There is no one-size-fits-all program offered to become a refugia church. She instead offers snapshots of the very diverse and deeply contextual expressions of the body of Christ that offer hope and restoration in their communities and asks us to consider how we might, in community, listen deeply to our surroundings and respond faithfully.”
Derrick Weston
Director of theological education and formation, Creation Justice Ministries
“Refugia Church comes at a critical time in the earth’s life, in human consciousness, and in a moment of transformation for faith communities globally. Rienstra calls for an eco-ecclesiology, a re-envisioning of what the church is and does so that our teaching, practice, and praise prepare people both in and outside the church for the practical transformation needed to address our changing climate and the harm it is doing to all God’s creation. This impressive offering combines practical advice and resources with heartfelt and grounded exploration of what it means to be the church now. If you have one Creation Justice book in your parish library, it should be this one.”
Rev. Rachel Field
Program manager, An Episcopal Path to Creation Justice
“Ever since reading Rienstra’s Refugia Faith, I have been both delighted by the possibility of refugia and daunted by the question of how to bring it about. Refugia Church is her timely answer to that question. Inspiring, creative, and oh-so practical, this book is a must-read for anyone wondering how to breathe concrete hope into life in a suffering world.”
Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap
Author of Following Jesus in a Warming World
“Dr. Rienstra offers a vital message for those of us seeking a new way to build resilient communities in the midst of polycrisis. With heartfelt, moving prose and an unflinching look at where we’ve come from, Refugia Church is a toolkit for collective transformation that challenges us to create congregations of radical resistance and inspired renewal.”
Suzanne Crawford O’Brien
Professor of religion and culture at Pacific Lutheran University and author of Climate Anxiety and Spiritual Resilience: A Guide to Kinship, Justice, and Hope
Discussion Guide
A good reading group can serve as a small refugium space. So I hope you will let this discussion guide enrich your experience of reading the book with a group of friends, a church group, a book group, or some other gathering of people where there is shared trust, a willingness to be challenged, and some joy.