Warmer, Thirstier Air Worsens Drought
Growing atmospheric thirst, driven by human-caused warming, is making droughts worse in the western U.S. and around the world, according to climate scientists. This effect is but one symptom of the global climate crisis that needs more attention from The United Methodist Church, says a letter to the Council of Bishops from the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement. (Graphic Courtesy of ClimateCentral.org)
A United Methodist Insight Feature | Oct. 1, 2025
For the past five years, the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement has worked hard to put solutions to the global climate crisis into The United Methodist Church’s conscious ministry. Now, as the annual Season of Creation environmental religious observance concludes on Oct. 4, their recent open letter to the Council of Bishops has drawn a hopeful response of future cooperation.
The lengthy detailed open letter has drawn several positive responses from around the denomination, said Cathy Velasquez Eberhart of the Minnesota Conference, part of UMCJM’s 21-member coordinating team.
The most encouraging response came recently from the Council of Bishops, said Velasquez Eberhart.
“We have heard from a number of bishops so far, both formally and informally, including from Bishop Tracy Malone, the current president of the Council of Bishops, and we are so encouraged. The immediate plan is to work through Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank and their Committee for Justice and Reconciliation to assist in a United Methodist call for response,” she said.
The open letter outlines an ambitious, urgent campaign for the UMC to ramp up its attention to the effects of climate change that are endangering people, property and the entire planet.
Trusting science
The letter’s statements – especially its focus on transitioning from an economy based on fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy – expresses trust in scientific data documenting the radical changes in the environment because of global warming caused by burning fossil fuels. It’s science that Methodism’s founder John Wesley, a proponent of scientific inquiry, probably would also support, UMCJM’s leaders said.
“We must take action now for creation justice, to preserve, restore, and steward creation for the flourishing of human beings and all living things,” said the letter’s opening. “It is urgent that the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church bring substantive spiritual leadership to this crisis...”
“We seek leadership from the Council of Bishops to lead with and support strategic action for God’s Creation alongside the local churches, conferences, Conference Creation Justice Coordinators, and the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement (UMCJM),” the letter continued.
Movement leaders cited several areas of concern in their letter:
- Divest from fossil fuels,
- Advocate for the most vulnerable who are often disproportionately harmed by global warming,
- Take action in annual conferences to divest from fossil fuels and champion creation care,
- Raise up the United Methodist Social Principles, which begin with a section on God’s creation,
- For bishops to be visible climate advocates in the local church.
“The first action we hope for is a declarative statement from the bishops,” said Lynn Jobe, a member of UMCJM’s coordinating team from the Tennessee Western Kentucky Conference. “It costs nothing. Yet it will be powerful.”
Seeking climate crisis solutions
Other members of the coordinating team are equally passionate about seeking climate crisis solutions with the bishops’ help.
“This letter tries to get past the way the church has thought for many years now, that if we just recycle and get rid of Styrofoam, we’ll solve the planet’s problems,” said the Rev. Pat Watkins, a pastor in the North Carolina Conference and UMCJM coordinating team member. “We’re asking the bishops to think far more deeply, seriously and urgently than the ways we’ve been used to thinking about creation justice and caring for the Earth in the church.”
The Rev. Sharon Delgado, a longtime United Methodist creation justice advocate in the California-Nevada Conference and convener of Fossil Free UMC, said: “When it comes to carbon emissions, we are already blowing past the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming limit called for by scientists to stabilize the climate and to prevent escalating catastrophe. The time to phase out fossil fuels is now. The letter stresses the urgency of the moment.”
“We must address the systemic harms of fossil fuels and ensure the Church is not a party to so much destruction,” said Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, another coordinating team member. “But more than that, we need to envision the future. There is a whole lot more that we can be doing.”
Creation Justice Vigil
On the eve of the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., climate activists hold a candlelight Vigil for Creation to mark Earth Day and to call the denomination to greater stewardship of creation. Participants included Thomas Elliott (left), a professor at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, and Candler students Mary Frances Gaston (center) and Emily McGinn. The service took place at the First United Methodist Church of Charlotte. (Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News)
The composition of the letter reflects the kind of cooperative leadership the Movement is seeking from the entire denomination.
“The United Methodist Creation Justice Movement isn’t a top-down hierarchy, but rather a coordinated effort with many people working alongside each other in the work,” said Rev. Fairhurst. “This letter brings together many voices, the voices of United Methodists across the denomination who have been doing this work for decades.”
Addressing the potential cost of creation-care programs, Rev. Fairhurst added:
“As for cost, the length of the letter speaks to mobilization. Funding isn’t just about adding line items to a budget, though we will need to do that work, too. Funding is about understanding we need a faith-filled reorientation toward the discipleship work of restoring and stewarding creation.”
“For example, the church already has capital campaigns and generates worship and discipleship material. Yet the projects and products of those funds do not address the fundamental crisis of our changing climate and creation care and discipleship around that. We restore stained glass windows without addressing the gas boiler. We fix the roof without adding solar panels.”
Lynn Jobe added: “As to resources such as financial cost, the biggest resource we have is our voice. It costs nothing to say the words that need to be said.”
Rev. Delgado noted that the Movement offers many resources for annual conferences, local churches and individuals to use in becoming more aware and active in solving the climate crisis. These include resources for training climate advocates and recommendations for speakers to bring the message of creation care to churches and conferences.
The overall goal seeks a massive shift in thought and practice beyond increasing recycling and “greening” the church, she said.
“It’s changing the values, culture, and worldview of our fossil fuel-based civilization,” said Rev. Delgado. “The church is uniquely situated to help with this cultural transition, since we proclaim the values and wisdom of the reign of God that Jesus proclaimed.”
Cynthia B. Astle is Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011 as a media channel to amplify news and views by, about and for marginalized and under-served United Methodists.