Join the conversation. Come to the table.
Through our Mennonite Church Alberta ministries, we are invited to live into the intersectional experiences of harm and marginalization experienced by our Indigenous neighbours, our neighbours of minority cultural and faith traditions, and of our shared Creation. Let us learn together to “reconcile all things.” (Colossians 1:20)
Watch for this graphic in the MCA Communiqué!
Contact us
Charlene Lauzier & Liesel Retzlaff
Meet the whole Creation Care Working Group
Jessie, Jeremy, Liesel, Charlene enjoying the beauty of our beloved Camp Valaqua.
Jessie and Jeremy are from First Mennonite Church Edmonton
while Liesel and Char call Foothills Mennonite home.
Say "hi" when you see us around!
MCA Creation Care in the Canadian Mennonite!!
Read the full article here.
Shared by MC Canada Climate Action
Introduction to Green Burial
Watch recording HERE.
It’s an amazing time to be the Church – opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ are all around us. This fall, we are offering a number of resources and learning opportunities relating to Creation Care/Climate Action. We hope that these initiatives will serve to encourage and strengthen ministerial leadership to guide individual and collective use of our gifts – land, wealth, resources and our human abilities.
For Pastoral Resources and Learning Opportunities click HERE.
Young Adult Anabaptist Conference for an Active Future
by the MCA Creation Care Working Group -- Liesel Retzlaff and Charlene Lauzier
The Young Adult Anabaptist Conference for an Active Future (YAC) was a weekend filled with conversation, growth and hope. We had the opportunity to connect with young adults (and some older adults) from across Canada and the United States. This allowed for open, honest, and diverse conversations that came off of the key topics we focused on. We had sessions on climate change, affordable housing, inclusivity, Indigenous relations, and peace and war. Our diverse group of people allowed us to learn and hear new ideas from voices we would not normally hear from.
This weekend took place at Camp Squeah in Hope, British Columbia. This made the weekend even more special. For those that have not been, Squeah is nestled in a large and beautiful forest. From the second we drove down their long driveway we could feel how special this place was. Hosting a conference about all these issues in a place where we could experience nature, see kids laughing, and feel the dirt on our feet made it all the more impactful. Throughout the sessions we got to spend time hiking and learning about Squeah’s land and summer camps. We also got to use their amazing facilities and build stronger relationships with the participants, staying together in cabins.
We started planning this conference alongside Zachary Shields back in February. He reached out to us after meeting last year at Living Hope, the climate conference we attended in Winnipeg. This weekend sparked hope in Zach to keep the young adult conversation going and we were eager to be the Alberta representatives for this conference. Like Zach, we had found the importance of in person sharing, learning, and worshipping. We learned how important it is to bring forward unheard voices and uphold the opinions and values of young people. This is what we hoped to foster at YAC, with a combination of sessions, discussions, worship, and prayer. We had time to meet in groups with different participants and hear what they were doing in their provinces and states. We had time to worship, sing, and even dance all together as a community. We were able to make space for difficult and uncomfortable conversations while still aiding one another with prayer and shared emotions.
The sessions that we took part in were all very relevant to people's lives and were presented by a handful of individuals with different sets of knowledge. It was fascinating to hear from people with diverse passions and learn about the interconnectedness between them all. Affordable housing is a huge issue but the ways to fix it directly impact climate change and vice versa. Learning and discussing all the topics together how we should be looking at them side by side and not as different topics.
We personally had some different opportunities because we are linked with the Creation Care working group within Alberta. The two of us were excited to dive into new topics and lean more into creation care because it is something we both have a passion for. During our time at Squeah, Langley Mennonite Fellowship (LMF) was sharing the space at camp with us. When we had some free time we were able to interact with them and took that as a learning opportunity. It was shared with us that LMF has a group that meets every Sunday morning before their service to talk about creation care. We were able to connect with some of the people from that congregation and hear what they had going on. It was inspiring to hear from mostly seniors about the impacts that climate change had on their individual lives. It was clear to us that this was not something that was only scary for younger generations but everyone. Creation Care is something that needs to be more widely discussed as we can learn from one another. We went into the conference expecting to hear from young adults. We also had the chance to hear from the older generation and that had a lasting impact on us and continued our determination to talk about this in the church.
