Rooting Our Faith: Permaculture as a response to climate crisis
“We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency… To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live. [This] entails major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems.”
- “Climate Crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’,” in The Guardian, Nov. 5, 2019
Churches are struggling to respond in the face of climate catastrophe. We face massive crises—global warming, rising oceans, destruction of local habitats, species extinction, degraded soil, and polluted waters. The resulting scarcity of food and clean water is creating waves of climate refugees, causing political and economic disruption, and further fueling racism, fascism and war. It's clear that our Western industrial way of life is the primary culprit, but we struggle to find a way out.
We need multiple approaches to address the urgency of our times. One small but concrete response is to learn how to relate sustainably to the land again. Laura Newby and John Nelson, co-founders of Underground Seminary and pastoral staff at Church of All Nations, offer workshops and consulting for churches and agencies that want to discern a path forward. For most of its history the Western church has peddled an imperial and colonizing religion, a driving force leading to our age of eco-apocalypse. But this was a betrayal of the ancient biblical tradition. The Bible is actually a rich and powerful resource for learning to root our faith in an interdependent, cooperative, even restorative way within our local ecosystem.
In recent years Church of All Nations in Minneapolis began a total revamp of their land using the principles of permaculture. This diverse congregation is grounded in the Bible and shaped by the interwoven experiences of our immigrant, indigenous, POC and white American members. John and Laura, who both have Permaculture Design Course certification, spearheaded the community’s education and the implementation of a permaculture design. This has included replacing grass lawn, restoring our soil and water systems, planting a diversity of trees and bushes (including a “food forest” orchard), planting pollinator gardens, relearning lost land-based skills as a community, and rediscovering how to seasonally relate to land for food and medicine. One church doing this doesn’t amount to much, but faith communities acting decisively to heal the earth could ignite a movement.
To support churches and agencies in this work, we offer the following options. We are happy to expand on any topic listed upon request. All of our offerings are available as online trainings.
1 hour workshop: “Rooting our Faith: The Climate Crisis and Permaculture.” Topics include: understanding the climate crisis and exploring permaculture as a biblical response. ($250*)
2 hour workshop: “Rooting our Faith: The Climate Crisis, the Bible, and Permaculture.” Topics include: understanding the climate crisis, outlining the history that has led to ecological disconnect, explaining what’s at stake for future generations, narrating biblical resources for rooting our faith, and exploring permaculture as a response. ($400*)
8 hour training: Mobilizing a Congregational Response through Permaculture. Drawing from our community’s years of experience, we detail how to mobilize a congregation to implement a permaculture design. Topics include: an expanded permaculture education, how to inspire the congregation, nurturing project leadership, forming a core team, exploring outside funding, mapping internal and external resources, and laying out workflow planning for the year. ($1,200*)
If interested in these offerings, contact laura@undergroundsem.org.
*These local rates apply to the Twin Cities metro area. If outside of area, please inquire for rates. Communities of color encouraged to inquire about reduced fees.
Consulting fees support our community's local permaculture work and teaching ministries.
