Creation Care Efforts Well Received at Annual Conference Sessions

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UPDATED July 4, 2023

Special to United Methodist Insight

This past spring, leaders in the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement drafted eight model resolutions and held a 3 part webinar series about them. In response, at least nine annual conferences introduced versions of those resolutions in their conference sessions this past month. As far as we know, all that did so were successful!

Five passed resolutions encouraging local churches to form green teams. Three passed Net-Zero Emissions Commitments. Four passed a Fossil Fuels Investment Screen to go on to General Conference and two expanded their own conference fossil fuel divestment efforts.

Below are more detail updates from each conference

The first conference to report in was West Ohio with an email from Bob Downs celebrating that they had adopted a Net-Zero Emissions Resolution during their June 1-3 session. (Resolution text)

The next delightful news was a note from Rev Marty Toepke-Floyd of the Dakotas Annual Conference that they had approved a resolution to encourage churches to create Green Teams in local churches during their June 8-10 session. Marty wrote, “Dakotas Conference has approved a resolution to encourage the formation of Green Teams in local churches by a margin of 3 to 1 (229 yes  69 no)! Thank you for the resolution draft which I adapted for our conference.” Toepke-Floyd serves as co-chair of Dakotas Conference's “Extending Missional Impact Link” (Resolution text page 1 and page 2).

Rev Kim Hornung-Marcy reported from the June 8-10 New England Annual Conference that they had passed two divestment-related resolutions. She wrote “New England passed a resolution asking that our Annual Conference move funds that are able to be moved to the Fossil Free Fund at Wespath to do so. We also passed the General Conference resolution recommended in the UM Justice resources to add “fossil fuels” to the UM screens for what cannot be invested in.  Both passed with over 300 yes and around only 40 or so no.” In addition, Kim reported that they introduced their new part-time Climate Coordinator, Grace Pugh Hubbard who will start work in the conference that covers the 4 states of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island on July 1, 2023. (Fossil Fuel Screen text, Conference Divestment text)

Rev Richenda Fairhurst and Rev Jenny Phillips report that the Pacific Northwest Conference passed four of the model resolutions, with some changes to three of them. (Note: final wording on the resolutions was not available at the time of this publication. This article will be updated once the PNW conference follow up is released.) The four resolutions passed in whole or revised were "A Call the General Conference to add a Fossil Fuel Screen" to Paragraph 717 of the BOD; the resolution for Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions; the resolution to Encourage Divestment for local churches and conferences, with our revision building on the divestment work of 2016 in the PNW, and the Just Partnerships resolution which was modified to include the hiring of a full time Creation Justice / Environmental Justice person. All these resolutions passed with numbers in the high 80s – 90% range. The resolution to hire was separated out and deferred to the connectional table for review, to be reported back next year.  Fossil Fuel Screen; the Net-Zero resolution as we submitted it, It does not reflect the updated language that we believe called for the conference to achieve net-zero by 2040 and also encouraged local churches to reduce their emissions by 50% by 2030; The divestment resolution as we submitted it, and the Partnerships resolution we originally submitted.

Rev Pat Watkins reported that the North Carolina Annual Conference passed the Green Team resolution “with flying colors” when they met June 14-17. (resolution text)

Kim Richmond from the Western North Carolina Creation Care Team reported, “the two resolutions we presented at our Annual Conference both passed! We presented Creation Care Team Formation (with some adapted wording to correlate to a Green Church Initiative program we already had in place as well as using "we urge") and Call to General Conference to Add Fossil Fuels to Investment Screens. The CCTF resolution passed without opposition and the Fossil Fuels passed with approximately 70% support. We are thrilled! These are the first-ever creation care-related resolutions offered and to have them both pass feels wonderful!” Kim also shared that additionally, one of their fellow EarthKeepers is chairperson of the Rules Committee who presented a change to greatly decrease the number of printed copies of the Supplement to Program and Reports Book, which passed and will go into effect in 2024.” (Green Team text] See also this article from Karlah Burton about the WNC conference.

Rev Sharon Delgado from the California-Nevada Annual Conference reported success from their June 15-18 gathering. Sharon wrote, “The two resolutions we passed at our Annual Conference passed on the consent calendar:  1) the petition calling on General Conference to add fossil fuels to the UMC investment screens and 2) Climate Responsible Finance, in which our AC endorsed the World Council of Churches’ Initiative. I feel grateful to be a part of the UM Creation Justice Movement and to support and be supported by each of you.”

Crys Zinckiewicz reported from the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Annual Conference that met June 19-21. “The TWK Conference passed the Green Team Resolution (88%) and the Net-Zero Resolution (81%). No discussion. The TWK Creation Care Ministry Team had two 'lunch ’n’ learns,' attended by about 60 people total. We also tabled and had conversations with a few more folks. Some steps forward.”

Mary Beth Downing from the Mountain Sky Annual Conference Creation Justice Team reported from their June 22-25 annual conference, “Rejoice with Mtn Sky conference.  Our resolution to support the creation of green teams in all local churches passed with about 300 in favor and 40 against. Yay and amen.” (The Mtn Sky conference covers Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and part of Idaho). (Green Team text)

Beyond this exciting news about resolutions here are a few other developments from annual conferences.

Minnesota Hopeful EarthKeepers participated in a pre-conference session on Being an Ally to our Native American Communities and at our display table promoted the Creation Justice Movement, EarthKeepers and the transformational Land Acknowledgement Journey along with other Creation Justice resources.

Western North Carolina also had the pieces of art created by the winners of a "Caring for God's Creation" art contest at their display table, and they were a really good draw! Many people who stopped by mentioned that they were there to specifically see one of the artist’s beautiful pieces of art. It was a good draw for folks to stop by who might not have done so. Next year we plan to do a photography contest!

Rio Texas Conference include Creation Care activities as part of the missional report including a proposal for a net-zero scheme called RIO - Reduce Invest Offset, a crowd funding source for churches that want to invest in this but can’t afford it.

The Baltimore Washington Conference Creation Care Team sent two letters to conference trustees concerning community solar financing and responsible banking.

The Virginia Conference recognized five new churches as part of their Green Church Initiative and held a conference field trip to visit sites including several United Methodist Churches along the Mountain Valley Pipeline proposed route in order to give participants a sense of the potential impact of this fossil fuel project infrastructure. .

Northern Illinois Conference Net-Zero team shared a new video presenting stories from churches in the conference on what they are doing.

The Central Texas Conference went paper-free and presented all resolutions using an online app that allowed for live updates. Sermons also included many Creation Justice related themes and metaphors.