WASHINGTON, DC – The Love Your Neighbor Coalition (LYNC) has officially welcomed Fossil Free UMC as its latest coalition partner. LYNC also announced that its statement for General Conference 2016, A Vision for the United Methodist Church, has also reached the milestone of 1,500 signatures.
According to its press release, "LYNC is made up of “United Methodists committed to the embodiment of God's love and justice within and through the people and mission of The United Methodist Church. Its partner organizations work together around the intersections of common justice issues and shared values that they represent. Their shared hope is to ensure that our United Methodist Church remains open to the presence, love and grace of God and is faithful to our Wesleyan heritage of embracing both personal and social holiness as equal partners in our life-long journey of mission and ministry in Jesus' name.”
“LYNC is blessed to have Fossil Free UMC as its 13th coalition partner working for change within The United Methodist Church,” said the Rev. Steve Clunn, Coalition Coordinator for LYNC. Clunn added, “While some of our partner groups already speak to environmental concerns and the UMC’s needed role of leading its members in areas of environmental stewardship, Fossil Free UMC brings an even stronger voice in calling on our denomination to recognize the intersection of our financial and environmental stewardship by calling The United Methodist Church to stop investing in and profiting from the fossil fuel industry.”
“Fossil Free UMC is joining the Love your Neighbor Coalition as an expression of our solidarity with all movements within the denomination that seek to remedy injustice, knowing that the people who are most vulnerable to social, economic, political and cultural injustices are also most vulnerable to the worst impacts of climate change,” said Rev. Jenny Phillips, coordinator of the Fossil Free UMC movement. “As a global denomination, The United Methodist Church is on the front lines of climate change around the world. But our commitment to fossil fuel profits is at odds with the work of the church on behalf of those who are already suffering from the climate crisis.”
Clunn added, "As LYNC and its now 13 partnered organizations continue to work and prepare for General Conference 2016, we would ask all United Methodists to consider the future directions of our UMC and supporting our vision statement: A Vision for the United Methodist Church, found on our website at www.lyncolaition.org. We are simply asking United Methodists to commit themselves to the Wesleyan way of faithfully embracing both our call to personal faithfulness and the call to work in community for the betterment of all humanity."
About the Love Your Neighbor Coalition
The Love Your Neighbor Coalition was formed in the summer of 2011 and has grown to include representatives from 13 United Methodist-related partner organizations.
The Love Your Neighbor Coalition is made up of Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Concerns; Black Methodists for Church Renewal; Fossil Free UMC, Love Prevails, MARCHA: Metodistas Asociados Representando la Causa Hispano-Americanos; Methodist Federation for Social Action; Methodists In New Directions: National Federation of Asian American United Methodists; Native American International Caucus of United Methodists; Pacific Islanders Caucus of United Methodists; Reconciling Ministries Network; United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities; and, Western Methodist Justice Movement.