Justice

Transition Town / Transition Church

By Jolyon / 8 June 2009

Transition Towns are a creative, prophetic engagement with climate change and peak oil. By prophetic I mean that Transition Towns are not simply dissatisfied with the way things currently are, but they paint an appealing picture of the way things could be. They are more hopeful than simply ranting about the problems we face or reminding us that that are our fault; they insist that there are solutions and that we can achieve them.
The basic goal of TT groups is to find a way to transition from a high-energy cheap oil dependant community to a low-energy resilient community that will cope (thrive) as global oil supplies dwindle.

One of the early stages in the setting up of a TT is the formation of sub-groups. These groups form around issues of specific interest to those involved: food, economy, transport, advocacy, and more. The final working of each of these groups then forms a major part of an energy decent plan for the whole community.

In many churches the environmental group is seen as a sideline. A minority interest group that can pull energy away from other groups and projects that are more in keeping with the primary purpose of the church. One possible response is to drop the environmental title. Care of creation is not a thing in its own right; it is a description of how we go about our other tasks. Those in the church of an environmental mindset then approach all the other groups in the church; worship, mission, outreach, fair committee, social services; and ask “what would be the implication for your group if we could no longer afford oil based products?” (Obviously good current information on peak oil and related issues is important).

All of these church activities become sub-groups of your transition community. Rather than the environmental group being seen as pulling energy away from or detracting from mission, worship or outreach, they are feeding into those groups. The thinking done with those groups then forms a major part of the energy decent plan of the church, with the added advantage that you are far more likely to get participation and buy-in by genuinely engaging people in the area of the particular interest.