Writer-in-Residence and Teaching Fellow
Christie Purifoy is a writer and gardener who loves to grow flowers and community. She has worshiped at The Church of the Good Samaritan since 2013. Christie is the author of two memoirs, Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons (Revell 2016) and Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace (Zondervan 2019). She recently completed a trilogy of full-color gardening books. Garden Maker (2022), A Home in Bloom (2023), and Seedtime and Harvest (2024) pair inspirational essays with Christie's own photography. Her most recent publication is A House to Call Home: Creating Places That Will Comfort and Care For Us (2026).Christie earned a PhD in English Literature from the University of Chicago. Eventually she traded the classroom for an old farmhouse called Maplehurst in West Grove, Pennsylvania where she and her husband Jonathan Purifoy are raising two sons and two daughters. Jonathan is a member of the Good Sam Vestry.
Learn more about Christie’s work through her website at christiepurifoy.com, connect with her on Instagram (@christiepurifoy), or subscribe to her newsletter, A Spacious Place, on Substack (@christiepurifoy).