The 178th Session of the California-Nevada Annual Conference has just concluded. The theme for this year was Healing the World, with the guiding Scripture from Isaiah 58:12: You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. During the session, we marked the 30th Anniversary of the Order of Deacons, the 50th Anniversary of United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, the 70th Anniversary of Women’s Ordination in the Methodist Tradition and the 200th Anniversary of Methodism in Tonga.
Our Climate Justice Ministries Task Force submitted one piece of legislation to this year’s Annual Conference Session Urging Fossil Fuel Divestment of All Denominational Funds at Wespath, which was one of the model resolutions on the UMCJM website. In addition, the Retired Clergy Association submitted a recommendation to Train Clergy in Climate Change and Disaster Response. This was introduced after some discussions amongst retired clergy who have participated in projects related to disaster response to climate-change-fueled disaster zones. The recommendation says the annual conference will include in its clergy training, instruction about climate change and its current and projected impacts on our churches, mission fields, and God’s creation. Both of these pieces of legislation were approved without any amendments at the Legislative Section with a unanimous vote, leading to them both appearing on the Consent Calendar and being passed.
As in last year, we worked with the Commission on the Annual Conference Session to ensure that AC was as sustainable as possible.
- No water bottles were handed out at OASIS or the Display Tables. AC members were encouraged to bring their own water bottles and the refill stations were clearly posted.
- The garbage cans at the Convention Center are already labeled by the center as trash, recycling, or organic waste. Since every city and county has different rules, we placed additional signage to indicate which items can be recycled.
- Groups with display tables were encouraged not to give out items that were plastic or that would be quickly thrown away.
We had a display table in the exhibit hall where we asked the question: What can you and your church do to care for the earth and bring healing to the world in a fair and just way? We also made a video that asked the same question and that was submitted to the AC Digital Displays. And for those who wanted to go paperless, all our handouts were made available on our website.
The Advocacy & Justice Committee held a dinner and Action Fair. At the dinner, the six task forces that serve under the Advocacy and Justice Committee—Climate Justice, Philippines Solidarity, Palestine, Reparations, Peace with Justice, and Truth Telling—each did a brief presentation on their work and the intersection with anti-racism work. Our Climate Justice Ministry Task Force featured the two bills H.R. 8330 and S.4340 that have been introduced into the House and Senate to immunize fossil-fuel companies from climate damage lawsuits, and asked those present to sign a petition, email or call their representatives and to share on social media.
We continue to be guided by our conference vision of following Jesus, thriving in community and healing the world.
Rev. Joan Pell is a retired elder in the California-Nevada Conference. She serves, in a volunteer capacity, as the Conference’s Caretaker of God’s Creation Coordinator and as the Chair of the Conference Climate Justice Ministries Task Force. She also maintains the task force climate-cnumc.org website. In retirement, Joan enjoys having more time to travel, visiting her grandchildren, and pursuing advocacy and justice issues. She dreams of a just world with a safe and sustainable future where all of God’s creation is valued.