By Rev. Dr. Mark Y. A. Davies
As the Executive Director of the Leadership, Education, and Development (LEAD) Hub United States for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM), I have had the privilege of leading the LEAD Hubs’s Social and Ecological Responsibility Initiative, which includes working closely with the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement to promote education and advocacy for environmental justice and climate justice. The LEAD Hub United States has been an ongoing partner with UM Creation Justice as a resource for summits and online webinars, and the Hub provides funding to assist the publication of the monthly newsletter you are reading now. The LEAD Hub also helps connect the UM Creation Justice Movement with eco-justice leaders in Methodist-related schools, colleges, and universities around the world.
Oklahoma City University
A few of these creation justice educational leaders are featured in this month’s [October 2022] newsletter, and they are highlighting some of the important work for social and ecological sustainability that is happening in our United Methodist schools of theology. They are helping to prepare ministers of today and tomorrow for the fiercely urgent work of climate justice that our churches must engage in if we are to preserve a livable climate. As you will see from their work and their curricular and co-curricular programs, our UM seminaries are involved in innovative and creative endeavors to address the ecological challenges in the world house we share as our only home.
The LEAD Hub United States has also been a resource for the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities (IAMSCU) and its regional networks, especially in relation to environmental issues and climate justice initiatives. The Hub hosted a conference on social and ecological responsibility at Oklahoma City University in 2019 and has served as a resource for educational events hosted in Brazil, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and the United States over the past five years.
Going forward, the LEAD Hub United States will continue networking with the Methodist International Student Exchange Network as a resource for its online Café Alive program, which often involves student discussions in relation to environment education, sustainability, and climate justice. The LEAD Hub United States is also looking forward to increased partnerships with the North American Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities (NAAMSCU) to help develop co-curricular educational opportunities related to social and ecological responsibility.
Many of our United Methodist related schools, colleges, and universities are leaders in the area of eco-justice, climate justice, and ecological sustainability. Twenty-five United Methodist related universities take part in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System, and four of the top 50 green colleges in the United States are United Methodist affiliated. Our connectional system provides our higher education network with excellent opportunities for creative and effective collaboration, and the LEAD Hub United States is privileged to play a key role in this life-giving and hope-filled work.
Rev. Dr. Mark Y. A. Davies is the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics, Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility at Oklahoma City University where he has worked in both teaching and administration for 26 years. He is an ordained elder in the Oklahoma Conference of The United Methodist Church where he served as Chair of the Board of Church and Society from 2015 to 2018. Mark’s Ph.D. is from Boston University in the area of Social Ethics. Since 2015, Mark has served on the United Methodist University Senate.