Displaying items by tag: creation care

Environmental theologian Julie Lehman is the MountainTrue Creation Care coordinator. Based in Asheville, she works with church congregations to improve their environmental stewardship. Creation Care Alliance

MountainTrue Creation Care Alliance fosters faith-based environmental stewardship

ASHEVILLE — Julie Lehman is shepherding positive change across the Southern Appalachians. 

“(Creation care) is a beautiful trend in faith communities, and kind of a new ministry in faith communities because it hasn’t been one of the staples of ministry work that churches do,” said Lehman, engagement manager for Creation Care Alliance. “People are really having fun with creation care, adopting it as one of the essential callings that faith communities have to do in the world.”

Creation Care Alliance (CCA) works to connect faith-based communities in the region to environmentalism through the religious concept of creation care. Creation care can be loosely defined as the practice of engaging in environmentalism through a religious lens – for example, planting a pollinator garden at a place of worship, or cleaning up a stream with a church group. 

In many rural or isolated American communities, churches are still the center of life. The Southern Appalachians are a strong example of this. Lehman is based in Asheville, where the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene opened doors to her modern ministry practices. The devastation waged on both land and lives marked a crossroads in the climate change debate for many who were affected.  

“Hurricane Helene really helped people to see that you can’t go to one place to be safe from the impact of climate change and that the climate change debate seems to be less (of) a debate,” Lehman said. “I’m sensing a real strong readiness on the part of the people of faith that I work with. People are fully engaged and wanting to tie in what they naturally want to do to help nature with their faith.” 

ASHEVILLE — The theme of our 2024 Creation Care Alliance Symposium is “Sacred Symbiosis: Relationships for Eco-Justice.” Our presentations, workshops and conversations will explore the relationships needed to build and nurture justice for all creation–human and non-human. We’re excited to dive in and learn together! 

Hosted at Montreat Conference Center in Black Mountain, the symposium will begin on Friday, February 2^nd, with a full day of workshops and conversations and will run through Saturday, February 3^rd.

Our keynote speaker, Mary Crow of Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), will speak on the 3^rd.

Unlike past years, Friday and Saturday’s programs are open to all and will not be limited to clergy. We hope you join us! 

Discounts:

• Early-bird discount. Register before December 4^th to receive $15 off both days of the conference. If you attend both days, that is $30 savings!
• Group discount. Groups of three or more people from the same congregation are eligible for the group discount of $10 off both days of the conference. If your group attends both days, that is a $20 discount per person. This offer is open until the close of registration on January 19th. The link for group discounts can be found on the symposium registration page (follow the below link). 
• Student discount. If you are a current student, you can attend the symposium for a fraction of the cost ($20 on Friday and $30 on Saturday). We hope you will join us!