Creation-Care, 365
   

 
 PNW United Methodists
Caring for God's Creation
 

 
IN THIS ISSUE
Creation Quote:
UMW/Women's Division

Small Steps:
Cleaner Beaches

Tools for Renewal:
"Climate-Justice Ministries"

Lectionary Links

Events & Actions:
Summer 2012

Creation Keepers:
365 Days of Inspiration

UMC News

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"CC-365" Archives
Please click on the above link to find an indexed list of our archived issues.
Issue #53 "Another Year of Caring" June 29, 2012
Greetings!
   
As Annual Conference season gives way to summer, I pray that these fruitful days find you and yours enjoying God's blessed Earth.

It was a gift to spend time with many creation-caring friends at our recent PNW Annual Conference.  At our Creation-Care gathering last Thursday, some of you shared brief stories of how you, your congregAC Logoations, and your broader communities are engaging in creative ministries to care for God's creation.  We heard of life-giving efforts ranging from introducing homeless children in the natural world, to living "off the grid," to creating/sustaining trails for walking and bicycling.  Throughout the coming year, Creation-Care, 365 readers will have a chance to hear these stories and many others in greater detail.

At Annual Conference, our PNW Office of Connectional Ministries (OCM)/Creation-Care Projects team introduced a new initiative: "Climate Justice Ministries."  This initiative will identify and celebrate those local churches/ministries that are working to address global climate change: perhaps the most all-encompassing, creation-care challenge of our day.*  This initiative will announce such congregations to the broader community -- helping church-seekers to easily identify congregations/ministries that see climate justice as an imperative.

To learn more about this initiative, please see the "Tools for Renewal" section below.  You may also want to download the initiative's flier and/or watch the video from Annual Conference that introduces this initiative.

Grace and Peace be with you,

Creation-Care Project Coordinator

PNW Office of Connectional Ministries    

 

 

Footnote 

*For a few examples of UMC concerns about/responses to global climate change, please see the Council of Bishops' pastoral letter/foundational document, UMC Social Principles and Resolutions (click on "Our Beliefs"), and the UMW's Carbon Footprint Toolkit. 

   

QuoteCreation Quote
United Methodist Women/Women's Division    UMW Logo

"Climate change is our wake-up call,
an opportunity to live more faithfully."
Small Steps... for Greater Good
United Methodists Respond to Japan Tsunami Marine Debris
Excerpted directly from the "Vancouver District Connection" e-newsletter

Background
The PNW Annual Conference has a team of interested persons who are watching over the situation of tsunami debris that will begin to reach the Washington Coast this summer, fall, and winter.  At this time, we are not sure how much our coast will be affected but we are preparing for various stages of response.

Actions
The Grass Roots Garbage Gang
Pacific County, cleanup day in the Long Beach area, July 5, providing cleanup bags and instructions at numerous beach access points. Also need volunteers to pass out garbage bags to beach users on July 4 to reduce the amount of litter to be picked up. More info at
http://www.ourbeach.org.  

International Coastal Clean Up Day
September 15; join a world wide effort to clean up our coasts; check out the Ocean Conservancy website to keep current www.oceanconservancy.org also check
www.pnwumc.org for further info about where PNW [folks] will be! 

If you are at the beach this summer and you find debris, be safe: If you don't know what something is, don't touch it. Collect as much information from a safe distance as you can -- including photos -- and report to [email protected]. If the item appears unusual or hazardous, contact the local authorities for specific guidance and instructions.

ToolsTools for Renewal
 NEW INITIATIVE:
"Climate-Justice Ministry" Designation

A project of the PNW Conference  

Carbon Footprint
"Climate Justice Ministry" Icon

 

Our PNW Office of Connectional Ministries would like to recognize and announce those churches/agencies that are working to understand and reduce their "carbon footprints."  We will do so -- on our online church/ministry directory  and at Annual Conference 2013 -- by designating such ministries with the "Climate Justice Ministry" icon that appears to the right.    

 

As church-seekers browse our online, PNW Church & Ministry Directory, they will be able to look for church according to this designation -- they'll be able to match their creation-caring values with the life of your ministry.  If your  congregation/ministry has already measured its "carbon footprint" and taken steps to reduce it, please contact Tanya Barnett so that we can give you this designation.  

 

If your congregation/ministry would like to receive this "Climate Justice Ministry" designation, please follow these steps:  

  1. Please visit the UMW's Carbon Footprint Toolkit and read "What is a 'carbon footprint?'" and "Why is it important to reduce our carbon footprint?"
  2. Calculate your congregation/ministry's carbon footprint by using Interfaith Power & Light's "Congregational Calculator" at  www.coolcongregations.org.
  3. Based on these calculations, identify at least 3 priority actions for reducing your congregation/ministry's carbon footprint.
  4. Develop and enact an action plan for addressing these 3 priority actions - please contact Tanya Barnett if you would like help with this step.
  5. Prior to Annual Conference 2013, report your church's progress to Tanya Barnett

Throughout the 2012-2013 year, all churches and ministries that make reasonable progress toward addressing their 3 priority actions will:

  • Receive the "Climate Justice Ministry" designation (pictured above) in our PNW Church & Ministry Directory  
  • Receive special recognition at Annual Conference 2013

If you'd like to learn more, please contact Tanya Barnett, Creation-Care Projects Coordinator, PNW Office of Connectional Ministries at [email protected].  

Thanks, and blessings on your ministry.

 

Lectionary Links
Some excellent on-line sermon helps -- most of which coincide with the Revised Common Lectionary:
Events & Actions
Summer 2012

 CreationKeeperCreation Keepers

365 Days of UM Inspirations    Green vines
Creation Keepers' year in review

Since Annual Conference 2011,* Creation-Care, 365 has featured over 26 "Creation-Keepers" -- individuals and congregations throughout our region who are engaging in creation-care in practical, inspiring, faith-filled ways.  Below you'll find a compilation of these amazing people and their efforts, with links to the archived issue in which they are profiled (when you open each archive, please click on "Creation Keeper" in the left-hand column).  Together, these Creation Keepers display great faith, creativity, and hope for God's renewed creation. Thanks and blessings to you all! 

*To view the "Creation Keepers' year in review" between 2009-2010, please click here.  

Recent UMC Creation-Care News
"Creation-Care, 365" is a free, bi-weekly resource of the PNW Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Subscribers are welcome to reprint any/all of the materials contained within; cite "Creation-Care, 365, www.pnwumc.org." Thanks and God bless you in your creation-caring efforts.