Presenting creation justice resolutions at Annual Conference can be an effective tool for building our movement. Annual Conferences are, after all, the places where the largest number of United Methodists come together each year. When a resolution is presented before those bodies, it raises greater awareness across the whole denomination of why this work is central to our calling as followers of Jesus in the 21st century.
At the on-line Tennessee Annual Conference in September of 2020, the Conference Creation Care Ministry presented a resolution simply titled “A Call to Care for God’s Good Creation.”
Based to a degree on the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral,” it lifted up scripture and the official positions of The United Methodist Church which support creation justice, pointed to the science describing harm to the Earth, and underscored how creation care is a matter of justice as it is the poor and communities of color throughout the world who are harmed the most by the degradation of creation. It then encouraged every congregation to incorporate creation justice into all aspects of church life and called upon churches and individuals to advocate for public policies that are in harmony with care for the Earth. It ended by specifically calling for advocacy for policies that would result in deep reduction of greenhouse gases as a way of addressing the climate crisis.
After a good bit of debate which mainly focused on whether the Church should engage in public policy advocacy, the resolution passed by a four to one margin. As the Creation Care Ministry of the Tennessee Conference continues to reach out to churches to become engaged in this vital work, we are able to point to that solid endorsement by clergy and laity from across the connection.
Paul Slentz, Tennesse EarthKeeper, Tennessee Creation Care Ministry