Ten actions to engage your church community in creation care

If you want to encourage your church community to understand and respond with love to the climate and nature crisis here are some ideas:

  1. Normalise climate as a subject to be talked about in church and people will feel more able to talk about the subject outside. Katharine Hayhoe, a brilliant climate scientist and communicator who also happens to be a deeply committed Christian, says that the most important thing that we can do to fight climate change is to talk about it. Read more about and share her thoughts on the matter here. She’s also a great person to follow on social media.
  1. Help people join the dots. Make the connections between creation care and all the other missional activity that your church is involved in – climate change and environmental destruction are amplifying all the other justice issues that we are involved in. We have a resource to help you do this. If your church hosts a food bank this might be the context to think about the link between the need for climate action and global food insecurity or about why LOAF principles are important. Fundraising or making donations for missionary support or to overseas projects are a good time to discuss the impact of climate change for that region. 
  1. Involve people in deciding on recycled loo paper! One church trialled 5 different brands of recycled loo paper and asked people to fill in a form rating them. It sounds a bit silly but it is a way to get people thinking about the impact that everyday choices can have on creation.
  1. Start a regular prayer and study group to pray for Creation and reflect on what we are each called to do. Green Christian has a monthly Prayer Guide and a six week course Plenty! If a study group feels beyond you at the moment, then meet to pray together. Everyone knows how important prayer is.
  1. Ask your church and particularly your leadership to join you for a showing of this Johann Rockstrom TED talk, followed by a discussion about the issues raised. This might work well at an evening drinks and nibbles event. Have at least one concrete ask at the end of the evening. It might be to sign up in support of the Climate and Nature Bill, to go for the next Eco church award or to join a vigil.
  1. Ask to have creation care on your church council agenda as a standing item. Get care for creation in the church’s mission statement or strapline.
  1. Ask your church leadership to sign the church up
    1. as a supporter of the Climate and Nature Bill and put a banner on the church railings
    2. as a supporter of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
    3. to Operation Noah’s Green Investment Declaration
    4. as a Green Christian church
  1. It is now quite usual for churches to join the Eco Church programme, so if your church isn’t registered, do some research and talk to people about the benefits of the programme. If your church is already on the programme, talk about moving on to more difficult stages. Ask the congregation for help and ideas. If you are there already, perhaps you can talk about how you would go beyond gold, Eco Church is a tool, not an end in itself.
  1. Get your church involved in initiatives beyond the church that have a sustainability focus. If the church is not represented in something, get involved yourself and represent them or be the link. Attend events like this vigil and report back. Even if it is only you planning to join a vigil outside your MP’s office, or a march in London, put it in the newsletter, encourage others to come with you, say you will be representing your church, ask people to pray for you and the effectiveness of the action, and talk about it in the church afterwards.
  1. Celebrate the good things that are being done. Find the easy wins, and when done, celebrate those too. Take photos and get it in the newsletter, in notices, on the notice board, webpages, social media. Celebration is important – building joy, connection and community into creation care is a key part of what we need to do. 

By Green Christian’s Churches Project Officer


Date: 13 January, 2025 | Category: Engage My Church |Topics: | Comments: 0

Comments on "Ten actions to engage your church community in creation care"

No comments found.

Add your own comment to "Ten actions to engage your church community in creation care"

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Next:

Previous: