We envision a “watershed discipleship alliance” of people, churches and organizations promoting and nurturing three main areas of transformation:
1. Ecological Readings of Scripture.
The Bible read in historical and ecological context is an ally, not an adversary, in the task of re-learning how to care for creation. The prophets in both testaments can rouse us from our ecocidal slumber. The poems, warning tales, grand sagas and radical histories of scripture summon us to remember our origins and the ways of our ancestors, and invite us to imagine and work for a restorative future as we liberate and heal ourselves and our home places. To “see” these themes in scripture requires learning how to re-read our sacred texts, and how to develop capacity for researching, teaching and publishing new perspectives.
2. “Re-placed” Theology, Spirituality, and Practices.
Recycling, reducing energy use, and shopping responsibly are important, but much more is needed. The work of the church is to nurture critical theological reflection at all levels, in order to sustain personal and political healing and recovery work, Sabbath Economics (including life-skills training in sustainability such as gardening, canning, and foraging), and organizing grounded in the local watershed while impacting wider issues of social, food, and environmental justice. For further reflection on these tasks go here.
3. Watershed Ecclesiology.
Be the church in your region by becoming a center for learning and loving local places as well as defending and restoring them. All churchly practices, from prayer to liturgy and Word to deed, help us deconstruct habits that objectify and exploit, and reconstruct our identity around connecting with God in this place and this time. A Watershed Discipleship Alliance can focus, amplify, and help build capacity for the work of healing our world by restoring the health of our watersheds. If we can “do our own work” around these issues, we can not only recover the soul of our tradition, but can also make an enormous contribution to the wider historic struggle to reverse our ecological catastrophe.
Six Trajectories of Watershed Discipleship Action:
1. Connect Christian faith to the environment and ecological issues in seminaries, sanctuaries and streets.
– Develop awareness of ecological themes the Bible, theology and liturgy.
– Name and change unsustainable cultural assumptions and practices in and outside of faith communities.
– Hold worship services outside.
– Lead local prayer walks or hikes.
– Consistently call for both small and big steps of repentance and renewal.
2. Pursue practical training.
– Get to know your watershed and bioregion ecologically: Locate Your Watershed. Naturalist Peter Warshall has developed a questionnaire called “The Big Here” to help people develop watershed awareness).
– 25/75/100 Bioregional Food Covenant: Set a goal of sourcing 75% of your food and products from within 100 miles of where you reside.
-Find out how ecological concerns impact other racial and socioeconomic communities in your region, especially around environmental racism and restorative justice for Indigenous peoples.
– Take a Master Gardener or Permaculture course
– Work toward a GreenFaith Shield in water or energy, GreenFaith certification of your sanctuary, or Green Seminaries Initiative certification for your seminary.
3. Build partnerships.
– Get to know watershed restoration and conservation groups working to save, restore and advocate for ecological justice.
– Collaborate with 350.org and other fossil fuel divestment advocacy groups;
– Write letters, sign petitions, and attend marches related to regional climate policy and other environmental issues.
4. Partner with other faith communities and organizations.
– Seek out other churches or interfaith partnerships with communities working on environmental concerns in your region.
– Join your local chapter of Interfaith Power & Light, and/or other regional (e.g. Faith in Place Chicago) [link to faithinplace.org] or national (e.g. GreenFaith or Creation Justice Ministries) [link to creationjustice.org] groups.
– Emphasize common values such as social justice, peacemaking, and environmental care.
5. Promote online resources emphasizing environmental care.
– List environmentally focused projects on your church or organization website.
– Utilize your personal or organizational social media to educate and organize around environmental topics.
– Support, engage and push your denominational resources and advocacy.
6. Curate and participate in conferences, retreats, workshops, and work days connecting your faith to climate crisis.
– Contemplative retreats focused on connecting to God in nature;
– Focused time to learn about biblical and theological themes of creation care;
– Activism training;
– Work days to help clean and restore a local river or park.