Rooted and Grounded Conference explores radical kinship
Published: September 25, 2025
By Sierra Ross Richer for 香蕉影视
ELKHART, Indiana (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) 鈥� 鈥淜inship with All Creation: Pursuing Relationship, Justice and Community鈥� was the theme for the seventh Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship, held Sept. 18鈥�20 at in Elkhart, Indiana.
Ninety in-person and 20 online participants gathered from across the U.S. and Canada for keynote addresses, workshops, paper presentations and worship centered on the topic.
鈥淲e recognized that one aspect of our environmental crisis is our failure to see the interconnections of all of creation,鈥� said , MDiv, 香蕉影视 Campus Pastor and the coordinator of the conference.
The three keynote speakers 鈥� , PhD; , PhD; and , ThM 鈥� sought to address that problem by calling for a radical reimagining of community as the antidote to the evils of colonization and exploitation that are at the root of today鈥檚 social and environmental crises.聽
Seeking wisdom from an Apache prophecy
Wendsler Nosie, Sr., PhD, kicked off the conference on Thursday evening with a talk on 鈥淩estoring Relationships with Land and Creation.鈥�
Nosie is the Founder and Director of Apache Stronghold, an organization fighting to protect sacred sites, including Oak Flat, as well as Professor of Apache Studies at the American University of Sovereign Nations. He offered an Apache perspective on the current political and social moment.
A member of the Chiricahua band of the San Carlos Apaches, Nosie said his ancestors narrowly survived annihilation in the 1800s. Even so, most of the elders were killed and the children were forced to assimilate in boarding schools.
鈥淚f anybody can evaluate this country the best,鈥� Nosie said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 us, because we鈥檝e seen the transitions that have taken place that haven鈥檛 been good.鈥�
Today, the land the Apaches depend on for physical and spiritual life is being contaminated and destroyed by a capitalist way of life that, Nosie said, is 鈥渘ot only killing people, it鈥檚 killing the land itself, and it鈥檚 going to kill all of us.鈥�
In August, the 20-year legal battle to keep Oak Flat, or Chi’chil Bi艂dagoteel, out of the hands of the mining company Resolution Copper was once again prolonged when a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the land transfer while it reviews the case.
While temporarily protected, the spiritual site is still in danger.
Instead of blaming White people for the devastation, Nosie turns to an Apache prophecy that foretold the return of an ancient evil force that had visited the continent once before. He believes that time is now.
鈥淚 travel around the country,鈥� Nosie said, 鈥渁nd I talk to many people, and I tell them, I don鈥檛 know if you realize what you鈥檙e fighting. You鈥檙e fighting something great and evil from long ago.鈥�
Overcoming a spiritual force is not easy, Nosie said. It requires learning from those who have faced it before, and building strength in community.
For guidance from his culture, he turns to his mother. When Nosie was a boy, she told him to go outside and listen.
鈥淪ee and hear and smell that this will not lie to you,鈥� she said, 鈥淭his here, it needs you; it needs us to take care of it.鈥�
Rooted in the commons
On Friday morning, T. Wilson Dickinson, PhD, offered the second keynote speech, titled 鈥淩ooted in the Commons and Grounded in Cooperation: On the Social Practices of Teaching, Sharing and Caregiving in Acts 2:42.鈥� In it, he proposed sharing resources as an alternative to the exploitation of land and people.
Wilson is Director of the Doctor of Ministry and Lay and Continuing Education Programs at Lexington (Kentucky) Theological Seminary, where he also teaches theology. His talk drew from the book he is writing, Christ and the Commons: Transatlantic Theologies of Land, Labor and Liberation.
To begin, Dickinson read the account from Acts 2 in which the early church is found sharing their resources, eating together, praying together and caring for each other鈥檚 needs.
