wild church leadership
Listening to the Call to Start a Wild Church
This seven-week course is for those who feel the longing to guide a wild church in their community.
Wild churches can be ecumenical, spiritual-but-not-religious, or connected with existing religious institutions. There are no dogmas to recite, rules to follow, or step-by-step instructions. Rather, wild churches are organic organisms, with a life and intelligence of their own. The online course guides you in listening to what is emerging. It is a process of liberation for your own soul in relationship with the more-than-human-others in your particular Place, woven in with your particular community.
Who is this for?
For people who feel drawn to starting or growing a wild church in your bio-region. Existing wild church leaders as well as those considering starting one in your wildish Place. Affiliated with a church or not! From the Christ tradition ... or not!
The course offers training and tools to support you as you consider, plant and guide a growing wild church community.
What do sessions include?
Week 1
Introduction to the Wild Church Movement.
Beginning with introductions to each other, this introductory session covers what wild church is and isn't. We are careful to avoid anything like dogma and institutionalization, but we can share our observations of what is emerging in this movement.
Week 2
Wild Theology & Spirituality.
The foundational Place-based and contextual roots of a theology and spirituality that embraces the land and all beings as sacred: The shift from doctrines and mental constructs to embodiment and experience.
Week 3
Wild Leadership.
A new leadership is emerging that is based on calling forth the truest voice within each of us. This is about authenticity, empowering your unique voice for this time in history, and alignment with your soul and the earth. We’ll also explore ways to hold space for your gatherings, your role in the circle, and how to serve as guide into deeper relationship with the landscapes around and within.
Week 4
Practices.
Opening to the voice of the sacred wild. We’ll discuss the ecosystem of a gathering with earth-based practices and ideas such as wandering invitations, communion liturgies, music, council, benedictions. This module will unpack a variety of eco-spiritual practices that include a wide spectrum of expression - from liturgical to interfaith, from conversational to Celtic, as well as rewilding sacraments such as baptism and weddings.
Week 5
Logistics.
This session is focused on the logistics of starting and growing a wild church: where to meet? what about weather? what about children and teens? liability issues? affiliation with denominations...or not? can I really make money doing this?
Week 6
Wild Church Membership.
What does it mean to connect to an international movement of people drawing their communities into intimate relationship with the natural world?
Week 7
Integration.
We’ll conclude our time together with ritual and ceremony to integrate what has unfolded as you enter into your distinct callings in service to the sacred earth and your community.
Resources for this course
In the Wild Church Leadership course, participants will be guided by the work of Victoria Loorz (founder and director of the Center for Wild Spirituality) and Valerie Serrels (co-founder and director of the Wild Church Network). These books will provide a comprehensive foundation to the philosophy of wild spirituality and the methodologies of Wild Church.
Church of the Wild:
How Nature Invites Us Into the Sacred
Award-winning book by Victoria Loorz exploring what it looks like to restore sacred relationship with Earth, reconnect with the wild roots of the church, and explore our place in an interconnected world.
With an ecospiritual lens on biblical narratives and a fresh look at a community larger than our own species, Church of the Wild helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it—and calling it church.
Field Guide to
Church of the Wild
Serves as a companion to the Wild Church Movement. With a wide-ranging collection of stories and practical resources, its pages lead us toward prayer and mountain, ritual and wren, gatherings and forests.
This field guide moves through the main elements of a Wild Church service, each chapter full of ideas, prayers, rituals, and practices for running a Wild Church from over 30 Wild Church leaders.
Wild Church Leadership Course
Seven Week Online Program
February 11, 2025 - March 25, 2025
Tuesdays, 3-5pm EASTERN
$525
includes one year
Wild Church Network membership
A collaboration between the Wild Church Network and the Center for Wild Spirituality
FACILITATORS
Victoria Loorz
Valerie Serrels
VALERIE LUNA SERRELS is the founder and spiritual leader of Shenandoah Valley Church of the Wild and co-founder / director of the Wild Church Network. She also founded Hag Sophia, offering eco-spiritual guidance through several different modalities and practices. Valerie weaves together her background in conflict transformation and restorative justice, Celtic spirituality, energy work, and integrating the divine feminine into her work.
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OTHER WILD CHURCH LEADERS. This is not a "how to" program, but an "invitation to" lead a wild church aligned with your own gifts, community, and Place. It is a process of storytelling. Each week, different Wild Church leaders from the Wild Church Network will share their stories, offering ideas from their experiences.
VICTORIA LUNA LOORZ MDiv, is a Wild Church Pastor, an Eco-Spiritual Director and founder of the Center for Wild Spirituality, and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild and the ecumenical Wild Church Network. Her book, Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred, is an invitation to deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it--and calling it church.