It’s been a busy summer at CreatureKind and we want to share some of the highlights with you.

CreatureKind Ministry Intern

CreatureKind has graduated its very first Ministry Intern. Ashley Lewis is a student at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. She is seeking her Master of Divinity. Her ministry focus is how today's Church can make food choices informed by faith – to help relieve animal suffering, reverse food related injustice, and restore Earth as a harmonious dwelling place for God and all creation. She left behind a career in hospitality sales and holds degrees in Culinary Arts and Food Service Management from Johnson & Wales University-Miami. In addition to her studies, Ashley enjoys coaching and teaching in schools, churches, and workplaces. At home, she is a cat mom to Tesla and Westinghouse and the beloved wife of her childhood sweetheart, Ryan.

Meet Aline, Our New Staff Member

The CreatureKind team is growing, and we have hired a new Director of Community Development. Aline Silva (Ah-LEE-nee) is a graduate of the University of Kansas and Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Aline has served as a local parish pastor in rural and farming populations for the last 10 years. Aline shares herself as a queer, multiracial, Brazilian immigrant to the US, who chooses not to eat non-human animals, who are her fellow-worshippers of God. Aline is pastoral, an excellent preacher, and a life coach. You can most often find her laughing out loud, dancing, and sharing her life with her emotional support pup and main squeeze, Paçoca (pah-SAW-kah). You can learn about Aline and her work by following her on Twitter and Instagram, @essalinesilva.

CreatureKind at Greenbelt

At the invitation of festival organizers, David and Ashley (supported by CreatureKind volunteers) took a CreatureKind stand to the UK Greenbelt Festival: a four-day gathering of approximately 8,000 progressive Christians. David also gave an invited talk called, “Should People of Faith Eat Animals?”. The festival was a significant landmark for the profile of CreatureKind in the UK. Traffic to our booth was steady. Through an interactive part of our exhibit, 150 people made commitments to plant-forward eating during the festival; 100 attended David's talk and gave him an enthusiastic reception; and a number of new contacts were made with other exhibiting organizations.

CreatureKind and Young Evangelicals for Climate Action

Sarah Withrow King, spent a week with Young Evangelicals for Climate Action at their annual cohort retreat. There she was inspired by college students whose energy passion, and wisdom are invested in working on behalf of all God's creation on their campuses and in their church communities. Stay tuned for an introduction to the CreatureKind Climate Fellow and learn more about her plans for the coming year!

CreatureKind Responds to Amazon Fires

Aline wrote “A CreatureKind Statement on the Illegal Burning of the Amazon.” There she encourages us to take righteous action alongside our siblings in Brazil. Picture taken from BBC.com, Latin American Website and story, “The Amazon in Brazil is on fire - How bad is it?”

Evangelicalism and Animal Liberation

Sarah has a chapter titled, “The Groaning Creation: Animal Liberation and Evangelical Theology” in the forthcoming book Evangelical Theologies of Liberation and Justice, edited by Mae Elise Cannon and Andrea Smith. In the chapter, Sarah writes, "The verdant planet God created is now home to well over seven billion human beings. And though we humans share the planet with 18 billion chickens, 3 million great whales, half a million elephants, and countless more nonhuman animals, euro-american evangelical theologies are rarely attentive to God’s other creatures. The consequences—to animals, to the environment, and to our fellow human beings—are disastrous."

In Case You Missed It

Here are a few additional blog and resources we posted over the summer.

Sarah met former Vice President of the U.S., Al Gore, and talked about food and faith at a ministerial conference in Ohio! Read more.
Ashley wrote about her experience with other Christian leaders at the Sojourner’s Summit in DC.
Our partner Farm Forward released a video highlighting the importance of CreatureKind’s work with Christian communities.
Farm Forward is also hosting a series of virtual visits with David Clough! Sign up now.
CreatureKind published a resource list on the intersection of animal welfare with gender, sexuality, race, economic, ability, class, and more.

That’s the end of the summer highlights!

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The CreatureKind team was out and about in October!

Our project editor, Margaret, spoke about CreatureKind’s theological foundations and approach to food policy at the Humane Society International’s “Forward Food Week” at Oxford Brookes University, Headington.

David addressed the Church of England's Annual Gathering of Readers in the Diocese of Chester on the topic of “Christian Ethics and Other-than-human Creatures.” David also delivered a paper called “Should Christians Eat Animals” as part of the Nantwich Lecture Series at St. Mary’s Church, Nantwich, in South Cheshire.

Sarah gave a presentation titled “The Future of Food Isn’t Meat” to students at Temple University. She also presented “Animals on the Agenda, Not Just on Our Plates” at the Baylor Institute for Faith and Life’s Symposium on Stewardship of Creation. The Baylor event, held in Waco, Texas, was an opportunity to urge institutionally-connected Christian environmental advocates to take action on behalf of animals, specifically by working with CreatureKind to change food policies and practices at their schools.

Sarah’s piece on grief and motherhood and veganism (titled, “Labor Pains”) appeared in the journal Rock! Paper! Scissors!, a publication of Jesus Radicals.

This winter, CreatureKind will be at the American Academy of Religion / Society of Biblical Literature meetings in Denver, Colorado; the Urbana Student Missions Conference in St. Louis, MO; the Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting in Louisville, KY; and accompanying David on his tour for On Animals, Volume II: Theological Ethics, which will take us to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington DC, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, California, and British Columbia! Be sure to come see us, and help spread the word!