Galileo Church

We seek and shelter spiritual refugees, rally health for all who come, and fortify every tender soul with the strength to follow Jesus into a life of world-changing service.

5860 I-20 service road Fort Worth, TX 76119 USA

(682) 760-1274

OUR MISSIONAL PRIORITIES:

1. We do justice for LGBTQ+ humans, and support the people who love them.

2. We do kindness for people with mental illness and in emotional distress, and celebrate neurodiversity.

3. We do beauty for our God-Who-Is-Beautiful.

4. We do real relationship, no bullshit, ever.

5. We do whatever it takes to share this good news with the world God still loves.

Trying to find us IRL?
Mail here: P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060
Worship here: 5 pm CT Sundays; 5860 I-20 service road, Fort Worth 76119

Trying to find our Sunday worship livestream?
click here!

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE GALILEO CO-CONSPIRACY IN ACTS

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During Eastertide 2019, we prepared to renew our Covenant of Co-Conspiracy at Pentecost by focusing on the 7 Marks of the Co-Conspiracy, i.e. the 7 Habits of Life that are, collectively, the embodiment of our commitment to prioritize the mission of Galileo Church for one year. This year we used (almost) the Revised Common Lectionary’s selections from Acts, which narrate the life of the early Christians as they adopted habits much like ours. The Holy Spirit, it seems, has been powering these ways of life from the church’s very beginning.

“The sharing of material resources to further the church’s goals.” The early church had a way of being that required decisions about money, and the relationship of your money (singular) to our money (plural). There was no requirement for how or how much to share, but there was an expectation of transparency in our financial decision-making, both individually and collectively. We’ll meet Barnabas, Peter, Ananias, and Sapphira. Acts 4:32–5:11. 1 Peter 1:1-9.

“Contemplation of our baptism, past or future.” The early church encountered people who were formerly thought to be outside of God’s circle of mercy and welcome, and recognized the expansion of that circle in Jesus the Christ to include even those who suffered cultural shaming. Baptism is the sign of the total, unreserved, you’re-soaking-in-it “yes” (or yaaas!) of God to those who seek God’s heart. We’ll meet Philip and the eunuch from Ethiopia. Acts 8:26-40. 1 Peter 1:17-23.

“Cultivation of spiritual gifts for the life of our church and community.” The early church included powerhouses who made big speeches, healed many, and converted the masses. But it also celebrated the quiet beloveds who found daily ways to use their covert gifts to bring God’s world closer to God’s dream. We’ll meet Tabitha, also called Dorcas; and Simon the Tanner. Acts 9:36-43. 1 Peter 2:1-10.

“Extension of the church’s welcome to friends, neighbors, strangers, and enemies.” The early church churned on one central problem for a very long time: how could the God of Israel, and Israel’s Messiah, be for Gentiles, too? For the very people they had defined themselves against for generations? The church today keeps asking: who are our “Gentiles”? the ones who are not like us, but whom God has already prepared a welcome we are meant to embody? We’ll meet Peter, some “circumcised believers,” Cornelius, and a bunch of “uncircumcised believers.” Acts 11:1-18. 1 Peter 3:8-12.

“Presence – physical and emotional – at gatherings of the church.” The early church grew and spread insofar as people gathered to be the church. There were no spaces designated “church”; there were only people hungry for the gospel, prayerful for help, eager to share their homes. Galileo Church, in some sense, only exists in those hours when we are gathered, in the BRB or the taco bar or the living rooms of our Lydias. We’ll meet Paul, Timothy, the apparitional Macedonian man, and Lydia. Acts 16:6-15. 1 Peter 3:13-22.

“Gracious receipt of care from the church family.” The early church leaders often found themselves in trouble, including physical peril and actual bodily harm. While they could (sometimes) heal others, they could not always liberate and restore themselves (like Jesus?). The kindness of others – the wound-washing, the meal-sharing, the sanctuary of homes – was integral to their evangelistic success. All they had to do was receive it. We’ll meet Paul (again); Silas; an enslaved, fortune-telling girl; her slaveholder; a Philippian jailer; and the jailer’s household. Acts 16:16-34. 1 Peter 4:12-26, 6-11.

“Participation in the church’s discernment of our next steps together.” The early church received the lavish outpouring of the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy – that is, they found language to articulate what God was doing and was about to do among them, and in the world God still loves. We, too, have received the Spirit bountifully; this puts us in a state of wondering, watching, discerning, and declaring what God is up to these days, and next. We’ll meet the Holy Spirit of the living Christ. Acts 2:1-21. Psalm 104:24-34, 35b.