Click here to read about what we are doing, or read below.

 

 

 

The vast majority of people now believe that climate change is human caused, and they worry about it….

 

Some are actually doing something about it:

 

My EcoFaith Recovery internship began as an idea     for a few raised beds at a local church and is now a full-scale business operation that will be using aeroponics and other alternative food growing techniques to provide disempowered communities with the opportunity to produce their own food and/or sell at the farmer’s market. – Bradley Seibel, EcoFaith Intern, 2016-2018, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

 

We are called as people of faith to stand with the vulnerable and work towards a just society. I feel good when working on Portland Clean Energy Fund activities because it fulfills these values. – Alison Wiley, EcoFaith Volunteer Leader from Tabor Heights United Methodist Church, Portland

 

Not only did EcoFaith Recovery give me a platform to develop my own leadership, it also created the space for me to tie together my passions for racial, economic, and environmental justice. Looking back, my initial internship with EcoFaith Recovery was the seed that has helped me support many others in my life in building leadership capacity and creating energy to support community change. – Nathan Holst, Youth Minister, Peace UCC, Duluth, Minnesota

 

The Challenge: We face a generational Eco-Crisis. It is both ecological and economic in nature.

 

The Opportunity: While many organizations pay full-time staff to respond to this crisis, EcoFaith Recovery believes that the only way to adequately address a generational crisis is to mobilize an entire generation. We seek to reclaim the wisdom of our faith traditions, repent of the ways we participate in injustice, liberate our imaginations, claim our unique call, and organize our communities to participate in the movement towards a just world where all have clean air, safe water, and healthy food. We recognize that all people of faith and all people of good will have an important part to play. Whether you are engaged in child care, business enterprise, civil service, retirement, or any other pursuit, we need you!

 

EcoFaith Recovery is a faith-based leadership development network of volunteer leaders who are lifting one another up through EcoFaith’s Practices for Awakening Leadership to support our communities in taking courageous public action. Through the Practices, we:

1) Access Spiritual Power,

2) Develop Relationships,

3) Discover our Stories,

4) Mentor One Another,

5) Act Together,

6) Reflect on our Actions, and

7) Restore Balance

Accomplishments To Date:

Since its founding by a circle of eight in 2009 until its current form as a network of hundreds of leaders, EcoFaith has:

  • Equipped 30 young adults across the country through mentored, stipended internships,
  • Trained over 125 Care for Creation Leaders and 200 people through the “Organizing in the Biocommons” Course,
  • Organized over 185 people to take faith-based action through EcoFaith’s Beyond Fossil Fuels Initiative,
  • Supported over 225 leaders in developing their leadership potential through Weekend Institutes, Congregational Coaching of Eco-Reformation Projects, Portland Clean Energy Fund Organizing, Simply in Season Leadership Trainings, Simpler Living Practice Groups, and Columbia River Watershed Discipleship course,
  • Inspired 300 people to connect faith, justice and ecology through EcoFaith Youth Camps, Table Talks, & Retreats

 

EcoFaith’s Vision

  • Equip 5 more young adult interns through a year-long intern cohort process with a goal of expanding  to 20 internship cohorts x five interns/year to equip 100 interns per year as soon as funds permit.
  • Interns focus their projects on  connecting their faith communities to local eco-justice campaigns. Interns help develop creative, spirit-led responses to the twin eco-crisis of ecology and economy.
  • Support leaders across the country in organizing Practices-based Initiatives through which they develop leadership & support communities in acting together. Expand to 20 EcoFaith hubs.
  • Expand Leadership Institutes across the country, offering  weekend immersions into The Practices for Awakening Leadership to all interns and many others.
  • Raise up former EcoFaith interns and others to serve as presenters at EcoFaith Leadership Institutes and Coaches of EcoFaith interns and congregational teams.
  • Launch monthly online gatherings where EcoFaith leaders from across the country gather to mentor one another. Enhance the ways they can organize online.

 

The Invitation: We need everybody working for a just world where all have clean air, safe water, and healthy food. Today we also need your help meeting a $12,000 matching grant from InFaith Community Foundation that will enable us to meet our 2018 budget. The grant will match new gifts, or the amount of any increase from last year’s gift, or a year’s worth of new automatic monthly gifts up by December 31, 2018. Will you join us by contributing one of the following?

 

3 new or increased gifts of $1200 (or a new or increased sustaining gift of $100 per month)

4 new or increased gifts of $600   (or a new or increased sustaining gift of $50 per month)

6 new or increased gifts of $300   (or a new or increased sustaining gift of $25 per month)

10 new or increased gifts of $240 (or a new or increased sustaining gift of $20 per month)

15 new or increased gifts of $120 (or a new or increased sustaining gift of $10 per month)

 

Thank you for accepting the invitation to join in this great work of our generation in whatever way is right for you!