Protecting God’s Gift of Creation – Psalm 24:1

Minnesota Conference 61st Annual Meeting
June 9-10, 2023
College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, with an online option

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We acknowledge the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University occupies the original homelands of the Dakhóta and Anishinaabe peoples. We honor, respect, and acknowledge the Indigenous peoples forcibly removed from this territory, whose connection remains today.

The Minnesota Conference will gather in June, building on the hybrid model we inaugurated last year of virtual and in-person workshops, meetings, and worship. We seek to engage our youth and young families, our local congregations, our state, and the Spirit to participate in protecting and renewing the Earth, which is God’s and the fullness thereof.

The sacred gift of creation entrusted to us by God is being destroyed. As we imagine and live into the church of the 21st century, let us remember, “The earth is God’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1) Let us come, as children of this sacred creation and the enduring body of Christ, as we are being called forward with the charge of protecting God’s gift of creation.

We know that the work of conservation and eco-justice is a familiar one to many of us, while others have struggled to find traction or see any other way forward. Our keynote speaker will be the Rev. Michael Malcom, ordained in the United Church of Christ and founder and executive director of the People’s Justice Council in Birmingham, Alabama. He will share how he created an unparalleled opportunity for faith communities throughout Alabama to unite and raise their voice against environmental racism, economic oppression, environmental injustice, and climate change.

In addition, we will create space for your efforts to be uplifted as well. If you have a “Green Team” or lay leadership at your church who wants to share or learn from what other churches are doing, look out for our online workshop earlier that week. Plus, many other workshops will return in-person this year.