The Critical Issues Seminar “Loving God’s Creation: Fully Integrating Creation Care with the Church’s Mission and Ministry” is set for Thursday, October 14, 2010, at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC. To register for this event, please call the Council office at 919-828-6501, or e-mail nccofc@nccouncilofchurches.org.
8:30-9:00 Registration
9:00-10:15 Opening Session, Sanctuary
Invocation and Hymn; Rev. Julie Peeples, Pastor, Congregational UCC, Greensboro.
Welcome and Introduction of the Keynote Speaker; George Reed, Executive Director, NC Council of Churches.
Keynote Address; Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, Founder and President of The Regeneration Project.
10:30-11:30 Workshop Session I
The Price of Color and Poverty: Economic Justice and How the Poor and People of Color Pay More; DeWayne Barton, Co-founder, Asheville Green Opportunities Training Team (Asheville GO).
Legislating Creation Care in the NC General Assembly; Pricey Harrison, Member, North Carolina House of Representatives.
Transitioning our Congregations: Relocalizing and Reskilling through Outreach; Rev. Joe Hoffman, pastor, First Congregational UCC, Asheville, and Richard Fireman, emergency room physician (retired) and Public Policy Coordinator, NC IPL.
Sustaining Creation, Sustaining Self: Spiritual Tools to Navigate the Environmental Crisis; Claudia Horwitz, Director, Stone Circles.
Growing Hope: Congregations and Community Gardening; Rev. Kate Forer, Director, and others from Anathoth Community Garden, Cedar Grove.
Preaching on Creation: Understanding the Ecological Message of the Bible; Norman Wirzba, Research Professor of Theology, Ecology, and Rural Life, Duke Divinity School.
11:45-1:00 Luncheon, Fellowship Hall
1:15-2:15 Workshop Session II
Caring for Self, Caring for Creation: How the Health of the Body and the Earth are Bound; Katherine M. Shea MD, MPH, Adjunct Professor, Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill (invited).
Embracing Space as Sacred: A Tale of Three Houses of Worship; Bob Rodriguez of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh; Martha Fullington of the Cathedral of All Souls, Asheville; and Rev. Paul Davis, Congregational UCC, Greensboro.
Bearing Witness and Responding to Natural Disaster: How to Integrate the Environment Into Your Congregation’s Environmental Advocacy and Disaster Response; Mallory McDuff, Environmental Studies, Warren Wilson College.
The Relationship Between Climate Change and Immigration; Jill Rios, former executive director, NC IPL, Asheville; Rev. Austin Rios, rector, La Capilla de Santa Maria, Hendersonville
2:30-3:30 Workshop Session III
Understanding and Participating in the Political Process: How to Effectively and Faithfully Legislate Change for Creation in the NC General Assembly; George Reed, Executive Director, NC Council of Churches.
Embracing Space as Sacred: A Tale of Three Houses of Worship (repeated).
Growing Hope: Congregations and Community Gardening (repeated).
Environmental Education as Christian Education: A Survey of Resources and Programs; Vicky Gerlach, Jubilee.
Brewing Justice: Fellowship and Fair Trade Coffee; Rev. John Odom, Starmount Presbyterian Church, Greensboro.
Transitioning our Congregations: Relocalizing and Reskilling through Outreach (repeated).
3:45-4:00 Benediction, Sanctuary; Rev. Canon Sally Bingham