Movement Making: Creation Justice Rises in the UMC.
We had a great conversation!! See the video and read the article for the follow up: Mobilizing Methodists: a Movement for Creation Justice Grows in the UMC.
The month of May at the Climate Cafe Multifaith kicks off with a conversation about movement making. In organizing circles, there is always hope that an effort on behalf of justice might turn into a movement that inspires and mobilizes many. This is happening right now with a growing movement of folks from within the United Methodist Church. Movement makers Cathy Velasquez Eberhart and Rev. Pat Watkins join us to talk about how this growing effort, the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement UMCJM, has risen now to include folks from every jurisdiction and every state. Join us Tuesday, May 3 11:00amPT / 2:00pmET. Register.
The United Methodist Church is a Christian denomination born about the same time as the American revolution. Since before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Methodists wrestled with the big questions of justice that have faced every new generation. All this and yet, there has been no wide spread, effective reckoning with the reality of climate change within the UMC. Until now.
Between them, Cathy Velasquez Eberhart and Rev. Pat Watkins have led creation justice efforts in the greater UMC for decades. They have led and supported justice efforts in their own churches and networks as well as within denominational structures. In 2016 they were involved in connecting big denominational entities such as UMCOR and Global Ministries to found the Earthkeepers. The goal then was to train 500 Methodists in the care of creation, equipping folks across the country to act faithfully on behalf of this planet.
Things are taking off.
On May 3, Eberhart and Watkins join the Climate Cafe Multifaith to talk about how the movement has come together. They will share insights, also, beyond Methodism, speaking to how such movements can be built, as well as the hope they represent for the future.
Pat Watkins is an ordained elder and member of the VA Conference of the UMC. He was formerly a missionary working for the UMC General Board of Global Ministries as our first “Missionary for the Care of God’s Creation.” His mission position involved integrating care for God’s creation into the greater overall global ministry of the church. He understands the connections between poverty, disease, environment, and violence to be intimately related. Effective mission must take place at the intersections of these issue areas. Pat tries to live out his passion for God’s creation by living his life in such a way as to make a smaller footprint on God’s earth. His passion is to raise the awareness, particularly among people of faith, that there is a connection between faith and a responsibility to care for and heal God’s creation. Pat is retired and currently lives in a small passive solar home in Pittsboro, NC.
Cathy Velasquez Eberhart is a lay member of Prospect Park United Methodist Church. She was commissioned in 2016 as an Earthkeeper through the General Board of Global Ministries program that aims to train, commission and support United Methodists who feel called to work for environmental justice and creation care. Earth care has been a key part of Cathy’s career path and faith journey since college. For 11 years, she worked with Land Stewardship Project in support of sustainable agriculture. More recently she served for 7 years on the board of Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light. She is currently a member of the Hopeful Earthkeeper team of the MN United Methodist Church Annual Conference. She is also a founding member of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement – umcreationjustice.org - that seeks to connect and support groups within the United Methodist Church and beyond for the work of creation care, justice and regeneration. Cathy lives in Saint Paul, MN with her husband Guillermo and together they run Velasquez Family Coffee, selling shade-grown coffee grown by their family in Honduras. They have 3 young adult children, a dog and 6 layer hens.