Holy Ground: Seeding the Soil of Wild Church
With Victoria Loorz February 6-8, 2023 ~ at Loon Lake Retreat Centre
I’ve discovered something I’ve know deep down all along…spirituality and nature are not separate. Attempts to keep them apart break this world.
- Victoria Loorz, Church of the Wild
Join us as Victoria Loorz, LeAnn Blackert and Michele Walker offers us wisdom and insights into re-connecting with holiness in the sanctuary of the natural world. This 3-day retreat will offer an opportunity to experience Wild Church, share ideas and resources, and help equip and empower you to begin or deepen your own Wild Church gathering. The gathering is for those of you already offering leadership in land-based church experiences, and for those who want help getting started. LeaderShift is partnering with the Wild Church plants in Kamloops, Sorrento and the Okanagan to offer an interactive, experiential opportunity to learn more about this this growing movement of Wild Church.
Additional leadership will be offered by members of the Wild Church network in PMRC, and worship leadership from Rev. Greg Powell of the Westshore church plant, Westshore Community of Practice.
Come, be Wild with us!
All registered participants receive a free copy of Victoria Loorz’ book “Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred'“
Victoria Loorz
Victoria Loorz - (via live video conference)
Victoria has been engaged with the integration of Spirit and Earth for over thirty years. As a writer, a pastor of indoor and wild churches, a climate activist, and an eco-spiritual director, Victoria has focused on developing spiritual practices underlying interconnections between all things as the dynamic presences of the Sacred.
In 2015, Victoria launched Ojai Church of the Wild and, shortly afterwards, co-founded and led the Wild Church Network.
Her book, Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred is now available. (Remember! All registered Holy Ground participants receive a free copy of this book!)
Michele Walker - in person facilitator
Michele is a life and spiritual coach, a self-taught artist, and an adventurer who seeks to know the sacred in and through wild spaces. A co-founder of Wild Church BC, a graduate of Seminary of the Wild and now a Guide with Centre for Wild Spirituality Michele has found an expression of faith that supports her evolving spiritual journey.
Michele is a settler who grew up in the mountains of the Sinixt people (Rossland, BC) and still holds those mountains and waters in her being. She now wanders the hills and grasslands of Secwepemcúĺecw and lives on the unceded lands of Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc (Kamloops, BC)
Event Logistics
Gathering 3pm Monday February 6, 2023
Departing 12pm Wednesday February 8, 2023
In-person at Loon Lake Retreat Centre
Space is limited to 20
Fee: $325 including private accommodation, all meals, program costs
A Travel Pool is available to participants travelling from over 100km to Maple Ridge
Note: LeaderShift supports all Province of BC/ Centre for Disease Control COVID guidelines and protocols. We recognize the geography of COVID and communicable diseases is changing and changeable. Closer to the time of this event, we will share the COVID safety protocols and requirements for this in-person time together.
Rev LeAnn Blackert
Rev LeAnn Blackert - in-person facilitator
Rev. LeAnn Blackert is in ministry with Wild Church plants in Kamloops, Sorrento and the Okanagan area. When she’s not out wandering the land or sitting under a favourite tree, she can be found at her home in Kelowna, on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Syilx Nation.
Her call to a Wild Church ministry rose from a hole in the ground and a whispered question: Have you ever heard of Wild Church? An eagle sitting in a field sealed the deal. She serves as a member of the steering committee for the Wild Church Network, a coalition of Wild Churches across the US and Canada. She is a graduate of the Seminary of the Wild and spends as much time as possible in the natural world seeking the Wild Christ.
LeAnn lives in Kelowna with her two cats and her partner, Ivy Thomas. To learn more: wildchurchbc.org. Location: Loon Lake Retreat Centre
