Wild Church Community Call

Important Changes for the Network

November 16, 2022  1 pm PST/2 pm MST/3 pm CST/4 pm EST

You are invited to join this call to hear about some exciting updates and ideas that have been planted, taken root, and will be opening up in these next few weeks, and to hear from you. Please join us for this important call! For some background information and reflections, read on.

(Note:  this call is for Wild Church Network members.  Please join as a member before registering.  You'll get an error message otherwise!)

Dear Wild Friends,

Our usual monthly call for November will be different. As you see, different day and time, and focus. This past year has been a time of many changes within the Network, as part of its organic growth and evolution. For those of us who have been here for many years, we've shared about the Network being very organic in its growth and held by a small number of dedicated volunteers. And these were important years of allowing the Network to be the organism it is being called to be. I am reminded this year that everything changes, shape-shifts, moves, especially that which is open to the movements of spirit and earth. 

As the Network has continued to grow, it has grown beyond the capacity of our small group of volunteers offering a few hours here and there to keep it going. At this stage of its growth, it has felt misaligned and dishonoring to not give it a more substantial container and attention. There have been many important aspects of running a Network that have slipped through the cracks without more intentional guidance. I've described this to people as the Wild Church Network gone feral lol. 

I've also been listening to a lot of people sharing how life-changing it is to find this Network. To be in community with others who are on this path of re-membering ourselves into our sacred belonging with the rest of the alive world and stepping into our own kind of leadership to invite others in our communities to join us. I've also been listening to members share what is important to them - a wider community to learn from and with, sharing and accessing resources, connecting more deeply with each other, a space to share ideas and co-create. We are now taking action from this listening, and the input you've provided. 

Some of you may know that I stepped into the role of Director of the Network over the summer. In August, I left my role guiding another non-profit and started giving my full attention to the Network. Wendy Janzen has been working alongside and has been giving her time to creating beautiful social media engagements and communications. The Network started to pay us a very part-time salary, or hourly wage, for our work. 

It has been a labor of love for six years to help guide this Network, without compensation, and I am deeply grateful for the contributions and time many others have given. We are in a new phase of growth as we more intentionally create a functional, sustainable and generative organization that can be faithful to its calling. This requires a broader space for direct collaboration, conversation, and connection. And this requires funding - sacred reciprocity in action - as we open toward what we say we value in life, what gives our lives meaning in this time of great change, in this holy work planting more deeply spirit with earth. Invisible and visible. In the context of the political and social changes happening in our world, this feels of utmost importance.

We are in this shift together that is asking us some important questions. What do you truly value? What supports you in this Wild Church journey? How can you be of support to the wider community? Join us. We want to hear from you and value you as integral to this Network. 

With Love, Awe and Respect,

Valerie Luna Serrels, Vision Animator

Co-Founder Wild Church Network