Equip your church to make disciples in the wilderness.
We train churches and faith communities to build thriving wilderness ministries. The methodology is rooted in theology, forged over decades of practice in the field, and used by churches and ministries across the country and beyond.
WILDERNESS MINISTRY TRAINING FOR CHURCHES
TRUSTED BY CHURCHES LIKE
Central Community Church • Seattle
Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole • WY
+More case studies coming
WHAT WE OFFER
Custom training for your church.
Annual immersion for individuals.
Two distinct ways to work with us, built for two distinct audiences.
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The final five sessions were fantastic. Teachable moments, trip logistics, stewardship and creation ethic, intro to risk management, trip and content creation.
Haley E.
Core Lead Wilderness Volunteer • Outdoor Central • Central Community Church, Seattle
PROOF POINTS
Churches putting the methodology to work.
Real congregations, real outcomes, real change in how people meet God in creation.
BUILT BY PRACTITIONERS
We teach what we actually do.
Wilderness Formation isn’t a consultancy. It’s a renewed nonprofit with deep roots. The organization was founded in 1989 as Alythia Fellowship by Richard and Donna Dahlstrom, beginning as a Bible school in the North Cascades that used God’s creation as its classroom.
John Wayne Seitzler was voted in as Executive Director on September 20, 2021, and renewed the work as Wilderness Formation to bring this tradition to churches across the country. John Wayne brings his own wealth of experiences: sea kayaking expeditions, mountain guide teams, and his current role as Pastor of Wilderness Ministry at Bethany Community Church in Seattle, where many of the rhythms WF teaches are tested in weekly practices. Richard, now Founder and Emeritus Board Member, continues to train and write alongside us.
The frameworks, safety protocols, and Ancient Paths rites of passage we teach didn’t come from a textbook. They were forged across two generations of real ministry, in real terrain, with real people, season after season.
THEOLOGY OF WILDERNESS
We believe faith is an experience, not just a set of doctrines. Christ longs to reveal Himself through the text of God’s good creation.
Christ longs to take us and our communities into a new depth of relationship through formative experiences in the outdoors.
FREE RESOURCES
Start exploring before you commit.
Free tools, teachings, and primers used by hundreds of leaders considerings wilderness ministry for their churches.