Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, pastor of Mercy and Justice Ministries at West End UMC in Nashville, supported the green team’s efforts to bring recycling to the church’s practices. The congregation participated in a Blessing of the Bins, highlighting Creation care as an act of loving God and neighbor.
By Rev Richenda Fairhurst
Green Teams are popping up everywhere—in both faith-based and secular organizations. In the UMC there are now green teams and/or creation care teams in a number of churches and conferences across the denomination. Many of those teams are doing great work; others are seeking more support and a greater commitment from the UMC for their efforts.
Crys Zinkiewicz submitted a petition to General Conference on behalf of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement that calls for the formation of green teams in churches, districts, and conferences. She hopes the legislation, which passed at General Conference this week, will offer that support. The core language of this legislation reads:
That every local church, charge, cluster, or district is urged to create a “green team” or strengthen an existing one for action in four areas each year—Worship, Education, Practice, and Advocacy—providing children, youth, and adults of all ages with inspiration, knowledge, encouragement, and practical means for caring for creation and justice. … The annual conference will assist churches with resources and mentors, as needed….
Crys Zinkiewicz credits the Creation Care Summit at Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, TN, in 2019 with helping her “grasp the scope and urgency of the climate crisis.” Following the Summit, she became a UM Earthkeeper and helped birth the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement. As a leader in that movement, she has volunteered with a number of working groups, including the team that put together the Lay Servant Ministries course, Loving People and Planet in God’s Name.
Also in 2019, Zinkiewicz became chair of her local church Creation Care Committee in Nashville. Next step was to connect her annual conference’s green team, known as the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference Creation Care Ministry Team.
“Along with my experience in the UM Creation Justice Movement, I recognized the power of a team. When the idea came from the UM Creation Justice Movement to write model resolutions for annual conferences, I knew where my best contribution could be,” Zinkiewicz explains. “I hope ordinary people will find extraordinary power by working with others to make a difference right where they are.”
For Zinkiewicz, the legislation is about faithful teamwork that multiplies the efforts given for creation, while also caring for team members in the work. “What sustains me in this work is 1 Corinthians 3:6 where Paul is helping the developing church understand the importance of a ‘team’ connected to faith: ‘I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’ With a team, I take turns sometimes ‘planting,’ sometimes ‘watering’ what others have done or are doing, always trusting God will give the growth, whether I see it or not.”
In addition to this legislation, Zinkiewicz also writes the monthly United Methodist Creation Justice Tips for the UM Creation Justice Movement. “My EarthKeepers project was to write monthly ideas that local churches could pass along to parishioners for individual or corporate action. The Tips also help people see how taking care of God’s Creation and addressing the consequent justice issues are connected to faith.”
She has now crafted and shared over 550 tips. She explains that “researching and writing the Tips has kept me attuned to big and small things that people and groups can do. All of these experiences have widened and deepened my understanding and commitment.”
In all of what she has learned and this new legislation, Zinkiewicz sees God at work. Already the green team opportunities are expanding, and she has a related project in development, an online mini-course titled, How to Develop an Effective Green Team. “I’m finishing up the preparation, and the Be a Disciple course will be ready in mid to late summer,” she says. The course allows her to share what she has learned and will be structured so participants can be a “ ‘team’ of learners who will enrich the webinar with their own experiences and insights, as well.”