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Michigan UMs make ‘green’ impact

Putting together rain barrels

Sandra White and Rev. Ryan Wieland are the newest EarthKeepers commissioned to develop and lead grassroots environmental projects in their communities.

JAMES DEATON
Content Editor

It’s painful to face the impact of human activities on the environment along with the devastation tied to severe weather because of climate change. However, each of us can take simple, actionable steps to grow new ideas to help heal God’s good creation. And the United Methodist Church’s EarthKeeper program is one way to find the support needed to get started.

In May, Sandra White and Rev. Ryan Wieland, two Michigan United Methodists, were part of the newest class of EarthKeepers commissioned by the General Board of Global Ministries. Learn more about this program. They both have hearts for creation care and received this free training, all online, to launch new environmental projects that will make a difference.

Sandra, a lay member of South Rockwood UMC in rural Monroe County, has had an interest in landscaping and gardening, but it was the community building aspect of her project that really empowered her to move forward and go through the EarthKeeper training. Her project was the creation of a community garden on a piece of property adjacent to the church.

Man with tractor
Sandra’s son tills the ground as a first step in building the community garden at South Rockwood UMC. ~ photo courtesy Sandra White

“Since COVID, everybody stays inside,” said Sandra. “They don’t come out. And I really wanted to get the community back together. That was my goal. So, meeting the neighbors was the first step, and then I want them to feel comfortable. They’re not just going to walk in the doors.”

Sandra admits that she has been going to South Rockwood UMC for almost 30 years and had never met any of the neighbors in the subdivision where the church is located until she started building the garden. God is using this project to open doors and build new relationships.

She shares the story about one volunteer who has been a tremendous help getting the garden up and running. “There’s a lady who came the first day that I asked for volunteers, and she lives in the subdivision. I’d never met her before. ‘I’m here to volunteer,’ she said. And then she told me she’s 64 and was a retired iron worker. I then realized she could do a lot of stuff! So, she’s been a great help. She actually came to church for the first time on Sunday, so that was nice.”

The South Rockwood church owns a house with a good-sized yard next door, but they have not done much with it until now. Sandra and several volunteers from the church and the neighborhood have stepped up to create this community garden from scratch. A plot 20-feet by 70-feet was tilled up by Sandra’s son, and then she and volunteers built ten raised beds. The church currently tends 5 of them, and people from the neighborhood tend the other 5.

Group of garden volunteers
Community garden beds, once ready, were blessed by Pastor Ava Euper (middle back, fifth from right) for service to the community. ~ photo courtesy Sandra White

The church hosts a farmers market in its parking lot once a month, June through September, and Sandra and the volunteers have begun selling plants and produce from the community garden. They plan to set up a produce stand at the church for people to purchase produce for a donation, if they’re able. They have already started a Community Garden Shed in the garage on the property, where they offer thrifty items for a donation.

Sandra wants this project to be sustainable, so in addition to funds from the farmers market, the produce stand, and the garden shed, she is seeking grants. This year, they received funding from the Community Foundation of Monroe through the Monroe County Environmental Fund.

“We asked for $3,000, and they gave us $4,000,” she said. “We have spent some on plants and items to get the garden started. We have $2,000 in the budget for a fence and are looking at options, one of which would be planter boxes that line the area and can be used for planting and containing the area from animals.” Sandra also plans to apply for a grant through the EarthKeepers program.

EarthKeepers is a training and incubator program that provides a collaborative space for United Methodists to develop and grow environmental projects in their communities. The spring training that Sandra went through was online over the course of two weeks. There are large group sessions mixed in with opportunities for small cohorts to form and provide mutual support. Each person’s project is different and unique to their context.

The next EarthKeepers training will be held in person this fall, from October 2-5, 2025, in Des Moines, Washington (Seattle-Tacoma area). All expenses for the training are paid for, except for transportation to the training venue. Learn more and apply by August 21.

Rev. Ryan Wieland, most recently the pastor at Grandville UMC near Grand Rapids, was also commissioned in the most recent class of EarthKeepers, along with Sandra. Ryan’s project was very different but still filled a need he saw.

Resource table at Annual Conference
During the EngageMI Mission Festival at the 2025 Michigan Annual Conference, Ryan set up a resource table on environmental sustainability based on the pack he created. ~ photo courtesy Ryan Wieland

He focused on a need at the annual conference level rather than a local church need. He created a ready-to-use sustainability presentation pack that can be easily adapted for use by annual conferences. It’s a downloadable pack that has a lot of resources to help annual conferences equip their church leaders better as it relates to matters of environmental justice.

Ryan first explained the impetus behind joining the EarthKeepers program: “Sustainability has always been something that I’ve been passionate about. I actually started out in college as an environmental science major and then felt the call to ministry. Since then, I’ve pursued a variety of certifications outside the church. And so, when I found out that The United Methodist Church had its own program, then that just seemed like the next logical step.”

One of the reasons Ryan decided to apply to be an EarthKeeper was because he hadn’t heard a lot about sustainability or climate change at Annual Conference. Occasionally, it would come up in a piece of legislation, he said, but it was not usually the primary focus. And he imagined this might be the case in other annual conferences as well, so he wondered what the most effective way might be to empower people to bring that issue forward and equip local churches with sustainability solutions.

Ryan noted that he has found the congregations he has served in Michigan to be very open to ideas that conserve resources and save money, whether in the short term or the long term. Therefore, he believes that providing helpful, practical information that others have tested reduces the anxiety associated with trying something new. So, that’s how the presentation pack idea for annual conference leaders to use and adapt came to fruition.

Installing energy-efficient heat pumps
Grandville UMC, the most recent congregation Ryan pastored, jumped on board with several sustainability initiatives, thanks to his leadership. They have completed an LED retrofit for light fixtures, installed smart boilers (decreasing their natural gas use and greenhouse gas footprint by 30%) and heat pumps (pictured here), and are working on a solar project with Solar Faithful. ~ photo courtesy Ryan Wieland

“If you have all of these resources in hand from the handouts in the packet, if you have a course of action that you can pursue or a checklist of potential ideas, and you can say, we’ve done three of these, but here are five other ones that I think we could do easily and make a difference in these small ways, a bunch of churches all doing that together makes a tremendous difference.”

Through the online Creation Care Network, Ryan was able to share his presentation pack with other EarthKeepers and United Methodists interested in creation justice. Anyone can sign up to join the Creation Care Network. To date, Ryan’s project pack has already been used by at least three annual conferences to set up informational booths and distribute sustainability materials to local churches in their conferences.

The EarthKeepers program is one of The United Methodist Church’s best-kept secrets. Ryan encourages United Methodists here in Michigan to think about their local setting and consider applying to be an EarthKeeper.

“It’s not a tremendous time commitment, just one of mental resources and working through a project. But I’ve always thought that the church could definitely lead the way in terms of sustainability and conservation and should be doing so. And one positive step we can take in that direction is making sure that people are resourced and have the knowledge and the tools to pursue these efforts within the UMC.”

Editor’s note: Apportionments are the cornerstone of the General Board of Global Ministries budget, which includes the Environmental Sustainability program. Faithful Ministry Shares giving by Michigan local churches means Global Ministries can equip and empower EarthKeepers across the United States, including those in Michigan.

Last Updated on July 9, 2025

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The Michigan Conference