A Global Mission perspective on Climate Justice for All at COP26

This reflection is written by Andy Dye, Programme team leader with the Global Relationships team and member of the Climate Justice for All project steering group.

The 26^th Conference of the Parties (COP26) has concluded, and so with it the work of the Climate Justice for All team will draw to a close at the end of the year.  The Climate Justice for All team are a team of young people drawn from the global Methodist family to work on a campaign to engage Methodists across the world in taking action on climate change. You can see some reflections of their work at COP26 in this blog from the Joint Public Issues Team Updates from COP26: What happened over the weekend in Glasgow? | Joint Public Issues Team.  In the next few weeks the team will share some more reflections and propose steps to be taken by the Methodist Church in Britain and others around the world. The President and Vice-President of the Methodist Church in Britain have made a statement on the COP26 agreement which you can read here: Presidency reacts to COP26 agreement (methodist.org.uk) .  The picture to the right shows the CJ4A team during their online global worship live event at Woodlands Methodist Church, Glasgow.

Whist there is much concern about the limited nature of the achievements made at COP itself, the global Methodist COP26 team has been hugely successful and could be a model of working in partnership with other Methodists around the world as we engage in global mission in the 21st Century. One of the two British COP26 and all of the four global COP26 Workers have been financed from the World Mission Fund. The project connected networks of workers and volunteers from a multiplicity of countries, engaging collaboratively and sharing knowledge. The project used technology to minimise air travel and paved the way for a very powerful face-to-face encounter and work together in Glasgow. The project reflected the holistic nature of our mission, and nurtures and encourages future collaborative leaders. This was a team of equals working together, focused on a key global mission issue, drawing on and disseminating content from across the globe, with input from various regional perspectives. The team was guided by a steering group, and line managers drawn from the global Methodist family, and was actively supported by the World Methodist Council.

Could the example of the Climate Justice for All team be one element of the future of global Methodist co-operative mission?