By the Rev. Daniel Cooperrider
Many of us, whether we participate in religion or not, feel closest to God or the sacred in nature. This is not surprising, as when we trace our lineages back, we find that we all come from ancestors who practiced earth-based spiritualties.
Did you know that there is a movement afoot to reconnect church and nature? The Wild Church Network traces its start to 2016, although the network speaks of itself as an “emergent” movement, meaning that it has been percolating in many places, popping up like wild mushrooms after a fall rain. At this time there are about 300 “wild churches” around the world officially associated with the network, although the number of communities experimenting with nature-based spiritual practice is larger than that. Some don’t use the language of “church,” but use words like “sanctuary,” and “community.” Others don’t use the world “wild” but call themselves “forest church,” (think of the forest school outdoor education movement), or evoke the name of their local watershed or ecosystem. Some are associated with Christian denominations, some consider themselves aligned with other spiritual traditions, others consider themselves post-denominational or interfaith. The common thread—growing in response to the climate/ecological polycrises of our time which are rooted in our human dis-rootedness from the web of life—is the desire to relocate and reweave spiritual community back into relationship and reciprocity with the more-than-human world.
So what happens at Wild Church? Each community will have its own local traditions, but common elements include: meeting outside in a circle; moments for reflection on the season, poetry, scripture, song, ritual; a “Wild Wander”—this is usually in place of the “sermon” and is a 10–20-minute invitation to encounter and engage with the local landscape; closing council—participants return to the circle and share from their experience.
My spouse the Rev. Dr. Julia Burkey, Senior Pastor of Orchard Ridge UCC, Madison, and I started convening Flicker Wild Church on the fall equinox of 2023. The roots of Flicker trace back to a book study that the Orchard Ridge Care of Creation team organized around my book, which culminated in our first “wild church” circle. Flicker tends to meet in public park spaces just west of Madison in the driftless area. For our first year we gathered eight times, following the Celtic wheel of the year which honors eight fire days—the solstices and equinoxes, and the cross-quarter days that fall in-between. We describe ourselves as: “a playful, poetic, and pop-up spiritual community, seeking relationship and reciprocity with the more-than-human world through local, foraged, and seasonal geo-choreographies of praise. We are about celebrating the momentary gifts of the seasons, holding space for transformative encounters, sharing sacred moments, attuning to the call of the earth, and following life-honoring patterns of being and becoming. We worship not in, but WITH nature.”
In my experience of it, Wild Church can resonate with those who might not otherwise step foot through a church door – the “spiritual but not religious,” and those for whom sacred experience most compellingly happens out-of-doors. Rather than expecting people to come inside the church’s walls to have a spiritual experience, we aim to meet people where they are already encountering sacred presence—in the natural world of trees, rivers, creatures, and clouds. With our pop-up methodology, we are inspired by the way of Jesus, who was not in the same place at the same time each week, but was constantly on the go, usually outside under the influence of the weather and the seasons, and engaged in holding space for transformative, momentary encounters.
We gather in a circle around a fire. We are guided in our worship through four attunements—Who we are (Kinship with the human and more-than-human world); Where we are (Land and landscape acknowledgement); When we are (Sun/Moon/Phenological and Church/Liturgical calendars); and Why we are (our purpose and responsibility in the family of things).
All ages are represented, with an emphasis on making the experience infant, toddler, & “Wild Child” friendly. Children (and pets, and adults!) are free and encouraged to move around, and to take full part in the ritual and sharing moments. For example, on Beltane (May 1), to honor the blossoming spirit of the season, we had a large clear glass bowl inside the circle filled with water gathered from the nearby trout stream. Children were invited at the beginning of worship to roam the landscape, picking dandelions and violets, and adding them to the clear bowl to create our altar. Their delight reflected and amplified the delight and beauty of the spring season. We ended the service with a “wild foods” Communion, sharing a generous plate of biscuits made with foraged ramps, and iced tea made from foraged nettle leaf.
Without fail, I leave every wild church circle feeling re-aligned to season-self-God-human-and-more-than-human kin, re-awakened to the beauty of creation, and re-in-touch with the climate-grief and ecological-anxiety that we need to hold space to be deeply feeling, and deeply offering ourselves in response to. With gratitude towards financial support from a Wisconsin Conference Kairos Creation Care Grant, as well as a Catalyst Grant, we are eager to continue building momentum through raising a 2025 budget that will help evolve Flicker from a passion project to a vibrant and impactful local church, including very part-time funding for me as pastor, as well as funding for our music and ritual leaders, and support of our mission partners, which in 2025 will include the Honor Native Land Fund. Donations are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsorship relationship with mission.earth, a 501(c)3 organization. Your participation and support of this new expression of church would be WILDLY appreciated!
Finally, I’d love to hear from you about your own wild church experience! What is your community doing along these lines? Where are you encountering spiritual practice and community that is aligned with and honoring of the ways of nature? Feel free, also, to be in touch if you’d like to work with me on starting your own wild church circle, or if you’d like to invite me to visit your landscape and community, and offer a taste of the wild church experience.
Deep peace of the wise earth to you,
Daniel
LINKS—