Creation Justice Blog
News and Stories From Across the MovementSearch by topic for resources to help you make creation justice a priority in your community. We add new topics all the time so check back frequently!
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Green Teams Resources
Green Team Tips These 10 paragraphs can guide a new team quickly and smoothly from forming to performing. Start small; regard your pastor as a leader and ally, identify needs and opportunities; use your assets; use your connections, communicate, educate, advocate, practice what you preach, and reach out—all on one page (front and back) puts the team all on the same page. Creating Your Green Team:A Model for Action This PowerPoint presentation examines the history or the environmental movement, issues facing environmentalism today, and the...
Green Teams Resolution: New Video Walkthrough Available
By Crys Zinkiewicz It’s one thing to have a positive vote for forming Green Teams, it’s another to form those teams. Recognizing the need for encouraging and resourcing those beginnings, the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Creation Care Ministry Team has developed a 10-minute video walkthrough of the resolution. After defining the role of a resolution as starting a conversation and moving to action, the video connects creation care and justice to Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience, pointing to the “why” Green Teams are important. The...
St. Matthews UMC Earn Green Church Award
The Green Church Initiative of the Western North Carolina Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church By Karlah Y. BurtonNorth Carolina Earthkeeper Fall greetings with love on behalf of the Creation Care Ministry and Community Garden Project at Saint Matthews United Methodist Church, Greensboro, North Carolina! We are in the Northern Piedmont District of the Western NC Conference, UMC. I am Karlah Burton, member of the Western NC Conference Creation Care Team Ministry, Saint Matthews UMC Creation Care Ministry Chairperson, and a...
Loving People and Planet in God’s Name Update
By Bob Downs The Leader's Guide for this Advanced Lay Servant Course includes lesson plans for five two-hour sessions to help lay servant ministers learn more about climate justice, how to talk about climate justice using a biblical and theological framework, and how to work with their communities to do meaningful ministry around creation care. This course utilizes the book Climate Justice: A Call to Hope and Action [Second Edition] as a text. To access these resources - try the following:Leader's Guide Go to The Upper Room Store &...
Building Momentum Step by Step
By Kim RichmondStep 1: Pass the Resolution The Western North Carolina Conference adopted the Local Church Creation Care Team resolution at its June, 2023, annual conference, with no opposition. Passage of this resolution has provided great exposure and marvelous momentum for the Creation Care Ministry throughout the churches and offices in the conference! Step 2: Gather Information From the Churches Passage of the resolution prompted inclusion of an information-gathering form in the charge conference packets requesting the designation of a...
Meadow Project Brings More Than Hope
By Cammy Freed Hope Meadow is a project I undertook after enrolling in the Pennsylvania Master Naturalist program in Lancaster County in 2019. The program was an eye-opener for me. I learned so much about nature and biology, which inspired me to create something that would benefit our Hope United Methodist Church, our community, and the environment. My capstone project was to remove the grass behind the church and create a native plant wildflower meadow, which would serve as a refuge for native wildlife and provide an opportunity for...
November 2023 Tips: Saying Thank You
In your every day and holiday choices you can express gratitude to the Creator and Creation. Your actions speak loudest.Here are some suggestions. Share these Tips with your family, friends, and congregation. Choose any or all. Forward them to someone you care about. Cut-and-paste to put them with your email signature, in your letters and emails, worship bulletins, newsletters, social media, or website.November 2023 Tips Keep your garden messy all winter—for the birds! Help them feed through the winter by not deadheading spent blooms...
October 2023 Newsletter: Solar
October News No More Standing Alone Did you hear about the October UM Café totally focused on how we can solarize the denomination? What?!? Seriously? As retired pastors of the Oregon-Idaho Conference, my wife Debbie and I couldn’t have imagined such a conversation ever happening 45 years ago when our rural Idaho congregation was deciding to put a solar hot water system on our parsonage—not in our wildest ecclesiastical dreams! Many of us across the church—standing alone—have been working for this day for 45 years and more. And now...
October 2023 Movement Café: Solar
October Movement Café: SolarOctober 18th 2023 10am PT / 11am MT / 12pm CT / 1pm ETSponsored 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. SolarCouldn't make it? Here's what happened.The October Movement Cafe delved into solar energy, providing information and resources to help facilitate a feasible process for faith institutions to follow in their efforts to transition to clean energy. Reverend...
Just and Free! Fossil Free UMC
By Sharon DelgadoTo continue on the way of salvation, that is living in harmony with God, we should begin “by doing no harm, avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced...”I am the convener of a group that is reviving and revisioning Fossil Free UMC in the leadup to next year’s General Conference, which will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 23 through May 3. Our group will focus on moving United Methodists to divest their financial holdings away from fossil fuels and to instead invest in solar...
