Fifty-two
Church of the Brethren youth and adult advisors met for the 2012
Christian Citizenship Seminar (CCS) on April 14-19 in New York City and
Washington, D.C. The theme focused on “Stepping Out: Our Relationship
with Carbon.”
The 41 high school youth and 11 advisors came from 11 congregations
in eight districts across the denomination. Staffing the event were CCS
coordinator Carol Fike, a Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) worker in the
Youth and Young Adult Ministry; Becky Ullom, director of the Youth and
Young Adult Ministry; Nathan Hosler, advocacy consultant for the Church
of the Brethren and the National Council of Churches, along with past
advocacy consultant Jordan Blevins; Jonathan Stauffer, BVS worker in the
Advocacy and Peace Witness Office in Washington; and Jeremy McAvoy, BVS
recruiter.
The group experienced four sessions on different aspects of the
theme. Session 1 addressed the “Personal Carbon Footprint” led by Emma
and Nancy Sleeth, a mother/daughter team and authors of “Almost Amish,”
“Go Green, Save Green,” and “It’s Easy Being Green.” The Sleeth family
have given up a comfortable, wealthy lifestyle to live simply as better
stewards of the earth, and shared about the simple things that they are
doing in their everyday lives to reduce their personal carbon footprint.
A second session on the “National Carbon Footprint” was led by Tyler
Edgar of the National Council of Churches, who works with a variety of
environmental issues for the NCC including mountain top removal.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosted the CCS group for a
session in one of its large meeting rooms in a downtown Washington
building. Shakeba Carter-Jenkins and Jonathan Stauffer worked together
to set up the meeting. Included in this presentation was Dru Ealons,
director of the Office of Public Engagement for the EPA; Gina McCarthy,
assistant administrator, Office of Air and Radiation; Jerry Lawson of
Energy Star; Marcus Sarofim of Climate Science; and Ullom as the Church
of the Brethren representative.
“Many of the advisors said that this (session with the EPA) was the
best agency presentation that they had ever been a part of,” Fike
reported. She added that others who met with the CCS group were
impressed by the level of understanding among the students. “Tyler
(Edgar) was blown away by the questions that our youth asked,” she said.
Other CCS activities included viewing the documentary “The Story of
Stuff,” and exercises to help youth learn about carbon and its effects
in items of daily use, such as foods, and how to calculate a personal
carbon footprint. Participants also gathered in congregational groups to
come up with three new things they will do on their return home, and
one thing they will encourage their church to do, in order to reduce
carbon’s effects on the earth’s environment (see listing below).
The event closed with each and every participant visiting and talking
with a governmental representative in Washington. The group from
California, for example, had breakfast with their senator. Participants
from Indiana met with staff of both of their senators, and the group
from Illinois and Wisconsin District was able to talk with staff of
senators from both states.
Daily worship was an important part of CCS, led by Ullom and Fike,
and included an anointing service. Scriptures used for worship included
Ezekial 34:17-19, Job 12:7-9, Esther 4:14, Romans 8:18-21, and Matthew
25:25-29.
What are you going to do to be pro-active?
Youth and advisors who attended Christian Citizenship Seminar were
challenged to come up with new ideas of things they can do to curb the
effects of carbon on the environment--personally and in their churches.
The Youth and Young Adult Ministry hopes to offer an insight session at
Annual Conference this July reporting back from these youth initiatives:
Black Rock Church of the Brethren, Glenville, Pa.:
place timers on air and heat, teach lessons about small things that
churches members can do to help the planet, talk about long-term
investment in solar panels, go styrofoam free, clean out the kitchen and
get rid of appliances that aren’t needed.
Glade Valley Church of the Brethren, Walkersville, Md.: host an Information Sunday, lead a children’s story about carbon, print bulletins on recycled paper.
Goshen (Ind.) Church of the Brethren: install light motion sensors, turn down the water heater.
Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren, Elgin, Ill.: speak at church, have a dumpster diving event.
La Verne (Calif.) Church of the Brethren: host an
eco-friendly worship and lunch on May 20, wash dishes by hand, have some
carbon activities, make carbon footprint placemat, change light bulbs
at the church.
Manchester Church of the Brethren, North Manchester, Ind.: plant prairie grasses at their church, rather than grass that needs mowing.
Middlebury (Ind.) Church of the Brethren: the church
already hosts community gardens, start a youth garden and donate the
food to local pantries, host an Environmental Sunday, host a recycling
campaign at church, start a community compost site.
Palmyra (Pa.) Church of the Brethren: lead a Sunday
school class for adults, hold a fundraiser, sell reusable bags and mugs,
have a youth room project to “be more green,” update the church kitchen
to install Energy Star appliances.
Richmond (Ind.) Church of the Brethren: hold a Sunday school class for children, with visuals.
-- CCS coordinator Carol Fike contributed to this report.
Source:5/3/2012 Newsline
The
ten business items to come to the Church of the Brethren Annual
Conference in St. Louis, Mo., on July 7-11 are now available online.
Also online is a delegate briefing featuring Annual Conference moderator
Tim Harvey and secretary Fred Swartz. The series of short videos
reviews information that delegates should know before arrival at the
Conference. Find videos and links to business items at 
In another update from BBT, the National Walk @ Lunch Day on April 25 brought colleagues and congregations together.