
BONUS Movement Café
April 4th 2024
1pm PT / 2pm MT / 3pm CT / 4pm ET
Sponsored by the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement, the informal, virtual space of the Café facilitates conversation, connection, and community focused on creation care and justice issues.
Climate Teach in:
Climate Justice Legislation for General Conference
Couldn’t make it? Here’s what happened.
Please join us for a special webinar where leaders from the MFSA and UMCJM will address General Conference, the resolutions put forward for creation justice, and the next steps in advocating for the legislation and creation justice work in general in the denomination. Webinar host MFSA will guide us through key opportunities for advocacy, specifically for General Conference, but also at the annual conference level, noting the importance of building coalitions and strategies for success. This event is entitled Climate Justice Teach In: Legislation to General Conference and will be held on Thursday, April 4th at 3 pm CST.
The discussion will be led by the Methodist Federation for Social Action, and speakers include Bridget Cabrera, Executive Director, who has served as Deputy of the Reconciling Ministries Network, and as Executive Secretary for National Ministries with United Methodist Women and Takundanashe Chinogwenya, Organizing Associate, holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree in Economics and Legal Theory and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Rhodes University, South Africa. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Divinity, Social Justice Advocacy at Drew University, New Jersey. We will also hear from Cathy Valesquez Eberhart who will introduce the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement, as well as Nancy Blake, a United Methodist Elder who has served in rural and town churches in Northern Illinois since 1988. She co-chairs a new Northern Illinois task force focusing on eco-sustainability.


Speaker
Bridget Cabrera (she/her/hers)
is the Executive Director of Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA). She has worked throughout the United Methodist Church for over 15 years and has served as Deputy Director of the Reconciling Ministries Network, Executive Secretary for National Ministries with United Methodist Women, associate pastor at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew and a licensed local pastor at the University of North Alabama Wesley Foundation. Bridget holds a Bachelors in Science in Music Education from the University of Alabama, a Masters in Divinity from Emory University (Candler School of Theology), and an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology. Bridget and her wife Amanda live in Chicago, IL and enjoy sailing and running sailboat races.

Speaker
Takundanashe Chinogwenya (she/her/her)
is the Organizing Associate for the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA). She holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree in Economics and Legal Theory and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Rhodes University, South Africa. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Divinity, Social Justice Advocacy at Drew University, New Jersey. Prior to commencing her master’s studies she was a practicing lawyer in her home country of Zimbabwe. Her areas of interest are environmental justice, food justice, and racial and gender equality. She plays an active role on campus. She served as the Attorney General of the Theological Student Association (January to December 2023). She is currently the Drew University Food Pantry Manager, where she coordinates the running of the food pantry, the volunteers of the food pantry and helps to bring awareness about the food pantry and food justice. In the spring of 2023, she undertook an internship with Bard University’s WorldWide Teach-In Climate and Justice’s Social Media Internship, where she learned valuable skills on how to conduct a social media campaign and advocate for climate and environmental justice. She has assisted in organizing and coordinating the 2023 and 2024 WorldWide Climate Teach-In at Drew University as the Graduate Assistant at the Center for Civic Engagement.

Speaker
Cathy Velasquez Eberhart
is a leader in the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement, a national, grass roots organization that seeks to connect and support groups within the United Methodist Church and beyond for the work of creation care, justice and regeneration. She was commissioned in 2016 as an Earthkeeper through the General Board of Global Ministries program that aims to train, commission and support United Methodists who feel called to work for environmental justice and creation care. Earth care has been a key part of Cathy’s career path and faith journey since college. For 11 years, she worked with Land Stewardship Project in support of sustainable agriculture. More recently she served for 7 years on the board of Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light. She is currently a member of the Hopeful Earthkeeper team of the MN United Methodist Church Annual Conference.
Cathy lives in Saint Paul, MN with her husband Guillermo and together they run Velasquez Family Coffee, selling shade-grown coffee grown by their family in Honduras. They have 3 young adult children, a dog and 6 layer hens.

Speaker
Nancy Blade
is a United Methodist Elder serving in rural and town churches in Northern Illinois since 1988. She co-chairs a new Northern Illinois task force focusing on eco-sustainability. Their activity has included resolutions, green summits, hosting Earthkeeper training, coaching local churches, and more recently, net-zero.
