What the US Election didn’t change about Climate Change #COP22

Rev. Jenny Phillips will be hosting a Facebook Live event on the PNW Facebook page: (facebook.com/pnwumc) November 11th at 8:30am PST.

John Hill, Assistant General Secretary for Advocacy & Grassroots Organizing for the General Board of Church and Society will be joining her. If you have questions you’d like them to address, please send those questions as soon as possible to jphillips@pnwumc.org

Editor’s Note: The following statement was delivered by the Rev. Jenny Phillips on behalf of the General Board of Church and Society delegation to COP22* at a press conference earlier today in Morocco. She is among several faith groups discussing the US election outcome and laying out a vision on climate for the next administration. Click here to watch the press conference. 

Good afternoon. My name is Reverend Jenny Phillips. I am a United Methodist pastor and am here with our international public policy and social justice agency, the General Board of Church and Society, as well as Green Faith – an interfaith organization committed to climate action.

We are all still absorbing the implications of the US election in our work to build a more just and peaceful world – the implications for women, for children, for people of color, for those struggling on the margins and those living in poverty in the US and around the world.  

While we cannot know how the President-elect and the new Congress will change the direction of US policy, we do know what hasn’t changed.

First, what hasn’t changed is this: the climate crisis is real. Regardless of US politics, climate change will impact the lives of families and communities with whom our churches are in ministry every day.  From small farming communities in Africa to indigenous communities in the southern Philippines, our church is in ministry with people on the frontlines of the climate crisis.  That work, those relationships, are what shape and inform our church’s response. The climate crisis is a moral crisis and one which demands a moral response.

Second, what hasn’t changed is this: our church’s strong, clear voice will keep on rising up along side those communities. Just this year at our global conference, our church affirmed strong new positions in support of climate action. More important, our Bishops and pastors and laity are giving life to those word–raising their voices and putting their faith into action for climate justice, for indigenous communities and for a healthy and hope-filled future.  Our hope remains strong because it is rooted in our faith and nurtured by the daily relationships of our ministry.

And third, what hasn’t changed is this: the global momentum and movement that has been building for our churches and church institutions to take action is unstoppable. We are taking concrete steps to ensure our facilities, our finances and our faithful advocacy model climate justice for the world.  This is the action COP – and we stand here today to celebrate the ways we as a church – as faith communities – are part of the people’s climate movement.  This is a movement built from the ground up. Our relationships, our partnerships–our movement–is not dependent on any one country’s leader and certainly not on one election.  

While there is much we don’t know about what the future holds, the world can trust that The people of The United Methodist Church will continue to offer ourselves as partners with elected officials who share our vision, as advocates lifting up the stories of frontline communities, and as faithful resistors to any effort to turn back the clock – to deny the realities of a changing climate or delay actions necessary to protect God’s people and God’s planet.

* COP is shorthand for United Nations Climate Change Conferences held annually as a formal meeting of the UNFCCC Parties (Conference of the Parties, COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change.