鈥淭his ideal image of shared Christian life,鈥� he said, 鈥渉as often been a matter that has been marginalized.鈥�
In today鈥檚 society where most resources, including land, are held by individuals, Dickinson said, 鈥渞eaders have often become so focused on the impossibility that all possessions could be held in common that they have looked past the power of the social practice of holding anything in common.鈥�
In reality, he pointed out, many human societies throughout history have been structured around 鈥渃ommons鈥� 鈥� land and other resources shared by community members. Social movements over the last several centuries have often appealed to these traditions to imagine what alternative economic, political and social lives could look like. Prophetic Christian communities have played a key role in these efforts for justice and transformation.
Building a commons-based society isn鈥檛 a quick fix for today鈥檚 social and environmental problems, but Dickinson encouraged listeners to see it as a long-term goal.
To begin, he suggested looking for places where community and communion already exist, like congregations. Congregations are a vital example of commonly held land, which could be used for growing food, and buildings, which could provide social infrastructure for nonprofits and neighborhood organizations. Most importantly, he noted, they are communities animated by a commitment to the common good.
鈥淭his is where I think disciples who are interested in ecological and environmental justice should set up shop 鈥� where we should begin to be rooted and grounded,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese are the places where we experience a foretaste of the world that we both yearn and hope for, and these are the places where the power that we need is hiding in plain sight.鈥�
An ecotheology in which God is at work
On Friday evening, Douglas Day Kaufman, ThM, gave the final keynote speech, 鈥淭he Gospel of All Creatures: God鈥檚 Cruciform Presence in Creation.鈥� In it, the Executive Director of the Anabaptist Climate Collaborative invited participants to consider an ecotheology in which God is alive and at work in all of creation.
The 鈥淕ospel of All Creatures,鈥� taught by Hans Hut, a 16th-century Anabaptist theologian from Germany, is based on the idea that 鈥淐hrist is not only present in the body of Jesus, nor only in the church, nor only in the Eucharist, nor only in humans, but in all creation,鈥� Kaufman explained.
This has many implications for today鈥檚 social and ecological context, he noted.
First, Kaufman said, 鈥渋t connects Anabaptist theology more closely to the natural and social sciences and questions the dualism that is so often part of the Anabaptist tradition.鈥�
Second, it implies that 鈥淕od is present in and to all creation, including all human societies.鈥�
In addition, he said, it means that all creatures 鈥� including humans 鈥� participate in the crucifixion of Christ by suffering and dying to self.
If God is present and actively working in all creatures and all people, how does that change how we treat them? And what do we have to learn from them about God? he asked.
鈥淭he Gospel of All Creatures reminds us that God is at work,鈥� Kaufman said, 鈥渆ven among the critters in the river bottom or the soil community of microbes, in worms and insects that are taking the death that is placed on the earth and resurrecting it into life. In fact, God might even be especially at work in these simple processes that bring life.鈥�
鈥淭o disagree with the popular saying,鈥� Kaufman concluded, 鈥淕od does have hands besides ours, or at least God has paws and beaks and roots and branches to bring about God鈥檚 purposes for creation. It鈥檚 not all up to us, but we have our part.鈥�
Additional conference information
The Rooted and Grounded Conference also featured 鈥渒inship activities鈥� such as birdwatching, prairie exploration, viewing macro-invertebrates, and acknowledging Indigenous history and presence. Participants could sign up for optional afternoon Immersion Experiences 鈥� visits to places of environmental and historical interest in the area 鈥� prior to the beginning of the event.
In addition to Johnson and Kaufman, the Planning Committee included Johnson, , EdD, Chair, Executive Director Emeritus of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen (Indiana) College; Amy Marshall, 香蕉影视 Master of Divinity student from Pickerington, Ohio; , PhD, Teaching Faculty at The King鈥檚 University in Edmonton, Alberta; , PhD, Teaching Faculty at Goshen College and Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center; and , MA, of Goshen, Co-Director of Mennonite Men.
Prior Rooted and Grounded conferences were held in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Summaries of each conference are available on the conference webpage at .
Located in Elkhart, Indiana, on ancestral land of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is a learning community with an Anabaptist vision, offering theological education for learners both on campus and at a distance as well as a wide array of lifelong learning programs 鈥� all with the goal of educating followers of Jesus Christ to be leaders for God鈥檚 reconciling mission in the world.
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