Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt wrote recently to let us know of a new effort to enlist further members in the UCC Council for Climate Justice. The Southwest Conference is proud that Tom Martinez will serve as our conference liaison to the UCC Council for Climate Justice for 2018.

"We now have representation from almost every conference, and many of you helped make this possible. Thank you! In a new phase of development, Jason Carson Wilson from our DC office will now be enlisting others to serve on the council as we increase its diversity. These new members will not be considered designated conference liaisons. To help explain this, I will briefly share some background on the Council’s structure.

"After beginning nearly two years ago as a loosely structured group that developed organically from UCC clergy and laity coming together from different parts of the country, the council decided to become more structured. As part of this, they voted that each conference should have a liaison designated by the conference minister. The liaison would be responsible for serving as a point of intentional connection and communication with each conference. It would be left to the conference minister’s discretion as to whether term limits of a particular length should be put in place. Beyond the designated liaison, the council can have more than one member from a conference."

"There are 55 current members of the council. Because of the group’s organic development, there were some instances in which early members simply became the initial acting liaisons.In a few instances the liaison position is jointly held when shared responsibility was requested."