The Backstory
Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple featured a grumpy, disheveled sportswriter sharing a New York apartment with a sharp-dressed, cultured photographer. Humor and belly laughs abound in the clash of the neat-freak and the adult version of Charles Shultz’s Pigpen.
Pat Watkins, the first UM Missionary for the Earth, is our Neil Simon, offering The Oddest Clergy Pairing. Pat had the outrageous idea to connect two of his friends to collaborate on similar creation care interests.
In more ways than one, Keith is Oscar to Jacob’s Felix. Keith, the balding clergy, wearing a clergy collar with farmer’s overalls while turning compost and keeping bees, is at the sunset of his appointive journey. Jacob, fresh, bright-eyed, in his final year at Duke, dressing GQ sharp and eagerly stepping into his first appointment as a Rural Fellow.
A millennial and a boomer communicating effectively on theology and practice, much less collaborating? Only a Pat Watkins could write this play! The good news is we share much common ground. We are blessed to be students of Dr. Norman Wirzba, plus both of us learning creation advocacy from Pat and doing similar work in different orbits.
Ever since Keith returned from EarthKeeper training, his project has been going through many iterations, trying to match the local church with regenerative agriculture’s ability to heal creation through carbon capture. Along came Jacob, the energetic and insightful partner needed to help shape the ideas into a toolbox and put it to paper.
Early on, we realized that we shared this passion for creation care—particularly through agriculture and food—and the desire to have creation care lived out in the local church as a central practice of discipleship. As two clergy people, we both wanted the work we did to be 1) deeply grounded (pun certainly intended) in rich theology; and 2) practical and beneficial to local churches.
Advocating for regenerative agriculture practices in the local church turned out to be a natural fit for both of these criteria. Regenerative agriculture, at its core, is about resurrection, just as is the Christian faith. Regenerative agriculture seeks to heal the land by bringing life back into the soil, working with the systems God has put in place rather than against them.
After diving into the world of regenerative agriculture with our friends from Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA), we set to work putting together a toolbox to help local churches live out regenerative agriculture practices in their context.
The result of this work is available now for you to download and share in your context. Our prayer is that this Regenerative Agriculture Advocacy Toolbox can help those passionate about caring for creation share the good news of resurrection that lies within the soil beneath our feet (and our church yards). No matter where you might be on this journey, this toolbox will have something for you—tips on how to get started, a suggested next step, or a vision for a big dream that God has been calling you to.
We hope that you will find within this toolbox practical ways to be a disciple, caring for this creation that God has made us a part of.
Felix and Oscar were complete opposites. Because of their differences, they often brought out the best in each other. We encourage you to tap into the diversity of your community and embrace it as an asset for drawing out the best in creation care ministry.
Jacob Dye and Keith Sexton