​Growing up I had been provided opportunities to play and work outdoors in forested settings. Whether the oak-hickory forests of southern Michigan where my parents owned a cottage, or the forested slopes of the Four Corners Region of the Southwest where my family resided several times during my adolescent years. The latter experiences shaped my intention to pursue a professional forestry degree in the west and then work for public land agencies in the Rocky Mountain region.

During my undergraduate studies I worked for a federal land agency during weekends and summers as a temporary employee. The working experiences I had, while valuable, caused me to reassess by life goals and how my Mennonite Anabaptist values might play a role. As a result, I took a two-year break prior to my senior year to explore ways I might serve the church within the context of my future professional endeavors. This led me to working with Amigo Centre, a Mennonite-affiliated camp in southern Michigan, as their land manager. During this break from undergraduate studies in the late-1970’s, I had the opportunity to begin planting trees on a tract of land my family had acquired at the north end of Goshen, Indiana. Forty years later this tract became part of the Pathways Retreat. (Image right: 60-year-old white pine planting- Amigo Centre)

From these early experiences emerged my life mission: ‘To show persons their integral relationship with the building of God’s kingdom and the dynamics of His Creation’. I pursued this mission by directing my vocation as a professional forester toward working with private landowners— both individuals and Mennonite organization-owned properties. This has included a forty-eight-year relationship with Amigo Centre stewarding their land—including a sixty-year-old white pine planting and, more recently, using forestry practices to rehabilitate their native oak-hickory forestland severely-damaged from a recent straight-line windstorm.

I also had the privilege of providing forest resources education to adult audiences as a Michigan State University Extension forester, and to young adults as a Goshen College environmental sciences faculty member and Director of Land Management at its Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center. Now recently retired from Goshen College, I continue to stay active in pursing my life mission by doing consulting work with private landowners and Mennonite-affiliated groups that own land.

As I reflect back on almost fifty years, I am grateful to witness the Mennonite Church more fully responding to ‘the Holy Spirit beckoning us toward the restoration of all things in Christ’. There are many emerging expressions of creation care by individuals and organizations within the broader church—much of which has been led by the younger generations. While we might struggle to differentiate between what is the work that is ours to do and what is the work that is God’s to do, I have great hope for the future. I have witnessed this hope when engaging with private landowners, college students and camp staff, and supporting initiatives such as Mennonite Men’s JoinTrees. More recently I was gratified to connect Camp Friedenswald, a Mennonite-affiliated camp in southern Michigan, to JoinTrees resources for the afforestation of 13 acres of cropland. (Image left: Adventitious sprout- Dominican Republic)

So, in my experience, what has ‘hope’ looked like? During my graduate studies I spent time in the Dominican Republic (DR). As with many developing economies, native forest cover was being exploited for its wood to make charcoal for cooking. Mennonite Men’s JoinTrees campaign has been active in countries such as this to reforest degraded lands and support community agroforestry efforts. In the DR I captured an image that represented the ‘hope’ that can be found in the resiliency of nature—vegetative shoots on a tree that had been cut for charcoal production. These shoots developed from adventitious buds. They remind me of the hope found in the scripture commonly read during Advent…. Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit (Isaiah 11:1).

​

Many of us in North America do not rely on wood for cooking or shade trees for cooling. In contrast, millions in the Global South depend on trees for life-saving shade, livestock fodder, cooking fuel, and building materials. As deforestation continues worldwide, people and the environment suffer.

Mennonite Men is committed to addressing deforestation and caring for God’s creation. Historically, our JoinTrees grants funded projects in the U.S. and Canada, but we now support initiatives in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Angola, Benin, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These projects help mitigate climate change by planting trees that absorb carbon dioxide. We are also evaluating how to support tree planting for firewood alternatives, recognizing the complexities of deforestation globally.

A recent news report on violence in DRC led me to reconnect with Ndunge Sefu, a seminary friend, for insights. Ndunge and his wife, Micheline Ilonga, who have lived in DRC and other African countries, offered valuable perspectives. They expressed gratitude that the world is beginning to notice DRC’s struggles, but as Ndunge noted, ‘If an issue doesn’t touch the interests of superpowers, the world doesn’t hear about it.’

The eastern DRC faces severe violence, with tens of thousands dying monthly due to armed rebel groups. Over 120 rebel factions operate there, many profiting from ‘mineral wars’ over coltan, a metal vital for electronic devices. These conflicts result in child labor, environmental devastation, and human suffering. People flee violence, trees are burned, and forests are depleted as displaced communities seek firewood.

Wildlife also suffers. Unique species like the okapi and mountain gorilla are vanishing due to habitat destruction. ‘War affects nature, too,’ Micheline said. Even in areas without conflict, people cut trees for firewood without replanting due to a lack of awareness. ‘You can plant a tree. This side of the conversation is missing.’

