Wild Worship or Wild Church is a movement in which people gather in natural settings to worship, connect with nature and experience spirituality outside of traditional church buildings. In this video, UM News reporter Lilla Marigza shares the sights and sounds of Wild Worship Omaha, a ministry of First United Methodist Church of Omaha.
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The idea of Wild Worship is part of a growing movement.
The Land United Methodist Church in Aurora, Colorado, is another Wild Church.
Listen to a podcast about Church in the Wild, a nature-focused congregation in Upstate New York.
The Western North Carolina Conference also offers Worship in the Wild hiking trips.
Cass Opal with First United Methodist Church brought the idea to Omaha after reading the book Church of the Wild by Victoria Loorz.
“I was engaged by the fact that she recognized great harm had been done by institutionalized religion and that a chasm had been created between nature and man, and that we stopped finding the divine in creation. How can we say God created everything and then treat most of it, including humans, terribly?” Opal asked.
Our Book of Discipline includes Social Principles and mandates for creation care.
Opal said the idea of Wild Worship is a good fit for United Methodists.
“John Wesley liked to be very vile and do things differently, and call people out of buildings. So, I feel like it’s very United Methodist. We’re going out here to worship, we’re going to praise God in all spaces, with all people, and we’re going to do all the good we can, in all the ways we can, everywhere we can … I know I’m paraphrasing, but I think John Wesley would approve.”
Marigza is a multimedia producer for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
