March 8, 2010 issue
Laurelville event promotes Earth care as faith calling
By Brian Paff Laurelville Mennonite Church CenterPage:
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MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa. —Wendy Chappell-Dick has tried to creatively reduce her children’s consumption habits.
Carol Bowman facilitates a discussion about transferring creation-care values to a new generation. — Photo by Brian Paff/Laurelville
Chappell-Dick, of Bluffton, Ohio, shared some of the environmental stewardship struggles she faces as a mother to teenage daughters living in a consumer culture during a break-out session at “Creation Care: Stewards of the Earth,” a retreat Feb. 12-14 at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center.
“We have to think about what we’re buying,” she said. “Every time we go shopping, we’re buying our own trash.”
One idea Chappell-Dick has tried with her children is to couple a restricted clothing budget for purchases at retail stores with a virtually blank check for use at thrift shops.
“Over time I think that will make a positive change,” she said. “I hope the ecological message gets through.”
Carol Bowman, coordinator of stewardship formation and education for the Church of the Brethren, explored a similar topic, presenting a toolkit of resources, including children’s books and hands-on learning ideas, during a workshop, “Will Our Children Care?”
“We have the opportunity to instill values in children long before they enter school,” she said.
Several generations were present at the retreat, sponsored by Mennonite Mutual Aid, the Church of the Brethren and Laurelville.
The event encouraged participants to persevere in the face of a culture that, in spite of warnings from the science community and pleas from marginalized people, has been slow to change its habits of consumption.
Keynote speakers were David Radcliff, who heads the New Community Project, and Luke Gascho, director at the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College and a founding member of the Mennonite Creation Care Network.
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