As we go forward from the conference we hope to continue bringing hope, building community and holding open conversations for young adults and the wider population. We hope to share and continue learning of the ways we can work in peace and justice in the world.
MCA Creation Care Working Group
Contact us creationcare@mcab.ca
Updated November 20, 2023
OVERVIEW
As the Alberta Creation Care Working group we want to work to equip and support congregations throughout the conference to respond faithfully to challenges such as the climate crisis and climate justice. We hope to work towards action and initiative with a focus on engagement and education. We also hope to connect with youth, Indigenous relations, and other interested people to continue conversations around creation care, climate change and creating right relationships. As a local working group we want to determine how we can have an impact in our local context, in ways that work in each local area and congregation. Moving forward we hope to provide a point of connection to other Creation Care working groups, and work to support larger MC Canada efforts.
GOALS
- Connect and provide information to members in congregations on the climate crisis including every second month province wide meetings, climate updates on the website, and creation care initiatives.
- Connect with youth, Indigenous relations and others to bring awareness to creation care, climate action and justice.
- Discover pathways for engagement with the broader church, advocacy, and support working with a variety of communities.
- Connect with MC Canada creation care initiatives and network with working groups from the other Regions of MC Canada.
WHO ARE WE?
We are Charlene and Liesel, co-chairs from Foothills Mennonite in Calgary Alberta. We both had the opportunity to attend the Living Hope Climate Conference in Manitoba back in April 2023. After learning that all the other provinces had creation care working groups, it sparked our own desire to create one here in Alberta. Working alongside other Alberta representatives from the conference Jeremy Wiens, researcher and Jessie Brandt, administration, from First Edmonton, we were able to start creating conversations around creation care and climate action in Alberta. Tim Wiebe-Neufeld of MCA and Sandy Plett of MC Canada helped facilitate our discussions and make connections to build conversation and connect with other individuals. We hope to continue this narrative and work alongside MCA to strengthen relationships.
The MCA group at the Living Hope Climate Conference
In the News
A Rocha Canada states “In an environmental context often characterized by fear and paralysis, A Rocha is bringing hope through care of both people and places. Considering joining this MC Canada Climate Action Partner for “Plastic Free February” to reduce plastic use and to raise awareness in advance of the Global Plastics Treaty set to be hosted by Ottawa in April 2024.
Mennonite Church Canada announces Emissions Reduction Grant Recipients
Winnipeg, Man.— MC Canada is pleased to announce Emissions Reduction Grants (ERG) totaling $23,021 to help one rural and eight urban congregations reduce their carbon footprint. Fourteen additional congregations expressed interest in the program.
Sandy Plett, Climate Action Coordinator and member of the Sustainability Leadership Group (SLG) which oversees the process, said they were delighted by the strong response in the first year of the program.
The smallest grant was $1341, and the largest grants were capped at $3,000. The grantees include Sherbrooke MC (MCBC); First MC and Holyrood MC, both in Edmonton (MCA); Listowel MC and Toronto United MC (MCEC); and Lowe Farm Bergthaler MC, Jubilee MC, Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship, and Home Street MC (MCM).
Four congregations (Sherbrooke, First, Lowe Farm, Listowel) will use the funds to install more energy efficient lighting, which will not only reduce direct electricity consumption but also reduce cooling costs in the hotter seasons. Others (Jubilee, Fort Garry, Home Street) will upgrade insulation, windows, or ventilation systems to reduce heat loss in the cold seasons.
One congregation (Holyrood) will make kitchen and water heating appliance upgrades to reduce energy consumption, and are making long term plans to upgrade insulation and heating systems. Toronto United Mennonite will use the grant as seed money for long range plans to install heat pumps to replace aging natural gas furnaces, among other upgrades.
Applicants were asked how their congregation will share their vision for green energy with their community. First MC (Edmonton), which will upgrade its lighting, noted the presence of its solar panels at a major intersection already “gives witness to our vision of being good stewards of our planet and reducing our emissions.”
Joanne Moyer, Edmonton, Alberta, is the 2023 recipient of Mennonite Creation Care Network’s (MCCN’s) Art and Jocele Meyer Award. The award recognizes Joanne’s longstanding service to MCCN as a council member, her commitment to greening Mennonite Church Canada and her enthusiasm for faith-based environmental work more broadly. The award includes a $500 grant for further environmental work. Joanne is a member of Edmonton First Mennonite Church.
