Wild Churches

I recently attended a zoom meeting with a wild church group. I wanted to hear for myself what this movement of wild churches was all about. Quite simply it is people all across the world coming together, often outside, looking to return to "nature", their wild roots, as a spiritual practice. Not all wild churches are the same, however. Finding one to meet your beliefs is fairly easy, though. One can even start his or her own wild church if they wanted to. 

There are wild churches that don't use the word church in their title, too; to some, perhaps they may wish to avoid anything holy-sounding. The one thing all wild churches seem to have in common, however, is their genuine love for the natural world, and a desire to help this troubled planet by getting more to fall in love with it, quite literally. Aside from nature, connection and healing are a focus. 

To some, joining a wild church is a way to restore their faith in Christianity. It may be a way to move from isolation to connection, and to become immersed and not detached from the living world. 

"Popping up all over the land, like wild mushrooms after a spring rain, Wild Church communities are responding to a call deep within to change the way we relate to the natural world, moving "from a collection of objects, to a communion of subjects," said Thomas Berry, who was a catholic priest and a cultural historian. Berry felt a need for social change and environmental restoration was in order and he proposed a need for a "New Story" of evolution.

For wild churches or against them, one thing is clear, they are growing, with apparently at least 100 started in the past 6 years. Quite frankly, I never thought I'd live to see this, that Mother Earth finally gets the praise she's always deserved. Only then can she really begin to heal and prosper.