Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship

Home 禄 Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship

Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship

Theme | Kinship with All Creation: Pursuing Relationship, Justice and Community聽
- Thursday, Sept. 18 鈥� Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025
Keynote speakers
Registration information and costs
Schedule
Immersion experiences
Contact us
Learn more about past gatherings

Theme | Kinship with All Creation: Pursuing Relationship, Justice and Community

Thursday, Sept. 18 鈥� Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025

Building on the six Rooted and Grounded conferences held since 2014, the seventh Rooted and Grounded Conference will examine our relationship with land and all of creation. Our keynote addresses will focus on restoring relationships with land and creation, confronting and repairing ecological injustice, and participating in solidarity with the suffering of all creatures.

Current plans are to offer the conference in a hybrid format. Some elements will be available only to in-person participants, and some will also be available to participants joining via livestream. Some papers and workshops will be presented virtually.

Prior Rooted and Grounded conferences were held in September 2014, October 2015, April 2017, October 2018, October 2021 and September 2023.

The conference will begin at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday and ends at noon EDT on Saturday. Participants can also register to join optional immersion experiences on Thursday afternoon.

For more information, email rootedandgrounded@ambs.edu.

Keynote speakers

(In chronological order of their keynote presentations)

Wendsler Nosie, Sr., PhD, Founder and Director of Apache Stronghold; Professor at the American University of Sovereign Nations
T. Wilson Dickinson, PhD, Director of Doctor of Ministry and Lay and Continuing Education Programs and Adjunct Professor of Theology at Lexington Theological Seminary
Douglas Day Kaufman, ThM, Executive Director of Anabaptist Climate Collaborative

Wendsler Nosie, Sr.

Douglas Day Kaufman

Registration information and costs

In-person registration: $130 ($50 for students)
- If three or more undergraduate students from the same college or university are registered to attend in person, their registration is free.
Online registration: $60 ($20 for students)
Keynote presentations only, in person or online: $20 each
Immersion experiences: $50 (includes lunch and transportation)

Meals are $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner.

The registration deadline for meals is Thursday, Sept. 11.
The registration deadline for the conference is Tuesday, Sept. 16.

Schedule

See the schedule here (subject to minor changes).

R&G 2025 Schedule Download schedule

Immersion experiences

These four options will happen on Thursday, Sept. 18, before the conference begins. The immersion experiences are only available in person.

The cost is $50, which includes lunch (pick up beginning at 12:15 p.m.) and transportation. The groups will leave 香蕉影视 at 1 p.m. ET and return by 5:30 p.m. ET.

Guided Forest Bathing Walk

Led by Susan Kennel Harrison, Certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide (ANFT)

Participants in this excursion will spend the afternoon at Pathways Retreat Center in Goshen, Indiana, building relationships with the nature. What if your gaze upon the beauty of a flower brought it deep joy? What if a tree felt appreciated when you touched it? What if that bird was knowing you before you saw it? In this immersion experience, we will consider our Interbeing with the more-than-human world. Through a guided Forest Bathing experience, participants will be invited to engage all their senses and explore different ways of being in relationship with the rest of nature. Forest Bathing, sometimes known as a mindful walk in nature, involves walking slowly for short distances and can be engaged in by persons with differing abilities. This practice takes place rain or shine, so participants are encouraged to wear clothing and shoes for the day鈥檚 weather.

Pokagon Remeandering Project

Led by Jennifer Kanine, Director of Kowabdanawa od毛 k臈 (they watch over this land, formerly the Department of Natural Resources), Pokagon Band of Potawatomi

This group will travel to rural Dowagiac, Michigan, to tour the Pokagon Band river remeandering project of the Dowagiac River. At the site, we will walk about 1.5 miles on uneven ground and through some tall grass. Jennifer will explain various aspects of the project to restore the original curves in the river, which settlers had straightened: excavation of the original river bed, doubling the length of the section; bank stabilization; planting of native trees and grasses; and wetland restoration.

Three Rivers, Michigan

Led by Kirstin and Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma, leaders of Culture Is Not Optional (*cino)

Participants will learn about Culture is Not Optional, a program that exists to model and encourage creative communities rooted in the love of Christ. This immersion experience will include stops at World Fare, a fair trade store and community connection center run by volunteers; and The Huss Project, a former historic school building turned into a community library, bike repair center, farmers market and neighborhood resource hub.

Tree Planting in Elkhart

Led by Jon Zirkle, founder/director of Bushelcraft Farm, an educational farm in Elkhart, Indiana

Participants will tour Bushelcraft Farm and its new emerging tree nursery. Then the group will plant trees in urban neighborhoods of Elkhart, interacting with community partners.