Conference Team Videos and Presentations
The Mission of Creation Care and Creation Justice in the WNCC is a three-part recorded series addressing the topic of creation care and creation justice in the WNCC. It is aimed primarily at UMC clergy members and is led by two UMC commissioned EarthKeepers, Rev. Jonathan Brake (Mt. Pleasant UMC, Sherrills Ford) and layperson Kim Richmond, current convener for the WNCC Creation Care Ministry Team. This series is designed to begin a conversation related to the current state of God’s creation in the context of these three questions…
Session 1: What Is the Problem?
Why is there a need to focus on caring for God’s creation anyway? What does creation justice even mean? If I have a comfy home, a good job, my own car, all the clean water I want, What’s the Problem? I don’t do anything that would ever intentionally hurt someone: I recycle my plastic water bottles, decline a straw at restaurants, and always make sure I turn the lights out when I leave a room, so What’s the Problem?
Photo: 1400176493.jpg (980×400) (everythingconnects.org)
Session 2: Why Should We Care?
As Christians, and more specifically, as United Methodists, do we have any “guidelines” that direct us towards caring for God’s creation? What does the Bible say after the creation stories in Genesis? If we are not doing any intentional harm to others, is that enough? Do our spiritual leaders of The UMC take a position on creation care? What do our Social Principles and our Book of Resolutions have to say on this topic?
Photo: www.umcmission.org/find-resources/new-world-outlook-magazine/2016/may/june/0621eraofclimatechange
Session 3: What Can We Do?
Don’t most people know these things already? Is this going to cost a lot of extra money? Does it really matter if my church plants an organic community garden? How does that help? Does this mean I need to preach on creation care every week? What about our other ministries? And what if my congregation isn’t really into creation care? What can we do?
Photo: https://www.jackcanfield.com/blog/big-changes/
Starting a Creation Care Ministry in Your Church
Are you interested in beginning or expanding a Creation Care Ministry at your church? If so, then potential lay leaders of this ministry will want to learn more about the basis within the denomination for having a creation care ministry, the “Six Simple Steps” they should consider when starting the ministry, and a great new tool called the Green Church Initiative, which provides a variety of practical, intentional creation care related actions for getting started. By registering to participate in the GCI, a church may even earn points towards certification and recognition at Annual Conference as a “Green Church”.
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