The discussion turned to solutions. Micheline asked, ‘How can you think about trees when you have an empty stomach?’

Ndunge suggested, ‘People can farm trees instead of cutting indigenous forests.’ Micheline added, ‘Many women farm in Congo. Growing fruit trees can provide them with income. The land is fertile, and trees will grow.’

This conversation reinforced our commitment to tree-planting initiatives in DRC and Angola. Supporting our African brothers and sisters in these efforts is part of our call to love our neighbors and participate in Christ’s mission of reconciliation.

To date, Mennonite Men has only provided half the funding needed for these projects. We need financial support to complete them. These efforts create livelihoods, inspire communities, and offer sustainable alternatives to deforestation while providing ecological benefits.

Join us in planting hope by supporting these tree-planting projects in DRC and Angola. Your contributions will help restore forests, empower communities, and protect creation for future generations.

To learn more about JoinTrees projects and how you, your company, your men’s group, or your congregation can get involved, visit mennonitemen.org/jointrees.

​

Forestry runs in my family. As a second-generation forester in Kansas, my father served as an Extension forester at the Fort Hays Experiment Station. Dad helped farmers plant and care for windbreaks. He worked with towns and communities when Dutch elm disease arrived in ’57 killing thousands of American elms. My spouse Melissa Atchison also has a forestry degree, and after raising kids and attending the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, she now serves as pastor of Manhattan Mennonite Church. Faith and forestry find common ground in our family.

I spent most of my career working for the Kansas Forest Service at Kansas State University, in Manhattan. Like my father, I worked with Kansas farmers and landowners interested in planting and caring for trees. These were usually people who genuinely cared for God’s creation and literally sowed the seed or planted the trees that benefit the next generation.

During my career I have seen the value of planting trees in the Great Plains come into question. Woody encroachment into grasslands of eastern red cedar, and honey locust both indigenous to Kansas, and other non-native trees, threaten our precious grasslands and the wildlife that require prairie to survive. Even so, I continue to advocate for agroforestry and forestry in Kansas and here’s why: trees continue to provide the same important benefits they have always provided to Kansans and woody encroachment is a land management issue that will always need to be addressed. Eastern Kansas is what ecologists describe as an ecotone, where the central hardwood forests of the United States transition into the tallgrass prairies. Historically there has always been changes in vegetative types in this transitional zone.

Kansas trees provide wildlife habitat to threatened and endangered species, and without them the American Bald Eagle would still be listed. They reduce streambank erosion improving water quality and slowing the sedimentation of our water supply reservoirs. Trees add to the quality of life providing shade and wind protection to our homes. They sequester carbon, add beauty to our landscape with spring and fall colors, and turn carbon dioxide into the oxygen we breathe. Trees provide value even to a prairie state, but they must be managed and contained to appropriate landscapes.

During my forestry career, tree planting often served as an act of prayer for me. I remember times when I sang hymns while sowing oak seed in early spring. God invites us to sow the seeds of the kindom on this good earth and to take joy in the gifts it yields. When we plant trees thoughtfully, we show respect and gratitude for the creation God has given us, and love to the generations that follow.

My interest in tree planting and forestry have now connected with another issue where I try to practice my Anabaptist faith: peace and justice in Israel and Palestine. Working to seek peace and understand the violence in Israel and Palestine became important to me after participating in a Christian Peacemaker Team delegation to the West Bank in 1998. Since that time I have worked on the issue in a variety of ways and currently chair the Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN), serve on the Steering Committee for Mennonite Action and chair the Western District Conference Task Force on Israel Palestine.

In Palestine, olive trees symbolize Palestinian identity, resilience, and most importantly connection to their land. They are an important source of income and food for many Palestinian families. Olive trees represent Palestinian resilience because of their ability to grow in poor soil conditions, survive droughts, and in some cases produce fruit for thousands of years. For these reasons and the expansion of Israeli settlements, the destruction of olive trees has been a common experience in the West Bank and Gaza. According to the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem, 800,000 olive trees have been destroyed by Israeli Settlers and the Israeli army since 1967.

Tree planting can indeed be an act of peace and there are many excellent tree planting initiatives to consider supporting. The Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) and Mennonite Men’s JoinTrees initiative are working collaboratively to plant olive trees in Palestine. The JoinTrees campaign has a goal to plant one million trees by 2030, targeting climate change. Their goals include mitigating global warming, resilient ecosystems, preserving biodiversity and supporting vulnerable communities.

There are a variety of ways to participate in the JoinTrees initiative. For more information check out their web site at https://mennonitemen.org/jointrees or call them at 574-202-0048.