Another season of conferencing for The United Methodist Church has arrived. Every annual conference brings opportunities to network, learn, and communicate together as conference leadership seeks to renew ministries for another year.
During annual conference, there will be a number of opportunities to bring creation care concerns to the gathered people of the annual conference. These opportunities include proposed legislation, reports to the conference body, the conference ministry fair, special lunches or network opportunities.
To help tell those stories, and offer support for that legislation, the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement is putting together this toolkit of materials and links. Some resources linked here will be familiar, others will be brand new. If you don’t find what you need, please ask. If you have developed something effective for your conference, please share it with us. You can contact us umcreationjustice@gmail.com. Check back as we will be adding material over time. You can also see and share other ideas through the Creation Care Network here.
You are free to share and reproduce these materials as you need for your conference, districts, and local churches. Simply follow the links to find the items that will best support your efforts.
Suggested activity – Sustainability Tree
from the Creation Care Team in the Susquehanna Annual Conference
- Provide small pieces of paper about the size of post-it notes in a few colors on the table, as well as felt-tip pens. Invite folks who come by the table to write what their church is doing in creation care and environmental justice, one thing on each paper. (You can cut them into shapes, use scrap or recycled paper. But the important thing is to display the good messages, so plain squares is just fine.)
- Consider having potted plants on the table (something alive!)
- Use the papers as “leaves” in a display. Have a bulletin board at the table if space allows it. On the bulletin board, add a cut out of a tree trunk with plain branches. Display the papers at the conference by attaching them as leaves.
- Take a photo of the display. Send the photo to your conference’s communicator team so they can add it to stories they write about the conference.
- At the end of Conference, type up the answers and share them with your Conference Board of Global Ministries, your Conference Board of Church and Society, and conference communicators.
Sustainability Kit for Annual Conference tables/booths
from Ryan Wieland who developed this kit for his EarthKeeper project
Available through the Creation Care Network here (or if you aren’t yet logged into the network also available here).
Ryan notes: the idea was to create something that anyone could use with as little as 48 hours notice if they wanted to put together a sustainability table or booth at their Annual Conference. I still consider it a rough draft at this point: I will try it out at the Mission Fair here in Michigan on May 30 and revised it based on that experience. I am open to any feedback on things to add or remove from the kit as well.
UM Creation Justice Movement Resources. Follow the links!
Below find links to brochures, flyers, posters, websites, and one-sheets.
Many will have a corresponding QR code, so you can share the link easily without having to print too much paper.
Everything in one place! A brand new Menu of Links – updated for 2026
Save paper with this tri-fold brochure that offers a one-stop informational shop for the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement. You can print some to give away, or print just a few to keep at your display table where people can take pictures with their cell phones. It is filled with QR codes so folks can just follow the links!
Included in the tri-fold brochure are links to:
- The United Methodist Creation Justice Movement, including the Tips and Newsletter.
- The Movement Café
- Worship and curriculum materials, including materials developed with and for Discipleship Ministries and the current worship series, Believing into Christ.
- Information about Caretakers of God’s Creation and successful Green Teams
United Methodist Traditional and Theological Underpinning.
This half-sheet flyer (linked below as pdf or jpg) offers links to what The United Methodist Church teaches about creation care, including the 2024 Social Principles and letters from the Council of Bishops.
Half-sheet Flyer (PDF) (JPG) with QR Codes Includes:
- The new United Methodist Social Principles includes a renewed and revised section on the Community of all Creation, as well as a new United Methodist Energy Policy.
- The United Methodist Creation Justice Movement collection of selected “Beautiful Words of the UMC”
- A theological reflection from UM EarthKeeper Founder Rev. Pat Watkins, A Theological Reflection on Divestment From Fossil Fuels.
- Stories and Resources to Address the Climate Crisis from Discipleship Ministries.
- Two letters from the Council of Bishops affirming actions to address net-zero and care of the creation, the 2021 letter, Climate Crisis Response, and the 2009 letter, a Call to Hope and Action.
Promote Global Ministries EarthKeepers
Promote participation in Global Ministries EarthKeepers in your conference and/or congregation using these resources
- Materials to promote 2026 EarthKeeper training – this is a resource folder with printable materials, promotional images, and presentation slides that you are welcome to use and share.
- More details are available through the EarthKeepers page
Congregational Solar One Pager
- Promote congregational Solar in your conference and/or congregation using this One Page Flyer – The Interfaith Solar Campaign and You
Key Movement Cafe Topics
- Brush up on the Science of Climate Change: A 101 Explainer
- What are Resilience Hubs and how can your church serve its community when the water rises and the lights go out.
- Fossil Fuel Divestment, Wespath, Faith Foundations, and the UMC
- What are seminaries doing? Eco-theology and equipping for ministry in a climate-changed world.
- Learn more about the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement’s monthly Movement Café
Fossil Free UMC
- Fossil Free tri-fold brochure PDF includes a link to ‘How To Take Your Next Steps Toward Divestment.’
- Preach! Rev. Jim Antal raises the roof on divestment from fossil fuels, and Rev. Sharon Delgado speaks to divestment in the UMC
- Divestment Summit. Hear the case for divestment from Cal-Nevada’s Annual Conference Divestment Summit.
More Great resources from the denomination and beyond
United Women in Faith:
- 13 Steps to Sustainability
- Just Energy 4 All – read about the relaunch!
- Love in Action – Justice is intersectional. Supporting creation justice means supporting neighbors and communities. Read about the constitutional amendments coming to your annual conference.
Katharine Hayhoe – Climate Scientist and Evangelical Christian
- From the Lausanne Movement. Faith and the Future of Creation
- Faith and Leadership. Katharine Hayhoe: How to talk about climate change with people who disagree with you
- On Science Moms. Dr. Katharine Hayhoe: How Science Moms are Protecting the Places We Love from Unnatural Disasters
Faith-Based and UMC specific Training Opportunities
Global Ministries EarthKeepers
Climate Ambassador Training through Blessed Tomorrow