The Western North Carolina Conference is blessed to have two Global Ministries EarthKeepers leading disaster recovery. Brian Mateer is the Director of Missional Engagement and the Conference Disaster Response Coordinator, and Ben Rogers is the Conference Mission Response Coordinator. As participants in the EarthKeepers training, they brought an environmentally focused idea and developed it into a plan of action. Brian’s project was to develop eco-focused mission trips for disaster recovery, and Ben’s project was to reduce the ecological footprint of conference mission initiatives.
In 2021, Tropical Storm Fred brought flooding to the North Carolina mountains around Lake Junaluska Assembly, the headquarters location of the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC and headquarters of the World Methodist Council. More than 700 homes were impacted, 79 people had to be rescued from floodwaters, and six people lost their lives in the neighboring communities. The WNC conference disaster response was immediate.
One of the ways in which they responded was to develop a curriculum for Eco-Missions. A team of dedicated leaders brought Brian’s EarthKeepers project idea into reality. Two mission weeks with youth groups from three different churches became the beta test for missions that focus on the environmental needs of a community before, during, and following a “natural” disaster.
Why Eco-Missions? When most of us think of mission trips, or disaster recovery, we focus on the human-built components—homes, businesses, electricity, safe water, and so on. But what about the impact from and upon the ecosystem itself?
This question was coupled with the reality that many conference missions programs are facing—the impacts of disaffiliation coupled with fewer people having the skill set or passion for simply rebuilding or patching up damaged homes. Generations of families with home workshop tools and experience are aging out of this work, while young people are more concerned with how their future is being impacted by climate change and the degradation of Earth’s natural resilience.
Eco-Missions brings together these two practical realities with one of Brian’s passions: teaching others to think theologically about their ecological responsibility for their own communities. What is Eco-Mission? It involves three components: education, justice, and hands-on action. Together, these three foci create an immersion experience that goes well beyond a simple workday service project.
Education centers around our biblical and theological understanding of caring for others. It looks deeply into the “Why?” for doing this work. Using Scripture and United Methodist teachings on care for our neighbors (both human and more-than-human), we establish a lens through which we can see a community. The well-known verse, John 3:16, says that “God loved the cosmos (Greek for the entire world) so much that God sent God’s own son… .” As followers of Jesus, care for all of creation is a basic understanding.
Next, we explore the issues of justice. Persons living in poverty are always the most affected by hurricanes, floods, fires, freezes, heat events, and other “natural” disasters. We help mission teams understand the community where they have come to serve: its history, economy, racial legacy, resiliency, sustainability practices, and deeper needs. What led up to the suffering caused by the event, making the human and also the ecological disaster a larger impact? And how might our mission efforts mitigate (or reduce) future impacts on this community?
Third, we engage the hands-on work of environmental action on projects that can have an outsized impact on resiliency for future disasters. These projects include river cleanup, debris removal, sorting out reusable and recyclable materials, wetland restoration, stream bank stabilization, and other nature-based projects. These are the kinds of efforts that help bring strength to the ecological aspects of a community and the planet. They recognize that a healthy ecosystem directly relates to the health of the human community too.
Finally, curriculum still being developed includes working with local churches to apply Eco-Mission concepts in their own communities. Local churches will be able to view their local mission field through the lenses of Scripture, United Methodist teachings, eco-justice, and resilience building. How might we as congregations look beyond disaster response to disaster preparedness and resilience in our climate-changing world? How might we partner with the Creator we serve to bring wholeness to entire living communities?
After three years of recovery work following Tropical Storm Fred, the Western NC Conference mission response efforts concluded just before Hurricane Helene brought devastation to the NC mountains, many times greater than was experienced with Fred. Due to the insight of Brian Mateer, as well as the team who developed and beta-tested the Eco-Mission concept, response to the Helene disaster will be able to include ongoing opportunities for Eco-Mission groups of youth, college students, mixed-age church groups, adult groups, and others. Week-long and weekend opportunities are being designed to start in the fall of 2025 and continue for several years.
The Western North Carolina Conference will soon begin scheduling Eco-Mission trips. If you would like to explore the possibility of bringing a group for an Eco-Mission week or weekend, please reach out to Rev. Jonathan Brake, Western NC Conference Eco-Mission and Creation Care Coordinator, jbrake@wnccumc.net.