About the Network
We are a mycelial collective of wild leaders returning to nature as spiritual practice
Every mushroom begins as a spore—a tiny seed of being floating through the air. Eventually, it settles, becoming a colony of mycelium: the threadlike strands of life that form the main body of the organism. From this hidden foundation grow the fruiting bodies: the mushrooms.
Spores
The seed for this movement was a simple, unsettling question: What if the very thing missing from our spiritual lives cannot be found within the walls of a church? What if the mystery we seek has been waiting for us outside all along?
This question arose for Victoria Loorz in Ojai California in 2016 and she planted the first Church of the Wild as a small circle sitting under a wise old grandmother oak tree. Within months, there were others. And then others. More than just 'doing church outside,' these circles were a collective remembering that the holy has never stopped speaking in the living world.
The Underground Web
It began as a quiet phenomenon… a scattering of isolated communities all exploring what it means to practice a wilder spirituality. Eventually, these individual strands began to find one another and network together. While each circle is autonomous and unique to its own watershed, these leaders realized they were all part of a larger story, initiated by Spirit, and Earth herself.
The Wild Church Network quickly blossomed into an organic, spirit-led, and collaborative movement. The Network was formed to act as the mycelium: the invisible, underground infrastructure that connects, feeds, and sustains the hundreds of “wild churches” popping up in watersheds across the globe. The Network provides support, connections, a place for shared wisdom and resources. It is a collaborative movement that provides the deep comfort of knowing we are not walking this path alone.
The Mushrooms
From this interconnected web, the fruiting bodies are rising. Wild Churches are popping up everywhere. In forests, backyards, riverbanks, and edgelands, we are gathering to remember what it means to be in conversation with the sacred in relationship with the wild. This is an ancient practice of reconnection; a communal commitment to turn toward the living world as kin.
By gathering in person, on the land, we are re-sacralizing our home places. We are moving away from a world where the earth is seen as a resource and toward a reality where the lands and creatures around us are recognized as family. The Wild Church Network holds an underground ethos rising to the surface: a commitment to fall back in love with the living world, one watershed at a time.
The Wild Church Network is a branch of the Center for Wild Spirituality, a 501(c)(3) religious nonprofit organization. For years, this network was held and nourished by the dedicated stewardship of Valerie Luna Serrels and a small circle of volunteers. Today, that underground work has matured into a global movement, and is now supported by the Center’s broader team and infrastructure to ensure the web remains strong for years to come.