Twelve New England Churches selected to participate in Claiming Your Call Retreat
Teams from twelve New England congregations will take part in an upcoming retreat and community of practice, entitled “Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World,” organized and hosted collaboratively by The BTS Center, Creation Justice Ministries, and Anabaptist Climate Collaborative.
Fully funded by The BTS Center, “Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World” will begin with a three-day retreat, June 20-22, 2024, at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park, Maine, where congregational teams will share deep conversation with theologians, scientists, and indigenous scholars about how climate change will impact the communities where they live and what a spiritually-grounded, justice-seeking response could look like for their churches. At the conclusion of the retreat, teams will integrate what they’ve learned by participating in Vocational Discernment groups and undertaking a “small experiment with radical intent” in the context of a supportive community of practice.
Selected from two dozen applicants, participating congregations include:
Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church – Portland, ME
Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church – Cape Elizabeth, ME
Church of the Covenant – Boston, MA
First Congregational Church of Camden – Camden, ME
First Congregational Church of West Tisbury – Martha’s Vineyard, MA
First Congregational Church – South Portland, ME
Main Street United Methodist Church – Nashua, NH
Mennonite Congregation of Boston – Cambridge, MA
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church – Brunswick, ME
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church – Lynnfield, MA
Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship – Taftsville, VT
Union Congregational Church of Hancock – Hancock, ME
“As the realities of the climate crisis become more and more widespread and increasingly impactful, we aim to challenge and inspire communities of faith to claim their call and respond to the gravity of this moment,” says Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill, Executive Director of The BTS Center. “Often we think, ‘Oh, that’s the work of scientists,’ or ‘The responsibility lies with our elected leaders.’ Certainly scientists and policymakers have important roles to play, but we believe that faith communities have much to offer in this moment, too — uniquely, in fact, and urgently. We’re excited to form and nurture community among these twelve congregations. We know this will be a rich time of learning and spiritual-vocational formation, grounded in the wisdom of theologians, scientists, and indigenous leaders.”
“Faith communities have long traditions of advocating for justice and responding to the tangible needs within their communities,” adds Rev. Nicole Diroff, The BTS Center’s Program Director. “Now, when it really counts, we need faith communities to step up and step in, to imagine a new world — a world in which people turn toward one another rather than against each other in the face of intensifying challenges — and then we need these faith communities to bring the very best of their energy and creativity to nurture that world into being.”
Leaders and presenters for the Claiming Your Call retreat include John Bear Mitchell, educator, storyteller, and citizen of the Penobscot Nation; Chris Nadeau, Climate Change Adaptation Scientist with the Schoodic Institute; Jason Brough, citizen of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation and leader with the Wabanaki Youth in Science Program and Penobscot Nation’s Traditional Ecological Program; Rev. Liz Fulmer, musician; Ben Yosua-Davis, Rev. Nicole Diroff, and Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill from The BTS Center; Avery Davis Lamb and Derrick Weston of Creation Justice Ministries; and Rev. Doug Kaufman from Anabaptist Climate Collaborative.
Ben Yosua-Davis, Director of Applied Research for The BTS Center, shares, “Claiming Your Call represents an exciting opportunity to accompany churches as they discern their vocation in light of a climate-changed world. Too often, these discussions stop with solar panels or recycling bins; but these churches are willing to explore new, powerful possibilities for how following God's call during an ecological crisis can be about every aspect of a church's identity and mission.”
Named one of the top venues for nature lovers in the country, the Schoodic Institute is located in Acadia National Park and is Acadia’s primary partner in science and education. Located on the rugged Maine coastland, surrounded by thousands of acres of evergreen forests, the park hosts conferences, retreats, and workshops for groups from around the globe.
With roots dating back to 1814, The BTS Center is a private foundation in Portland, Maine, building on the legacy of the former Bangor Theological Seminary. Today The BTS Center seeks to catalyze spiritual imagination, with enduring wisdom, for transformative faith leadership. Guided by the vision of human hearts renewed, justice established, and creation restored, The BTS Center offers theologically grounded workshops and retreats, learning cohorts, courses, public conversations, and projects of applied research, all focused around spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world.
