CreatureKind Fellowship Program

The CreatureKind Fellowship Program is an intensive and selective program for those seeking to care for the well-being of animals farmed for food, those yearning to participate in practical ways of ushering the peace of the Creator to all of God’s beloved creation. This is a program for environmentalists, Christian animal advocates, food/seed/land sovereignty activists, and food security advocates. CreatureKind welcomes, affirms, and encourages all BIPOC folks, GNC folks, LGBTQIA+ folks to apply.

Program Highlights

CreatureKind Fellows serve for nine months and are compensated for their service (approximately 150 hours) with stipends of $2,250. The Fellowship program helps participants develop leadership skills and deepen their theological understanding of Christianity and animals farmed for food. As a cohort, Fellows consider the ways that farmed animal issues intersect with other faith and theological concerns, including: environmental racism, ecowomanism, decolonial/decolonized Christianity and theology, disability and animal liberation, anti-speciesism, and climate change. We center and lift the voices of Black, Brown, and Indigenous People of Color on the frontlines of food and creation justice while being mindful of CreatureKind’s mission and strategies to raise awareness, change faith-community food practices and policies, and strengthen Christian animal advocates.

About the Program

We help Fellows sharpen their skills and deepen their theologies by connecting them with a mentor and a coach, and by providing opportunities for discernment and reflection on their vocation and call to ministry. We offer a supportive environment for Fellows to explore questions and to find direction and strength as they discern their vocation both now and in the future. One guiding question throughout the Fellowship is, “What does it mean for me, as a part of the Church-at-large, to be in ministry centering the welfare of animals farmed for food?”

The CreatureKind Fellowship Program will commence with a two-day Orientation at the end August of 2022*, which will be taught by members of the CreatureKind staff and board. To further deepen their theological understanding, Fellows will undertake monthly reading and reflection assignments, and will be invited to  craft a statement of faith and purpose. CreatureKind will increase Fellows’ leadership skills by helping them to develop and execute a project of their choosing, relevant to their context and CreatureKind’s mission. CreatureKind will provide opportunities to explore or deepen skills related to ministry and management. Fellows will connect with one another and with CreatureKind mentors through cohort calls, retreats, and other meeting opportunities, and through a virtual classroom (Canvas). All events and gatherings, unless otherwise noted, will be held virtually. Due to the uncertainty and the rapidly changing situation in relation to COVID-19, CreatureKind will be flexible and may need to alter some details related to the Fellowship. We are committed to hosting this program as safely as possible. All changes made to the program will be communicated to Fellows as quickly as a decision is made.  

Learn more about our previous Fellows.

CreatureKind co-director for Community Development, Aline (Ah-lee-nee) Silva, will lead the CreatureKind Fellows Program. Contact her with any questions via our website or email her here.

*After the new cohort of Fellows is selected, they will be surveyed for availability prior to a final schedule. This is true for all gatherings, including the initial Orientation.

Who Should Apply?

• Environmentalists, Christian animal advocates, food/seed/land sovereignty activists, students (undergraduate or graduate) 

• CreatureKind welcomes, affirms, and encourages all BIPOC folks, GNC folks, LGBTQIA+ folks to apply.

• Applications are due June 1, 2022. Candidates will be notified by June 9th if they have been selected for an interview. interviews will be conducted June 22 – July 1, 2022 and final selections will be made by July 15th, 2022.

• Download a PDF of the application questions (for planning purposes only) here.

Expectations

• Have a strong connection to the Christian tradition and to the mission of CreatureKind.

• Work with CreatureKind staff, coach, and assigned mentor to develop and approve a plan, goals, and timeline for engaging your campus/church/community with Christian concerns about animals farmed for food. Develop this plan during the Orientation. The project should center on awareness/educational and advocacy components.

• Identify a faculty member at your institution, a clergy person, or a ministry leader who will serve as a local advisor for your project and will provide support as needed (especially necessary if using the Fellowship to fulfill academic internship requirements).

• Participate in the Orientation, Mid-Winter, and Final Presentation Retreats. Meet regularly with CreatureKind staff, coach, assigned mentors, and the Fellows’ cohort (via monthly video calls). Connect regularly through the virtual classroom and with your campus/church/community advisor (if applicable). 

• Invest approximately 5 hours every week on Fellowship-related work. Some weeks may require more time, depending on the nature and flow of your project. Over the course of the Fellowship year, you should expect to put in about 150 hours. 

• Develop a personal prayer network of friends, families, and other supporters, and keep them regularly updated.

• Submit both a mid-year and a final report/evaluation—specifications will be provided by CreatureKind prior to the end of the Fellowship in conjunction with any academic credit requirements from respective academic institutions.

About CreatureKind

CreatureKind’s broad goals are: 

• Highlight farmed animals as the beloved creatures they are; fellow creatures of God, deserving of honor, dignity, compassionate treatment, and liberation.

• Call to remembrance our interconnectedness and interdependence with all creatures through worship services, trainings, and other curated experiences.

• Train and support leaders in deepening their analysis of the current treatment of farmed animals, while they work for food and culture change in their contexts.

• Support Christians in connecting their spiritual values to undoing the harm farmed animals experience, including through personal and institutional food change.

• Lead and partner in initiatives that shift institutional policies toward a more just society for farmed animals, and the marginalized peoples most impacted by their harm—farm workers, BIPOC communities, impoverished and rural communities, and climate refugees.

• Partner in movement work that pushes for highest welfare and regenerative practices, anti-speciesism and farmer health, food and land sovereignty for Indigenous communities and Black farmers, and climate justice.

• Provide spiritual care for movement workers and others to sustain the continued work of dismantling systems of oppression and co-creating a more liberative world for all.

Our work helps Christians recognize that we have strong faith-based reasons for caring about the wellbeing of animals farmed for food, and we empower individuals and communities to take practical action in response. Our work is communal and contextual.

CreatureKind’s mission is to advance collective liberation — for animals, peoples, and the earth — with a special focus on farmed animals and food systems. We encourage and equip Christians to embody the interdependence of God’s whole Creation by creating educational and worship resources, and curating sacred spaces for spiritual formation, leadership development, and community change-making.