Presbytery of the Peaks Earth Care Summit October 1, 2022
Attention QMPC Congregation
You may or may not be aware that Peaks Presbytery now has a Presbytery Earth Care Workgroup. We are made up of members of several congregations in the Presbytery which have Earth Care programs, and our goal is to encourage other congregations in the Presbytery to strengthen their ministries of “Creation Care”!
The QMPC Mission Committee invites you to be a part of the Earth Care Summit. The time of the summit is October 1, 2022 from 11:00 am to 2 pm.
To reduce travel time and still allow for face-to-face interaction, we plan to gather in three "hubs", connecting the hubs virtually through an in-person/virtual hybrid format.
- Hub 1: Covenant Presbyterian Church, Roanoke
- Hub 2: First Presbyterian Church, Martinsville
- Hub 3: Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg
Our “keynote” video presentation will feature Katharine Hayhoe, combining clips of several different talks and interviews she has done. Our schedule is as follows:
- 11:00 to 11:15 pm: Meet and Greet
- 11:15 to 12:15 pm: Hahoe’s video keynote with discussion
- 12:15 to 12:45 pm: Lunch provided by each Hub
- 12:45 to 2:00 pm: Zoom connection with all three hubs sharing ideas about “Creation Care” to include 6 five minute presentations about projects in other POP churches.
Katharine Hayhoe an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change and uses her scientific and communication skills to advocate for efforts around climate action. She is a Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor and an Endowed Chair in Public Policy and Public Law in the Texas Tech University Department of Political Science. In 2021, Hayhoe joined the Nature Conservancy as Chief Scientist.
Hayhoe, who is an evangelical Christian, is the daughter of missionaries. Hayhoe credits her father as an inspiration with regard to her belief that science and religion do not have to conflict with one another. In 2009, she and her husband, Andrew Farley, co-authored a book called A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions, which outlines the ways in which climate science reflects conservative Christian beliefs. Among many other accomplishments and awards, Hayhoe hosted and produced a bi-weekly web series with PBS called Global Weirding: Climate, Politics, and Religion, which launched September 2016 and ran through March 2019. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award (Champions of the Earth) in 2019. Her most recent book is Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.
Our hope is:
- To provide each congregation with resources they can take home to support/kickstart their work in creation care;
- To share ideas that have worked for congregations;
- To give folks some language to talk about the importance of engaging in creation care from a faith-based perspective; and
- To provide motivation and support for this urgent, essential and challenging ministry of caring for God's creation, in such a way that churches take the lead and provide models and witness for their communities.
The QMPC Hub will be held in the Moseley Chapel unless numbers result in expanding into the Fellowship Hall. We hope to have one to three members from other congregations in the Lynchburg hub area. All interested members of the QMPC congregation are welcome.
Please reach out to Christine if you are interested in joining the Presbytery Earth Care Summit on October 1 from 11 am to 2 pm. Mark Your Calendar!
The QMPC Mission Committee