Get Your Church Ready Now for Summer's Extreme Heat

Crisis Watch May 10, 2023

by

A United Methodist Insight Column

Climate Central warns that more frequent and intense extreme heat is likely coming our way this summer as a result of climate change. Here are some of the key concepts to be know:

  • When temperatures climb above the local minimum mortality temperature (MMT), the health risks also rise.
  • Climate Central analyzed the change in annual days above the local MMT in 247 U.S. locations from 1970 to 2022. 
  • 232 locations have seen the annual number of risky heat days increase—by 21 more days on average since 1970.
  • The South and Southeast were risky heat hotspots, but increases in days above local MMT were observed in every U.S. region

What can your congregation do to reduce the health risks of extreme heat besides lowering the air conditioner temperature? How about:

  • Set Sunday morning worship for an hour earlier when temperatures are cooler.
  • Encourage summertime casual clothing (but not TOO casual!) for church events, especially natural fibers that wick away body moisture for cooling.
  • How about some old-fashioned handheld fans? They're also an evangelism tool when printed with the church's name, address and contact info.
  • Plan an ice cream social. They're a longtime Methodist tradition.
  • Keep plenty of water on hand to offset dehydration and heat distress. Water bottles printed with the church's name are another way to spread the word.
  • Plant trees. Urban trees are especially helpful in reducing heat in neighborhoods.
  • Encourage carpooling to church events. Save gasoline and reduce emissions.

In addition to these short-term adaptations, what can your congregation do for long-term mitigation? Have your church members spoken with your local, state and federal representatives about climate change policing such as reducing carbon emissions? Remember, we're stewards of creation, and that means we must see to the care and protection of all God's environment.

Climate Central also notes that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Check out how heat affects mental health with CC's Climate Change and Mental Health brief. It offers resources and scientific insights into mental health risks in our warming climate.

West Ohio benefits Freedom Schools

The Rev. Karen Cook, director of connectional ministries for the West Ohio Annual Conference, shares a joyful report of the conference's ties with Freedom Schools in its region:

"In the summer of 2022, seven United Methodist-related CDF Freedom Schools built relationships with more than 365 scholars and their families, all around the West Ohio Conference. Those Freedom Schools included...

  • All People Freedom Schools (Columbus)
  • Asbury North (Columbus)
  • Covenant Freedom School (Springfield)
  • Licking County Freedom Schools
  • Lima Area Freedom School
  • Monroe Street Freedom School (Toledo)
  • Montfort Heights Freedom School (Cincinnati)

"This year, thanks to the Peace with Justice Special Sunday offering, all six of the Freedom Schools that applied will receive grant funding from the West Ohio Conference to support their programs. Every year, half of the Peace with Justice special offering collected in West Ohio stays in West Ohio to be used for ministries like Freedom Schools! Support the Peace with Justice offering through your local church on Sunday, June 4, 2023, or give online anytime here!

According to the Children's Defense Fund website, its Freedom Schools program "provides summer and after-school enrichment through a research-based and multicultural program model that supports K-12 scholars and their families through five essential components: high quality academic and character-building enrichment; parent and family involvement; civic engagement and social action; intergenerational servant leadership development; and nutrition, health and mental health."

What better way could United Methodists help to mitigate challenges of childhood and adolescence by supporting such community efforts? Way to go, West Ohio!

Events and Resources

Several events are coming this month that can help congregations prepare for disasters and care for the environment. Here are some of them, with thanks to the Rev. Richenda Fairhurts for her informative "Climate Cafe Multifaith and Faiths4Future weekly BOOST" newsletter.

Movement Cafe in May – the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement offers a monthly Movement Cafe for conversation and to learn about creation justice in the institution and at the grass roots of the denomination. The May Cafe on May 17 features Jessica Gamache, author of Climate Hero, Association Director of Camp and Retreat Ministries. She and other Camp and Retreat leaders will be there with information to share. More here.

Climate Prayer – a monthly prayer group, Climate Intercessors, formed in the runup to COP 26 and still meeting. Check the websites for an update for the March prayer date and link. 

Banking on Climate Chaos. The 2023 report is as damning as it gets, and Rev. Fairhurst writes that she means that biblically. "The report makes clear the continued entrenchment of banks in fossil fuel investment. Read a press release from Sierra Club, Banking on Climate Chaos Report: World's Biggest Banks Continue to Pour Billions into Fossil Fuel Expansion Read from National Catholic Reporter: Citigroup shareholder support holds steady for Catholic sisters' resolution on climate, Indigenous rights. View some of the raw numbers. Read the report."

Climate Hazard and other Real-Time Interactive Map. We've mentioned this previously but it bears repeating. Rev. Fairhurst writes: "This is a WOW tool from Climate.gov, the CMRA, or Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, It tracks climate-related hazards in real time across the US." Good resource for disaster planning for churches and annual conferences.

Urge Congress: Choose Grace over Greed

The General Board of Church and Society, the United Methodist agency charged with enacting the social justice policies set by the General Conference, has embarked on a U.S. advocacy campaign it's calling "Grace Over Greed." According to the Church and Society website:

"In the coming weeks Congress will be making decisions that deeply affect our common life together. Now is the time to contact your elected representatives to ask that they broadly prioritize grace over greed."

Following the tradition of Methodism's founder John Wesley, Church and Society encourages United Methodists to contact their congressional representatives on these issues:

  • In immigration: choosing the grace of hospitality, over the greed of building for-profit detention centers;  
  • In healthcare: choosing the grace of expanding Medicaid, over the greed of tightening restrictions for political gain;  
  • In peacebuilding: choosing the grace of funding programs to help life to flourish, instead of the greed of funding arms manufacturers;  
  • In poverty: choosing the grace of ensuring all have access to nutrition and affordable housing, over the greed of making cuts to critical programming;  
  • In climate justice: choosing the grace of supporting communities struggling in the face of the climate crisis, over the greed of extractive, exploitative industries plundering God’s good creation. 

All of these goals are backed by centuries of Methodist tradition in social justice and by official UMC policies set by the General Conference, the only body authorized to speak for the entire worldwide denomination. Check out the Church and Society website to sign up directly in support of "Grace Over Greed."

Veteran religion journalist Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011 to amplify the voices of marginalized and under-served United Methodists. "Crisis Watch" is part of United Methodist Insight's participation in Covering Climate Now, an international collaboration of more than 500 news outlets dedicated to enhance coverage of the global climate crisis.