Creation Care

OBJECTIVE:

Connect with God’s creation and practice environmental stewardship through prayer, formation, service and sustainable practices.

DIOCESAN LEADERSHIP COMMITMENTS:

• Encourage and promote creation care and environmental stewardship in worship services, liturgical calendars, formation materials and advocacy.
• View creation care through a racial equity lens and connect the work of the Chartered Committee on Environmental Ministry and the RJRC to congregations and missions.
• Model care for God’s creation through implementing sustainable practices in our workplaces, participating in advocacy efforts, and participating in continuing education focused on protecting and preserving the environment.
• Collaborate with the Chartered Committee Environmental Ministry, the Bishop’s Council of Advice on Public Policy and other local and national environmental advocacy groups to empower congregations and missions to care for creation.

CONGREGATION AND INDIVIDUAL COMMITMENTS:

• Become a deeper green church by connecting creation care to worship, service and formation offerings.
• Commit to restoring the earth by completing an energy assessment, adopting eco friendly practices such as waste reduction, sustainable landscaping, conservation of resources and maintaining/restoring wildlife habitats and biodiversity.
• Form a creation care team to connect the congregation to advocacy opportunities, creation care resources, and encourage sustainable practices at church, home and in the community.
• Learn the direct impact of climate change on low-income communities and people of color and work as agents of change through prayer, sustainable practices, and engaging in local initiatives and worldwide advocacy efforts.

RESOURCES:

TIPS:

• Green Tips
• Zero Waste Church
• Thinking about starting an Environmental Stewardship Committee? Good!
• Continuing Work from Environmental Stewardship Committee

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION:

• Composting
  • NC Composting Council
• Electric Vehicles
  • Plug In America
  • Native Gardens
    • Native Plant Resources (NC State)
  • Solar
    • Eagle Solar and Light
    • Southern Energy Management
    • YES Solar Solutions

GRANTS:

• Green Grants (from Chartered Committee on Environmental Ministry): $250-500
• Green Grants (the NC Episcopal Church Foundation): $5,000
• Creation Care Grants (The Episcopal Church): $15,000-40,000

FORMATION:

• A Liturgical Guide to Celebrating God’s Creation
• A Pastoral Teaching on the Environment from the House of Bishops
• Recommended Films and Documentaries
• Recommended Books on Creation Care
• A Catechism of Creation: An Episcopal Understanding
• To Serve Christ in All Creation
• COP Prayer Cards

BE INSPIRED:

• Baptized in Dirty Water (Disciple, Spring 2023)
• Little Way Farm (Disciple, Spring 2023)
• The Farm and Faith Partnerships Project (Disciple, Spring 2023)
• Going Solar for Mission (Disciple, Spring 2021)
• Moving to Zero (Disciple, Spring 2018)
• The Piedmont Patch Project (Disciple, Spring 2019)
• The Edible Landscape (Disciple, Spring 2021)
• All Saints’, Concord: Growing Native Tree Saplings – A New Creation Care Ministry

WATCH:

Shared at the Special Convention on March 5, 2022, this video provides an overview of what we’re trying to accomplish with the priority along with stories of work already happening.