Welcome to the Ozarks Church of Nature
What If There Was a Church…
– What if there was a church that didn’t require someone else to be wrong for you to belong?
– What if there was a church that didn’t teach you punishment, shame, and guilt from the day you were born?
– What if there was a church where ALL people were seen as chosen people in the eyes of God?
– What if there was a church that didn’t tell you what you had to think, feel, say, or believe?
– What if questions were welcomed instead of feared?
– What if doubt wasn’t treated like failure?
– What if your relationship with God, Spirit, Nature, the Divine…whatever words speak to your heart was allowed to be your own?
– What if you didn’t have to perform?
– What if you didn’t have to pretend?
– What if you didn’t have to hide pieces of yourself just to be accepted?
– What if you could walk through the door exactly as you are?
No costume.
No script.
No test of worthiness.
Just you.
What if church felt less like being told what to believe…and more like having a sacred place to discover what you believe?
Ozarks Church of Nature
Come exactly as you are.
All are welcome.
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The Ozarks Church of Nature is a nature-centered spiritual community rooted in love, freedom of conscience, personal responsibility, service, and reverence for the living world. We believe Nature is sacred, that the Divine can be experienced directly through life, and that no person or institution is required to stand between an individual and God.
People from many spiritual traditions, or no particular tradition at all are welcome here. We do not require everyone to believe the same things. We believe people can hold sincere spiritual convictions while respecting the freedom of others to follow their own conscience.
Our faith is practiced through everyday life:
caring for the Earth and animals, growing food and medicine, sharing knowledge, helping our neighbors, gathering in Nature, studying sacred traditions, practicing gratitude, creating beauty, feeding people, and learning to live responsibly within the relationships of the natural world.
Our church grew from nearly two decades of teaching, service, spiritual searching, community projects, natural living, and a lifelong vision of creating a place where people could gather without being judged for the spiritual path they walk.
Our guiding principles are simple:
Nature is sacred.
No middleman is required.
Freedom of conscience is sacred.
Consent is sacred.
Care for the Earth and one another.
Share knowledge.
Take responsibility.
Help when you can.
Leave things better than you found them.
Let your actions speak for your beliefs.
All Are Welcome
You do not have to abandon another religion to enter our sanctuary. You do not have to become a member. You do not need to agree with every belief we hold.
Come respectfully.
Ask questions.
Learn.
Teach.
Walk through the gardens.
Sit beneath a tree.
And perhaps leave with something worth carrying into the rest of your life.
Welcome to the Ozarks Church of Nature.
We are not trying to rewrite the Bible—or any other sacred text.
We are not creating our own version of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Paganism, or anybody else’s tradition. We do not believe all sacred texts say exactly the same thing, and we do not need them to.
I personally believe many of the principles I try to live by are deeply biblical as I understand them: love your neighbor, feed people, welcome the stranger, practice compassion and mercy, care for creation, serve rather than dominate, and pay attention to how our beliefs are actually lived.
Other people may understand those same texts differently. That is okay.
We can read sacred writings seriously without pretending that one human interpretation is the only possible interpretation. We can learn from the Bible without rewriting it. We can learn from other traditions without appropriating or erasing them.
The goal here is not to replace anyone’s scripture. It is to practice what we believe.
A Sanctuary With Room for Many Paths
When space and scheduling allow, Ozarks Church of Nature welcomes other peaceful religious and spiritual communities to inquire about using the sanctuary for their own gatherings, worship, study, prayer, or fellowship.
Groups do not have to share our theology in order to gather here. Providing space does not mean we adopt every belief of every group we welcome. It means we believe religious freedom should extend to people whose paths are different from our own.
You do not have to believe what your neighbor believes in order to make room for your neighbor.
Explore Our Church
Want to learn more about what Ozarks Church of Nature believes and how we approach spiritual life? Explore our teachings and church documents below.
Core Beliefs – Ozarks Church of Nature
How the Ozarks Church of Nature Came to Be
FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS OF THE OZARKS CHURCH OF NATURE
NATURE IS SACRED – A Little Book of the Ozarks Church of Nature – Why We Gather • What We Believe • How We Practice
FORM OF WORSHIP & RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
MEMBERSHIP PRINCIPLES & CONGREGATIONAL PARTICIPATION
CODE OF ETHICS, ACCOUNTABILITY & SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
MINISTRY & SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP STANDARDS
WAYS TO HELP & BECOME INVOLVED
BYLAWS OF OZARKS CHURCH OF NATURE, INC.
Interested in Serving on the Council of Stewards?
Gatherings & Sacred Calendar
Organizational & Tax Status
Ozarks Church of Nature, Inc. is officially organized as an Arkansas nonprofit religious corporation. Our Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Arkansas Secretary of State on September 5, 2026.
This legal recognition does not create or validate our faith. It simply provides a formal organizational structure through which we can gather, serve, protect the sanctuary, manage church finances, and carry out our religious and charitable work.
The church has its own federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), and its IRS EIN record lists the organization type as Church.
Under federal law, churches are not required to obtain an IRS determination letter in order to qualify for exemption under §501(c)(3). Churches that meet the requirements of §501(c)(3) may be tax-exempt without filing Form 1023.
Ozarks Church of Nature has not presently sought a separate IRS determination letter. We are continuing to develop our governing documents and organizational structure and may voluntarily apply for an IRS determination letter in the future.
Our legal and tax status does not define our faith; it simply provides a structure through which we can carry out our work.
We believe transparency matters. As our organizational structure develops, information regarding church governance, stewardship, financial practices, and charitable activities will be updated here.
A Note About Religious Freedom
Some people assume that becoming a nonprofit religious corporation or operating under §501(c)(3) means the government or IRS tells a church what it must believe, teach, or say. That has not been our experience, and that is not what our organizational paperwork does.
No government agency created our beliefs, wrote our doctrine, chose our spiritual practices, or told us what we must think, feel, teach, or believe.
Like other nonprofit religious organizations, we are still required to follow the laws that apply to tax-exempt organizations. Those laws govern certain organizational activities and uses of funds; they do not write our theology for us.
We are free to be who we are. The paperwork does not create or control our faith — it simply recognizes and documents the legal organization through which we practice it.