October 2023 Tips: As the World Turns
As the World TurnsThe changing seasons prompt usto consider other ways we may need to change—for God’s sake! God calls each and all of us to work forthe changes needed for creation justice. Below are a few ideas. Share these Tips with your family, friends, and congregation. Choose any or all. Forward them to someone you care about. Cut-and-paste to put them with your email signature, in your letters and emails, worship bulletins, newsletters, social media, or website.October 2023 Tips 500,000 school days missed annually by U.S....
Creation Care in Worship and Preaching
By Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon This year our congregation is reading through the Bible together, looking for overarching themes that recur throughout the scriptures. On the first Sunday of our scriptural journey, I preached the creation story from Genesis 2–3. As I reread the story, a central theme struck me: When God created the world, all of creation was in right relationship. Human beings were in right relationship with God, with one another, with ourselves and with the Garden, the land, the animals. But when Adam and Eve bit into...
UMC Solar in Action
Here are some inspirational solar stories from across the connection. If you have a UMC solar story to share, please pass it along to umcreationjustice@gmail.com. Thanks!Hamline Church Green Team video about sustainable practices at Hamline Church United Methodist, St Paul MNThe UMC responds to hurricanes in Puerto Rico by installing solarNew Orleans UMC Churches to Serve as True Neighborhood LighthousesThe Western North Carolina Conference Center is covered in solar panels that not only provide enough energy to power the building but also...
An Interfaith Solar Journey: Why YOU Need to Attend the October Movement Café
By Lou Stagnitto In Salem, Oregon, at First United Methodist Church, David Cox sat amongst familiar faces in his adult Sunday school class. Over the years, their discussions often gravitated towards the escalating climate emergency. While they regularly expressed concern about the absence of urgent climate action globally, it was David who voiced a pivotal realization: “We had to confront ourselves, questioning why we weren't part of the solution.” Through this reflection, the foundation of the Interfaith Solar Campaign was cemented....
Advocacy Before Possible Government Shutdown
As this newsletter is going to press, the United States Congress remains sharply divided over spending levels for the coming year. Inability to pass appropriations bills that can be signed into law before September 30th—the end of the fiscal year—could result in a partial government shutdown. Even a short-term funding measure, known as a Continuing Resolution or CR, will only temporarily keep the government operating with the critical choices about next year’s funding levels still to be decided by Congress and the Administration. As people of...
2023 Farm Bill
Every five years Congress passes a huge Farm Bill (likely over one trillion dollars this time) that has huge impacts on all aspects of creation (land, water, forests, air) and human communities here and throughout the world – those who produce the food and all of us who are fed by their efforts. The bill especially impacts low-wealth people who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits funded through this bill. We hope you will engage in helping to shape this legislation to be creation friendly and just. We ask you...
September Movement Café: Creation Justice and Young Adult Ministries
September Movement Café: Creation Justice and Young Adult MinistriesSeptember 20th 2023 10am PT / 11am MT / 12pm CT / 1pm ETSponsored 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. Young Adult MinistriesYoung people are a very visible part of the movement for climate justice around the world. What role are they playing in the United Methodist Church and how can the church come alongside and support the...
September 2023 Newsletter: Young Adult Ministries
September News Hope for the Future “It meant so much to me that a decision-maker was listening to our stories and understands what’s going on.”—Rikki Held, 22-year-old plaintiff in the winning first-ever climate trial “I got involved with creation justice through working with my grandparents.” –Ella Althoff, 16-year-old, activist and mission-trip participant Whether through family, friends, mission trips, or legal actions, young people are acting on behalf of what they experience now and what they hope for the future. In many cases,...
Sign Up Now: A Minute for Mother Earth
Just a minute! And it’s powerful! Sign up now for "A MINUTE FOR MOTHER EARTH"! Each month you will receive four free video clips—just 60–90 seconds long—to help your congregation recognize God’s call in the midst of climate-related issues. Each “Minute” is based on the curriculum Wake Up World: A Curriculum for Faith and Community Groups, available from Cokesbury. Take a minute right now and sign up today! As 2022 United Methodist EarthKeepers, Bob and I were expected to have a project. Ours was to develop a resource, Wake Up World: A...
