Watershed Way congregations are ready to be part of a movement! Todd Wynward, author of Rewilding the Way oversees and inspires congregations pursuing the Watershed Way. Here’s the vision:

Watershed:

  1. def 1: The region draining into a river, river system, or other body of water.
  2. def 2: An event or period marking a turning point in a state of affairs.

Watershed as diverse parish…interconnected community…life-giving cradle…endangered nest…local economy…life-change laboratory…wise teacher…cherished cathedral…perennial investment…circle of care…sacred trust…shared home…

Those who walk the Watershed Way…

  • Strive to get their basic needs met from their bioregions—food, shelter, energy, identity and community
  • Modify their wants to fit their finite environments, rather than always modifying the environment to fit our infinite wants
  • See themselves as one species among many, caring for a connected web of both human and non-human neighbors
  • Embody the practice “do unto others downstream as you would have them do unto you.” This applies to downstream geographically as well as chronologically—communities downriver and generations unborn that have no choice but to inherit the byproducts of our legacy of waste and irresponsible stewardship.
  • Are on a ten-year path of continual examination and improvement, deepening their Watershed Way by taking next step after next step.

Structures covenanted Watershed Way groups embrace…

Meeting: 

  • Once a month with your home group
  • Once a year with other home groups in your regional hub
  • Every other year with other regional hubs at a national convention

Sharing:

  • News every six months with a national audience
  • Reflections every year

Committing as an individual to a decade-long pledge to transform your pocketbook and your lifestyle. Examples include:

  • 25/75/100 Bioregional Food Covenant—“By the year 2025, I will source 75% of my food from within 100 miles.”
  • Personal Paris Pledge—“By 2030 I will reduce my own carbon emissions by 50%, even as I expect leaders, nations, and corporations to do the same.”

Committing as a group to a watershed-wide initiative that is relational, public and prophetic. Examples include:

  • Brother’s Keeper CSA—one share for your family, one share for another in need
  • Sister Watershed Covenant—linking your watershed to another in distress
  • Participation in the Water Fund—downriver urbanites tithe to ensure rural upriver watershed health
  • Facilitating a Local Farm Conversion—a church works with a regional farm to convert it from mono-crop industrial agriculture into a locally-responsive farm focusing on diverse crops, environmental health and food justice
  • Solar Panels on Churches—converting from coal-based electricity with the help of  Interfaith Power & Light
  • Water is a Human Right movement—such as the struggle in Detroit
  • Take Back the Tap—keeping public water potable, working in your community, defying the public tendency to buy designer bottled water
  • Involving your town in the Transition movement—a global phenomenon that helps regions transition gracefully toward a localized economy that is energy-lean,

Additional Resources

“Watershed Discipleship,” Canadian Mennonite, October 26, 2015

Watershed Way activity in the Southwest: Replacing Ourselves Gathering