The Rev. Deborah Conklin is pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, Bowling Green Ohio and is the Executive Director of a transitional housing program for homeless women recovery from chemical dependency. Her advocacy work began in 1988 working for the Toledo Metropolitan Mission where she led an Employment Readiness and Placement project for AfricanAmerican young men, the highest unemployed population in most communities… More about Deborah
Jason Cervenec is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Byrd Polar Research Center. Jason earned his M.Ed. in secondary science education and B.S. in biology from The Ohio State University. He taught science for 11 years in a public high school, including the courses biology, Advanced Placement biology, natural systems science, and physical science… More about Jason
Serving At: Ministry with God’s Renewed Creation
The Rev. Pat Watkins is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. He is guiding a new, globally-focused United Methodist Ministry with God’s Renewed Creation, based at Global Ministries and also closely related to the Council of Bishops.
Pat’s work has its roots in the Virginia Annual Conference. It is being given a global context in which to work with agencies, annual conferences, bishops, congregations, and ecumenical partners in relation to environmental issues. It builds on a theology that recognizes that care for creation is a fundamental aspect of Christian mission.
The Ministry with God’s Renewed Creation, which has its roots in the Virginia Annual Conference, is being given a global context in which to work with agencies, annual conferences, bishops, congregations, and ecumenical partners in relation to environmental issues. It builds on a theology that recognizes that care for creation is a fundamental aspect of Christian mission.
Pat is a clergy member of the Virginia Conference. He and his wife, the Rev. Denise Honeycutt, were missionaries in Nigeria from 1995 to 1998 and he was a Church and Community Worker missionary in Virginia from 2009 through 2013. He was earlier affiliated with interfaith organizations in Virginia.
A lifelong United Methodist, Pat says that the church has been the catalyst through which his faith journey and call to mission service have taken place. He was strongly influenced as a young person by participation in the United Methodist Youth Fellowship and a church-related Boy Scouts program. While serving as a missionary in Nigeria, he became deeply interested in the relation between faith and God’s creation. While faith has traditionally looked at relationship with God and relationships with other people, he began to see a relationship between faith and the created order. He says: “I am convinced that my faith can and must embrace a ministry that calls for the care and healing of God’s creation.”
He reports that the 2009 document “God’s Renewed Creation” from the United Methodist Council of Bishops informed his call to mission. He had earlier taken courses in environmental science at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Pat received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, in 1979, and a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School in 1986.
Speaking of his mission focus, Pat tells this story from his service in Nigeria: “Nigeria has a rainy and a dry season each year. Our trips to the city to buy supplies had to occur during the dry season because it was physically impossible to get in and out of our village during the rainy season. We were forced to live more connected to the cycles of the earth than ever before. Not only did I learn that I could tolerate such an existence, I began to feel as if there was something really wonderful about it, something even sacred. As a result, I began to ask myself a very basic question: “Is there a connection between my faith as a Christian and this feeling of a relationship to the earth?’” His answer is “yes.”
More about Bill, Professor Emeritus
Methodist Theological School in Ohio
Bill is a retired United Methodist Minister from Ohio. He spent much of his ministry teaching at MTSO (Methodist Theological School in Ohio). He is a graduate of The Ohio State University (B.S. in Educ. and Ph. D.) and of MTSO (M. Div.)… His involvement with the Climate Justice Movement began in 2014. During that time he has been active on the Creation Care Taskforce of The West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church and in Fossil Free UMC… More about Bill bill casto bio-23ut3p8
The Earth Keeping Summit 2016 was held at the Ohio State University, School of Environment and Natural Resources. The summit went deeper than the importance of recycling, shutting off your lights and using less energy, and addressed questions of ecology, justice, and race. Dr. Melanie Harris was the keynote speaker of the event and also spoke on the importance of sharing stories. She is an Associate Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX.
Dr. Harris spoke of the importance of diversity in ecology and how social justice relates to the environmental movement. She talked about how sharing our stories and experiences plays a part in taking care of the environment and having a connection to the environment and to each other. In this environmental movement we must listen. We must reflect on our experiences. We must take race, class and gender very seriously. She gave the example of Eric Garner whose life was taken by police but before that he struggled with asthma. Melanie talked about our air and how the earth is barely breathing. When we heal our earth we will then heal ourselves.
Earth connection begins by sitting with difference. Sitting with nature and seeing things in a different kind of lens. You can hear Melanie’s powerful message here.
What: Congregation Tifereth Israel 2017 Scholar-in-Residence Weekend. Congregation Tefereth Israel will be sharing Judaism and Environmentalism/Sustainability this weekend. You can register below and check out the details on their flyer here.
Where: 1354 E Broad St, Columbus, OH 43205, USA
When: February 3rd, 5:30pm – 9:30pm & February 4th, 9:30am – 9:30pm
The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC/CRCNA) has been working for over a year to develop the Climate Witness Project (CWP), which is a campaign designed to walk with congregations as they learn about the realities of climate change. There are advocacy links, resources and action alerts for communities and congregations to learn about what the CWP is doing and engage in related work. So far, over 200 CRC 
members from 35 congregations in the U.S. and Canada have come together to learn, act, and advocate for a safer and more just world.
The CWP offers their support with coaching and resources when congregations are reaching out to legislators in order to build relationships to help improve climate related policies. The CWP has resources on how to incorporate creation care in worship services, a guide to reduce energy consumption, as well as other resources to combat climate change and help reach the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. You can learn more about the Climate Witness Project through the Office of Social Justice website (OSJ), or get involved in communicating with public officials about common sense climate policy that will benefit the earth, people around the world who are poor and vulnerable, and future generations.
Caretakers of God’s Creation is a grassroots community of the United Methodist Church General Board of Global Ministries. Part of their central belief is the scriptural and Wesleyan theology that the earth belongs to God, not us, and we are given the responsibility to be good stewards of it. The caretakers are on a mission to reveal God to others through creation and motivate people to act on behalf of environmental wholeness and justice. Their website shares more of who they are and what they’ve done.
The General Board of Global Ministries recently launched their new Earthkeeper Program (or brochure) where individuals can engage the movement to face ecological challenges in their congregations and communities. The caretakers share their stewardship stories and encourage others to share their story about protecting and caring for God’s creation. They also provide films, books, information about other faith-based environmental organizations and other resources about how to care for the earth on their website.
Caretakers of God’s Creation will be having their Annual Caring for God’s Creation Conference on April 28/29, which will be folded into the People’s Climate Movement March.
We are United Methodists who believe it is wrong to profit from wrecking God’s creation.The Fossil Free United Methodist Church is on a mission to get the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of The United Methodist Church to invest in clean energy companies. Their website highlights what they are doing in their congregations and potentially your congregation.
On their website you will find their strategy to educate, support and converse with individuals, congregations, the General Conference and the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits. They’ve posted blogs of what they’ve done and progress that they have made on their mission to clean energy. You will also find a webinar that you can schedule with your group along with other resources to support the fossil free mission. Fossil Free UMC addresses the effects of fossil fuel divestments but promotes the long term benefits of investing in fossil free energy on their legislation page.
For more information on the Fossil Free UMC movement, email them at fossilfreeumc@gmail.com. You can also join them during the Peoples March April 28/29 in Washington DC. More info coming soon here!
