Creation Care Alliance 2026 Symposium: “Building Resilience: Congregations in a Climate-Changed World”

Creation Care Alliance WNC Presents

Symposium 2026

“Building Resilience: Congregations in a Climate-Changed World”

Friday, May 1 – Saturday, May 2 at Montreat Conference Center

* REGISTRATION DEADLINE: April 27 *

Creation Care Alliance will gather people of faith from across the southern Blue Ridge fora conference on creation care, disaster recovery, and building community resilience. Day 1will feature creation care activities and spiritual experiences around beautiful Montreat that will inspire you and your creation care work. Day 2 will explore faithful creation care through workshops and feature a panel discussing how the work of disaster response and resilience-building is re-energizing faith communities and elevating their value to their communities. Download the event flyer here.

Friday, May 1: Creation Care Experiences to Inspire and to Try at Home

• Interfaith Creation Care Service w/Susannah Tuttle of NC Council of Churches’ Eco-Justice Connection preaching
• Awe Walk led by Rev. David Carter Florence of Black Mountain Presbyterian Church
• Nature Hike with Jason Nance, Montreat’s Wilderness Director
• Reclaim-the-River Ritual led by Sarah Skinner, Montreat Program Director and Associate with the Kaleidoscope Institute 
• Writing Workshop – Lauren Graeber, Author and writing coach
• Lectio Terra activity led by  Rev. Derrick Weston

Saturday, May 2: Workshops and Conversations

• Disaster Recovery, Resilience-Building, and Their Impact on Congregations, A Conversation/Panel Discussion
• Writing Workshop – Lauren Graeber, Author and writing coach
• Green Burial w/Mallory McDuff, Environmental Studies professor at Warren Wilson College and author of “Natural Saints,” “Sacred Acts,” “Love Your Mother,” and “Our Last Best Act”
• Beyond Activism: Why We Need Community Organizing and What It Can Do.” w/Professors Dan Rhodes and Tim Conder of the Black Mountain School for Theology and Community
• Housing & Faith Communities: The Creation Care Connection w/Susan Bean, Housing and Transportation Director at MountainTrue
• Disaster, Climate, and Mission: Preparing the Church for What’s Next w/Brian Mateer and/or Maggie Armstrong at WNC Conference of the United Methodist Church’s Disaster Ministries
• Going Solar – Best practices and benefits
• Creation Justice and the “Why” of Creation Care with Rev. Derrick Weston

CCA WNC

With natural disasters increasing in frequency, faith communities are attending more to the natural world and to finding our true place within it. As a union of climate connected congregations, MountainTrue’s Creation Care Alliance is working to strengthen and expand its network of Covenant Partner Congregations, helping them become lifelines of resilience, compassion, and mutual aid in the face of future climate challenges.

Ticketing information:
*Please note that Friday registration does NOT include lunch (lunch will be on your own. You can check out the Huckleberry Cafe at Montreat, visit on of the tasty restaurants in Black Mountain, or bring your lunch from home.)
*Saturday registration DOES include lunch at the Galax Dining Room of Montreat’s Assembly Inn
*You can register for just one day, or both!