Seventh Rooted and Grounded Conference to focus on “Kinship with All Creation”

Annette Brill Bergstresser on September 3, 2025

Examining people’s relationship with land and with all of creation will be the focus of the seventh Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship, to be held Sept. 18–20, 2025, at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.

Published: September 3, 2025

(l. to r.): Wendsler Nosie, Sr., T. Wilson Dickinson and Douglas Day Kaufman will be the keynote speakers for the seventh Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship, to be held Sept. 18–20 at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana.

ELKHART, Indiana (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) — Examining people’s relationship with land and with all of creation will be the focus of the seventh Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship, to be held Sept. 18–20, 2025, at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. Selected parts of the conference will also be available to participants joining via livestream.

“The planning committee chose the theme — “Kinship with All Creation: Pursuing Relationship, Justice and Community” — because we recognize that many people today experience disconnection from the land and its creatures, and also from each other,” said Janeen Bertsche Johnson, MDiv, AMBS Campus Pastor and the coordinator of the event. The keynote speakers will focus on restoring relationships with land and creation, confronting and repairing ecological injustice, and participating in solidarity with the suffering of all creatures.

“We hope that those who attend will be encouraged for their own restoration work, whether that is in a congregational setting, an educational setting or elsewhere,” she said. 

The conference, which begins at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 18, and ends at noon EDT on Saturday, Sept. 20, will weave together worship, theology, biblical study and practical application. In addition to the keynote sessions and “kinship activities,” the event will feature 12 paper presentations and eight workshops on topics such as creation care, ecotheology, ecojustice, restoration, recovery and more — offered during five time slots. Participants can also register to join one of four in-person Immersion Experiences on Thursday afternoon, prior to the beginning of the conference.

All parts of the event will be available to in-person participants, and some elements (keynote sessions, worship sessions, one kinship activity, and one paper/workshop option in each of the five time slots) will be available to participants joining online.

Keynote speakers (all times EDT)

  • Thursday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m.: Wendsler Nosie, Sr., PhD, Founder and Director of Apache Stronghold; Professor at the American University of Sovereign Nations: “Restoring Relationships with Land and Creation”
  • Friday, Sept. 19, 9:40 a.m.: T. Wilson Dickinson, PhD, Director of Doctor of Ministry and Lay and Continuing Education Programs and Adjunct Professor of Theology at Lexington (Kentucky) Theological Seminary: “Rooted in the Commons and Grounded in Cooperation: On the Social Practices of Teaching, Sharing and Caregiving in Acts 2:42”
  • Friday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m.: Douglas Day Kaufman, ThM, Executive Director of the Anabaptist Climate Collaborative: “Hans Hut and the Gospel of All Creatures”

Immersion Experiences (optional)

Four Immersion Experiences — visits to places of environmental and historical interest in the area — will be offered as pre-conference activities (in person only) from 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18. The registration cost for each Immersion Experience is $50 ($20 for students), which includes transportation and a packed lunch. The registration deadline for these experiences is Friday, Sept. 5. 

  • Guided Forest Bathing Walk
  • Pokagon Remeandering Project (FULL)
  • Three Rivers, Michigan
  • Tree Planting in Elkhart

Costs and registration

The cost to attend the conference in person is $130 for the entire conference; the in-person student rate is $50. If three or more undergraduate students from the same college or university register to attend in person, their registration is free. The cost to attend the online portions of the conference is $60; the online student rate is $20. Meals are $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner. The cost to attend the keynote addresses only (in person or online) is $20 per session.

The registration deadline for meals is Thursday, Sept. 11; the registration deadline for the conference is Tuesday, Sept. 16.

Learn more, view the conference schedule and register at ambs.edu/rooted-and-grounded.

Prior Rooted and Grounded conferences were held in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Summaries of each conference are available on the conference webpage.

Located in Elkhart, Indiana, on ancestral land of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is a learning community with an Anabaptist vision, offering theological education for learners both on campus and at a distance as well as a wide array of lifelong learning programs — all with the goal of educating followers of Jesus Christ to be leaders for God’s reconciling mission in the world. ambs.edu

—AMBS release

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