HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024
As we plan for activities in the new year, it is a good idea to take a few minutes to consider where we have been in 2023 and where we want to go. To that end, this January Newsletter is a look back with short synopses of each month’s Newsletter for review and refreshment. Catch up on something you missed, or refocus for future action. We invite you to enjoy the memories and be inspired for action in the year ahead.
January – Movement Work Teams and Updates
The official launch date for the UM Creation Justice Movement was just three years ago in January of 2020, a seemingly inauspicious time for starting a ministry of connecting and supporting groups. However, three years later the work is continuing to create virtual and in-person spaces and communication networks that offer opportunities for advocacy, organizing, education, and connection. January 2023 saw the opening of a new venue for connecting people: the monthly UMCJ Movement Café. Newsletter, Tips, Working Groups, and Café continue to help people ask and answer the question: What more might we do together?
February – Water and Resolutions
This month’s edition first focused on the power of resolutions in the church to start conversations that address the conviction that change is needed. The document expands the conversation and calls for action and accountability. The Newsletter presented eight model resolutions to give conference teams starting points for their own versions to present at their annual conference. The second focus was on water and especially oceans, God’s good gifts, without which we would not have life. As Christians baptized and given new life through water, we recognize the sacred charge before us. Thankfully, our writers give us hope—and ways to take action.
March – Faithful Discipleship
The way we care for the most vulnerable is the most Christlike measure of faithful discipleship, whether we are thinking of marginalized peoples or the increasingly impoverished environs of our more than human world. Care for both people and planet is our calling and our witness. That assertion played out in several ways in the March edition: Action Alerts addressing air pollution and Fair Share International Climate Finance Programs, Eastertide worship resources, teaching materials (“Loving People and Planet in God’s Name” and “Wake Up World”) and stories from the grassroots. The Café explored the connection with Discipleship Ministries.
April – Camping and Retreat Ministries
Our United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries recognize that it is through the experience of finding God and being found by God in creation that the spiritual connection between appreciating nature and caring for nature is formed. Campers carry back into society this love for creation and inspire their families, friends, churches, and communities. In a world that seems to be moving toward the destruction of creation, more and more of our camp and retreat centers are deepening their commitment to healing our world. April’s newsletter highlights several new initiatives that were implemented at United Methodist camps and retreat centers over the past year.
May – Annual Conference Actions
With the hope that new teams will be inspired, existing teams will be strengthened, and care of God’s Creation will continue to grow, the UMCJM Annual Conference Organizing Team has been at work. Highlights are in this edition of the newsletter. Thus far, the team has
- Developed a seven-part webinar series to help new teams form
- Hosted quarterly jurisdictional gatherings, where annual conference teams could share best practices
- Strategized ways to engage bishops and district superintendents
- Developed questions for episcopal candidates
- Drafted eight model resolutions for annual conferences
Held webinars and developed brochures on the content and use of the resolutions.
June – Net-Zero Emissions
Our Creator has given us everything needed for sustaining and nourishing life. Humanity does not need to add anything to God’s good world, especially not fossil fuels or fossil fuel products like convenience plastics or petrochemical fertilizers. The June issue explores and celebrates the net-zero efforts that are growing in every part of United Methodism, from the agencies to the local churches and including tools and guides for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help achieve net-zero commitments and reduce waste. Additionally, the Movement Café discussed net-zero, specifically the Just and Equitable Interagency Commitment to Net-Zero.
July – Disaster Response and Preparedness
In the face of intensifying natural disasters linked to climate change, members of The United Methodist Church across the connection are responding through early response teams and long-term disaster recovery, and increasingly through sustainable and just redevelopment, resilience centers, preparedness planning, and more. This edition and the Movement Café feature resources for and stories of this good work. The “good work” reporting continues with exciting updates on Creation Justice actions taken at recent annual conferences, including passage of several resolutions, plus important action alerts from the Advocacy work group, news about Season of Creation worship resources, and more.
August – Season of Creation Worship Resources
Whether you are a worship planner, preacher, liturgist, artist, teacher, or an exhausted seeker who just needs to find repose during worship, you will find in this issue ideas to inspire you and spur your creativity. Worship is always appropriate for celebrating the goodness of all God’s creation—and for grappling with God’s call to deal with the climate crisis, environmental hazards, and the resulting injustices and oppression. To help you create those times are new resources for the upcoming Season of Creation, “Let Justice and Peace Flow,” designed by our UM Creation Justice Movement worship team.
September – Young Adult Ministries
Whether through family, friends, mission trips, or legal actions such as the legal win for the Montana youth, young people are acting on behalf of what they experience now and what they hope for the future. In many cases, the connection to their church has given them knowledge, encouragement, and opportunity to make a difference. In this issue—and in life—we celebrate the role of young persons as they lead by example, speak prophetically, and call all of us to accountability—and hope. The Movement Café also focused on Young Adult Ministries within the UMC.
October – Congregational Solar
Solar and its expanded availability, especially to churches, has spotlighted new opportunities to care for creation. But the discussions, both in the newsletter and the Café, were not just about emissions or saving money (even for ministry). It was clear that having this solar conversation is essential because the only antidote to privilege is real community, and United Methodists believe in the power of not just individual congregations but annual conferences and denominations to do what’s right for the earth, in a way that favors those affected first and worst by climate emergency who can least afford renewables. And, as like in other Cafes, the conversation brought people together, building new connections across the denomination and boosting solar efforts across annual conferences.
November – Green Teams
The leaves are changing color, but in this month’s newsletter and at the Movement Café, we focused on GREEN—specifically learning about Green Teams and their important role in caring for God’s Creation and justice. Local churches and their Green Teams can be true powerhouses in this important work. They help the church and the church community in a variety of ways to develop sustainable practices, such as energy efficiency, conservation, and the use of clean energy sources. They can also encourage advocacy and engagement in policy and environmental justice issues. Here are resources for learning how to start and engage your Green Team, whether you are just starting off or already digging in to the work.
December – Advent and Christmas
With Advent and Christmas in mind, the newsletter challenged the imagination with what “re-wilding” our holy waiting might look like and offered some resources. The Café brought together the Creation Justice Movement community for worship and celebration of the season. The Creation Justice Tips expanded for a special edition featuring 10 Tips for greening gift giving, 10 for greening decorating, 10 for greening celebrations, and 10 for greening putting away. These small actions help identify HOW to care for creation and for justice—essentially, how to love the Creator, our neighbors, and one another. Christmas already gives us the WHY.
