Jeff Roessing is the Director of Eighth Day Farm in Holland, MI, where he works to support small community agriculture and minister to the public through his non-profit organization.
Y.E.C.A. would like to congratulate Jeff Roessing as the May winner of the Faithful Neighbor Award for Climate Stewardship.
Each month, Y.E.C.A. is recognizing a young Christian in this country who is striving to live out what Jesus said was most important: loving God fully and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Climate change is already impacting our neighbors and God’s creation, both in the United States and around the world, and we believe God is calling us to faithful action and witness in the midst of the current climate crisis.
Jeff Roessing is the Director of Eighth Day Farm in Holland, MI, where he works to support small community agriculture and minister to the public through his non-profit organization. Eighth Day Farm operates a popular community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, farming and gardening acreage that has been reclaimed from an old shopping mall parking lot. Jeff has also worked to employ unemployed neighbors, feed the hungry, educate the public on healthy living, and promote Christian formation and training through a college internship program. He says, “Eighth Day Farm is a compliment to the Church, and at the heart of this organization is relational transformation. By engaging the public through local farming and gardening, we provide a venue for contact with God’s world and His creation. Being intentional about growing local foods causes us to think about our consumptive lifestyles in relation to Scripture.”
When talking about climate change, Jeff continues to reflect on modern lifestyles, saying, “We live in a world where our desire for more is encouraged at every turn. However, if we start from a theological basis and look at how the Church is called to act, we can get away from our hyper-consumptive patterns. The more we can amplify and make Jesus the center of our attention, God’s grace will generate a contentment that relativizes the appeal of unnecessary and excessive consumption. The Bible offers a message of promise and hope, and our lifestyles are broken and in need of change. Engaging differently in the simple but routine act of eating is a concrete way to address serious issues like climate change.”
Learn more about Jeff Roessing and Eighth Day Farm at http://www.eighthdayfarm.org/ .
If you would like to nominate someone you know for the YECA Faithful Neighbor Award for Climate Stewardship, visit our nomination page here.