In January of 2005, Trey Herweck (a Saint Charles native) finally submitted to the fact that God was calling him to plant a church. He began an internship at The Journey in St. Louis and searched the globe for the exciting place where he could relocate to start this church…anywhere but home. Eventually, through new friendships, old friendships and a work of God, Saint Charles took on a whole new light. Then came the thought of "why Saint Charles, there are already SO many churches here?" From this question, Refuge became not just an attempt to start another church, but an attempt to cross cultural lines. Our desire is to reach into a part of the Saint Charles community that has been either historically neglected by the church or hurt by a previous experience with the church.

In January of 2006, a core team made up of Saint Charles dwellers from The Journey and elsewhere, started to do lunches and dinners and coffees, etc… God brought together several people with a common vision. That summer, our friends at First Baptist Church of Harvester allowed us to use their facility to start meeting together. About 30 people from differing backgrounds and various experiences started to get together, talk about Jesus, talk about a vision for Saint Charles and dream about what God might do.

Refuge Church launched in September of 2006, in the Memorial Hall at Blanchette Park in North Saint Charles. We have a hope of reaching out to the artist community that is gathering on North Main Street as well as the many in Saint Charles that have been disenfranchised from the church all together.