Global Ministries to commission EarthKeepers for environmental stewardship
For Release: Immediate
Media Contact:
Dan Curran for Global Ministries and UMCOR
media@umcmission.org
Aug. 31, 2022 | ATLANTA
Global Ministries will commission 29 new EarthKeepers in an online service on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. ET. This service will affirm the EarthKeepers in their call to the ministry of creation care and will bless their work in their communities.
Register here to join the service via Zoom.
Global Ministries EarthKeepers is a training program to equip United Methodists in the United States for environmental stewardship. Participants discuss theology, United Methodist resources, community organizing and anti-racism, and then use what they learn to develop an environmental project for their churches and communities. The program is both a launchpad for people looking to turn an idea into action and an incubator for people who want to deepen an existing ministry. Participants develop plans in conversation with their peers, troubleshooting ideas and sharing strategies. This is the third year Global Ministries has offered this training online.
This year’s EarthKeepers include clergy, laity, conference disaster response and UMVIM coordinators, a mission advocate, and agency and conference staff.
“Each of these EarthKeepers is a channel for God’s mission of redemption for all God’s people and God’s creation,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of Global Ministries and UMCOR. “Together, their projects will form a powerful response to the environmental concerns of the church and the world.”
“The projects of these EarthKeepers intersect with issues that touch all of us,” said the Rev. Jenny Phillips, senior technical advisor for Environmental Sustainability and leader of the Global Ministries EarthKeepers program. “Their work will support sustainability in finance, disaster response, energy, food production, waste management and more. Tools and resources in discipleship, education, spiritual formation, community organizing, advocacy and mission will support their efforts, all to ensure the just restoration and flourishing of God’s creation.”
This is the fifth year that the EarthKeepers commissioning service has been held online. The online service allows EarthKeepers to participate along with their family, friends and church community. In addition to Fernandes and Phillips, it will be led by Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and interim bishop of the Peninsula-Delaware Conference.
This year’s participants span the country, from the uppermost reaches of the Pacific Northwest to southern Texas to a barrier island off the North Carolina coast. They reside in 17 different annual conferences in all five U.S. Jurisdictions. Headshots of the participants are available for annual conference communications use at: Global Ministries EarthKeepers 2022.
To read more about their projects and to get updates on 2023 trainings, join the Global Ministries Creation Care Network at http://creationcare.umcmission.org/signup.
The 2022 Global Ministries EarthKeepers reside in the following conferences:
| Baltimore-Washington | Northern Illinois |
| Thea Becton | Jake Barnett (staff, Wespath) |
| Rev. Neal Christie | Karen Clausing |
| Cynthia Taylor | North Texas |
| Sharee Wharton | Christine Guldi |
| East Ohio | Pacific Northwest |
| Barbara Dawson | Ronda Cordill |
| Claire Jencson | Anita Dygert-Gearheart |
| Kevin Schaner | Rev. Bob Dygert-Gearheart (clergy, Indiana) |
| Greater New Jersey | Ann Mayer |
| Rev. Cricket Denton | Rev. Kathy Neary |
| Iowa | Rio Texas |
| Maureen Horsley | Rev. Mark Brechin |
| Mountain Sky | Susquehanna |
| Rev. Courtney Randall (clergy, New England) | Sheila Noss |
| New Mexico | Tennessee-Western Kentucky |
| Sarah Allen | Andrea Zink |
| North Carolina | Virginia |
| Rev. Stephanie Campbell | Karen McElfish |
| Rev. Logan Jackson | Western North Carolina |
| Rev. Gayle Tabor | Brian Mateer |
| North Georgia | Western Pennsylvania |
| Chuck Pugh | Saundra McKee |
Photos are available at: Global Ministries EarthKeepers 2022
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About the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church
Global Ministries is the worldwide mission and development agency of The United Methodist Church. Founded in 1819, Global Ministries today supports more than 200 missionaries in over 60 countries, including the United States. It has personnel, projects, and partners in 115 countries. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/GlobalMinistries and www.Twitter.com/UMCmission.