KCC Virtual Annual Assembly 2021
Connecting Neighbors: God, Creation and the Church
“And God saw all that He had made, and it was very good..” Genesis 1:31
In an effort to help keep every one safer, the KCC Executive Board met on August 10th and voted to make this year’s regularly scheduled in-person assembly virtual.
2021 Virtual Annual Assembly
Keynote Speaker
Thursday, October 21st
Shantha Ready Alonso was, until recently, the executive director of Creation Justice Ministries.
Some in the Kentucky Council of Churches may be familiar with her work on the 2018 and 2019 State of Appalachia conferences.
In January 2021, Shantha was appointed as the Director of Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Her work includes stakeholder engagement for the Biden-Harris Administration’s America the Beautiful initiative and other climate priorities.
Alonso, who is Catholic, previously served at NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice and the National Council of Churches USA.
Keynote Speaker
Friday, October 22nd
Carolyn Finney, Ph.D, is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer.
Along with public speaking, writing, media engagements, consulting and teaching, she served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years. Carolyn’s first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014.
She is currently working on a performance piece about John Muir (The N Word: NatureRevisited) as part of a Mellon residency at the New York Botanical Gardens Humanities
Institute and is the new columnist at the Earth Island Journal. She is also an artist-in-residence in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College. You can find out more about Carolyn at carolynfinney.com.
Preacher
Thursday, October 21st
The Rev. Dr. Patricia K. Tull is A. B. Rhodes Professor Emerita of Old Testament at Louisville Seminary in Kentucky, and has devoted her post-academia life to environmental theology.
She is a Climate Reality presenter, a GreenFaith fellow, and author of Inhabiting Eden: Christians, the Bible, and the Ecological Crisis (Westminster John Knox, 2013) and other works on scripture and creation care.
Rev. Tull helps lead Presbyterian Climate Advocates classes called Faith and the Climate Crisis, and lectures, preaches, and leads workshops nationally to help congregations seek effective ways to address climate change.
She and her spouse Don Summerfield live in a net-zero energy house and are learning to grow food sustainably in Henryville, Indiana.
Workshops
Thursday, October 21st
All Hands on Deck (No Skills Required). Presented by Rev. Dr. Patricia K. Tull. This workshop explores some of the ways that Christians who hear the call to environmental action may set out to respond.
Environmental Racism. Presented by Rev. Carol Devine. This workshop will teach about the intersectionality of racism and the environment. We will also explore ways to address it.
Indigenous Relationship with the Environment. Presented by Helen Danser. This workshop will explore the relationship native people have with their environment.
Connecting the Church, Young Adults and the Environment. Presented by Isadora Koch, This workshop, presented by a member of the Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, will teach faith communities how to become a leader against climate change and take seriously the call to serve and protect the Earth and to love our Creator and neighbor.
Friday’s Closing Dialogue
Environmental Justice and Our Low Income/People of Color Communities
Friday, October 22nd
We will have our closing dialogue discussion Friday. The moderator will be Rev. Dr. Donald K. Gillett, II. Panelists include Tyler Offerman with Kentucky Equal Justice Center, David Nickell with West Kentucky Community and Technical College and Eboni Cochran with Rubbertown Emergency Action.
If You Are A Delegate:
As a delegate of your communion to the Kentucky Council of Churches, your primary responsibilities will include:
• Representing your denomination/judicatory at the annual meeting of the Assembly, voting on the action items presented in business session.
• Interpreting to your local church or groups within it, what the Kentucky Council of Churches is and what this ecumenical ministry works to accomplish.
• Reporting to the appropriate group or body within your church on the work of the Council presented and finalized during the Annual Assembly.
• Consider service on one of the Committees or Commissions of the Council
• Work to assure that your communion/denomination has the Kentucky Council of Churches in its budget for at least the “fair share”
amount.