Opening Eyes to SACRED GROUND
What if people standing on some of God’s most beautiful places on earth could see them as sacred. The new app, Sacred Ground, makes that hope possible. Premiering in Sonoma County, California, the app also has potential for helping visitors in other places recognize the sacred worth of the ground upon which they are standing. Live now as of August, 2023, Sacred Ground connects visitors to 17 of Sonoma County’s beautiful scenic vistas, parks, and trails. Each location on the audio tour includes— information on local challenges related to...
United Methodist Universities Receive STARS Sustainability Recognition
Ten United Methodist affiliated universities received recognition for their participation in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a program of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). “The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, & Rating System™ (STARS) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance.” https://stars.aashe.org/about-stars/ Participating institutions earn points through a wide array of...
For Our Children, From Our Children, With Our Children
UMC Connection to Youth Climate Trial in Montana The Creation Advocacy Network is a Montana climate and creation justice action group sponsored by Helena United Methodist Ministries of St. Paul UMC. They have been closely following and actively supporting the Youth Climate Trial against the state of Montana. See their posts sent during and after the trial through their Facebook group. Learn more about the historic and inspiring case here. By Crys Zinkiewicz August 14, 2023, was a day for our children. In the first-ever climate trial 16 young...
Oklahoma City University Sustainability Week Snapshot
By Angelina Lacey At many of our United Methodist institutions of higher education many student groups are working together for climate justice and ecological sustainability. One of these groups, Oklahoma City University Blue Goes Green, is planning for their annual “sustainability week” this academic year. (Dates to be determined.) All week OCU Blue Goes Green will be tabling outside of the café with a recycling drive. They want to bring awareness to the fact there is not an adequate recycling program on campus. All of the recyclable...
The Unjust Impacts of Climate Change
By Dr. Richard F. Gillum Children in countries least responsible for climate change face greatest losses from the impacts. Climate shocks continue to ravish vulnerable communities and nations around the world. For example, severe drought in the Horn of Africa, the worst drought in decades, has created a food and malnutrition crisis impacting millions of children, while triggering waves of migration and spikes in violence. The BBC reported that for many months, hundreds of thousands of Somali civilians have gathered across the plateau...
From Mission Trip to Justice
By Ella Althoff I recently participated in a mission trip. Our youth group decided this year that instead of going someplace out of the state we would help out in our own city, Spokane. The theme of the week was justice. How can we, with our actions, provide justice to the community? We worked with a group called Growing Neighbors. We restocked mini food pantries all around Spokane, made house deliveries and did a lot of weeding. This group is run out of Shadle Presbyterian church. At their church we helped them put a large garden bed to...
Individuals Can Make A Difference
By Andrew Hartley Following Jesus means loving God and loving others, and protecting the earth is all about love: For God, who created Earth as a beautiful masterpiece; and for people, who depend on Earth being clean and healthy. Knowing that, many people say they are frustrated that they can’t do more to care for this planet. They believe that most of the pollution that is messing up the planet, God’s planet, is caused by forces outside their control. And they are mostly right. Just 90 large companies have released about 60% of the...
August 2023 Newsletter: Season of Creation Worship Resources
August News Worship God Anew! 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 here ideas to inspire you and spur your creativity. This issue invites you to share that creativity with your local congregation or find some friends and invent an expression of worship yourselves, so that all may experience being part of the work of God in this world. Worship is always appropriate for celebrating the goodness of all God’s creation—and for...
September 2023 Tips: Caught and Taught
Caught and Taught The popular phrase, “caught, not taught,”declares that actions have more impact, especially on children, than words do. But Christian climate scientist, Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, maintains that the most important thing for addressing the interwoven climate issues is to talk about them. With the future of our children, grandchildren, and their children at stake, let us focus on what we—individually and as a church—do AND take the opportunity to talk about why that matters to us as caretakers of God’s creation. Share...
August Movement Café: Worship
August Movement Café: WorshipAugust 16th 2023 10am PT / 11am MT / 12pm CT / 1pm ETSponsored 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. Rev. Laura Baumgartneris an ordained elder in the Pacific Northwest Conference, serving the Haller Lake United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington. Laura is a second career pastor, having worked for over 20 years as a chemistry teacher in public schools....
Why Would You Want to Be a Global Ministries Earthkeeper?
By Rev. Jonathan Brake (EarthKeepers Class of 2016) Training Dates: In-Person October 5-8, 2014 (plus pre-training online preparation before the in-person weekend) Training Locations: Birmingham, AL; Denver, CO; Hartford CT (Three places on the same weekend. Choose the closest location to reduce your travel emissions.) Details: umcmission.org/earthkeepers EarthKeepers are Action-Oriented It happened again. You read about or watch a news report and feel that sense of despair rising in your stomach. A heat wave won’t let go of...