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Power Shift
Over last weekend, Restoring Eden brought about 30 Christian college students from MN, IA, MI, PA to one of the largest gatherings of young environmental activists in our nation’s history. Called Powershift 2009, the gathering witnessed to the world the emergence of the next generation of environmental leaders. Restoring Eden was there as 12,000 youth from across the nation converged on Washington, D.C. to not only voice their opposition to unethical energy policy, but also to celebrate solidarity and diversity in cooperative action. Christian youth, together with youth from the greater secular environmental movement, came to learn and empower themselves as stewards of God’s creation.
The body of Christ is becoming visibly active in the greater environmental movement. Christian students came to be mentored, but often found themselves giving testimony to the Christian value of creation care. Peter Illyn was on a panel discussing how our faith strengthens our commitment to responsibility and justice in our lives. Sage Russo of “Christians for the Mountains” spoke to a standing room only crowd on the Christian theology of environmental stewardship and justice advocacy. While workshops on advocacy in local, state, and federal policy taught the youth effective lobbying skills; seemingly all of the Christian youth in attendance were invited to discuss how their faith is directly connected to their actions. The sessions ended, and yet people remained to hear more on how God is active in caring for creation.
The last day of Powershift 2009 proved to be the largest citizen lobby on environmental policy the world has ever seen. The youth of our nation sat with their country’s leaders to share their concerns on energy policy, mountain top removal, mass transit, poverty, responsible agriculture, the list goes on.
We know that their voices were heard. We invite you all to pray that our national leaders are willing to listen to these messages, and that they are blessed with the judgment needed to steward God’s creation through their votes. We also invite you all to visit Powershift09.org and explore the coverage of this diverse and successful event.
Lastly, please pray for the Christian youth who attended Powershift, many of them have missed classes and sacrificed much to attend this historic event; we are so thankful for them.
The body of Christ is becoming visibly active in the greater environmental movement. Christian students came to be mentored, but often found themselves giving testimony to the Christian value of creation care. Peter Illyn was on a panel discussing how our faith strengthens our commitment to responsibility and justice in our lives. Sage Russo of “Christians for the Mountains” spoke to a standing room only crowd on the Christian theology of environmental stewardship and justice advocacy. While workshops on advocacy in local, state, and federal policy taught the youth effective lobbying skills; seemingly all of the Christian youth in attendance were invited to discuss how their faith is directly connected to their actions. The sessions ended, and yet people remained to hear more on how God is active in caring for creation.
The last day of Powershift 2009 proved to be the largest citizen lobby on environmental policy the world has ever seen. The youth of our nation sat with their country’s leaders to share their concerns on energy policy, mountain top removal, mass transit, poverty, responsible agriculture, the list goes on.
We know that their voices were heard. We invite you all to pray that our national leaders are willing to listen to these messages, and that they are blessed with the judgment needed to steward God’s creation through their votes. We also invite you all to visit Powershift09.org and explore the coverage of this diverse and successful event.
Lastly, please pray for the Christian youth who attended Powershift, many of them have missed classes and sacrificed much to attend this historic event; we are so thankful for them.
