Picture courtesy of churchofengland.org
The Church of England has created a service that is focused on rural communities and the impacts climate change has on them. It is meant to be a guide for a service and includes resources from beginning to end. To read more, click here.
For a similar service on Urban communities, click here.
Picture courtesy of ecochurchsouthwest.org.uk
The Church of England is challenging the disposable culture as a response to globally recognized ecological concerns. The excessive emissions of carbon dioxide is recognized as causing ecological imbalances, and people are putting alarming pressure on valuable resources. At the same time, inequality is growing, and poverty continues to be a global issue. Justice is being denied to our neighbors, whether our fellow human beings, future generations, or the rest of creation. EcoChurch Southwest aims to provide resources to churches and church members who seek to address these issues. To read more, click here.
Picture courtesy of creationcare.org
Serving your Community & Finding Balance is a guide from Evangelical Environmental Network MOMS about political female leadership. It focuses on God’s call for leadership and how women, especially Moms with children, can answer this call through politics. To read more, click here.
To download the meeting guide, click here.
To download the handcards that correspond with this guide, click here.
Picture courtesy of creationcare.org
Being a Good Neighbor is a meeting guide from Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) MOMS about being aware of what happens in your neighborhood. Many people are not aware that their communities are located near natural gas drilling, landfills, chemical production and other toxic industrial plants. As Christians, EEN believes it is a responsibility to be aware and protect your neighbors by caring, understanding, and praying. To read more, click here.
To download the meeting guide, click here.
To download the handcards that correspond with the meeting guide, click here.
Picture courtesy of creationcare.org
Up to 12 billion tons of plastic trash end up in God’s oceans, and Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) believes that trash is an affront to the glory of God. Trash always ends up somewhere, and that somewhere belongs to God. They believe that throwing trash away is equivalent to sneaking into God’s backyard and piling trash there and then pretending that it never happened. In order to put a stop to the 12 billion tons of plastic trash, EEN has created The Last Straw Campaign Pledge. It is a pledge to decline straws at restaurants and other food/beverage establishments, phase out using them at home, and consider going deeper, such as: asking local restaurants to only provide straws when customers request them and asking elected officials at the local and state levels to phase out the use of plastic straws, and single-use plastic. To read more or take the pledge, click here.
Picture courtesy of yecaction.org
Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo, who represents South Florida, has proposed the Market Choice Act in Congress. The carbon tax bill would improve public health, protect vulnerable communities, and safeguard our generation’s future—all while exceeding the U.S. reduction commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement. The Young Evangelicals believe this is the moral leadership on climate change that has been desperately lacking in Congress for far too long.The Young Evangelicals state that they are proud to support Rep. Curbelo’s leadership and hope that lawmakers hear loud and clear that the rising generation of evangelicals overwhelmingly support climate action, and that young evangelicals will be watching closely how they respond to Rep. Curbelo’s proposal. To read more, click here.
Picture courtesy of arocha.us
Dr. Mark McReynolds will begin a new A Rocha project in the LA area, known as SoCal, where he says he hopes to use his environmental education, university teaching, research, and seminary skills to show that God is concerned about people and place and everyone, especially Christians, must be also. Their goal is to train leaders to start collaborative, community-based conservation activities to restore both people and places. The training includes Creation Care Camp, EcoChurch, Junior Rangers Club (an afterschool program), and leader meetings to provide community for creation care leaders in local churches. They are also leading conservation projects independently and through partnerships with local groups such as, Church in Creation formation experiences, EcoMissions trips, and Birding with a Mission trips. To read more about this project, click here.
Picture courtesy of eachgeneration.org
Justice for Each Generation started with the landmark case, Juliana v. U.S., where twenty-one youth have filed a lawsuit against the United States government for its role in causing climate change and violating their right to life, liberty, and property, while also failing to protect essential public resources. They are calling for sermons from youth and adults of all faiths as a collective statement that sends a signal to the rest of society. To read more about the movement and the court case, click here.
To see a general overview of Simpler Living, Compassionate Life click here.
In this section (Theology in Support of Simplicity and Eco-Justice): “Some Notes from Belshaz’zar’s Feast” by Timothy Weiskel (161-174); “Creation’s Care and Keeping” by Calvin DeWitt (175-179); “The Discipline of Simplicity” by Richard J. Foster (180-190)
Each essay in this section looks to the Bible as a guide in response to the ecological crisis. Weiskel echos earlier sections that call out our idolatry to over-consumption and money. For those wanting an exclusively hopeful response to the environmental crisis, this article will be a disappointment. It honestly looks at the reality of our parasitic co-existence with the Earth and its inhabitants. It argues that the only way forward begins with a deconstruction of what we have always expected, so that we may build a new priority and understanding of our place in the world. It holds cautious hope, but also realizes that it might be too late.
DeWitt’s reflections provide a useful Biblical grounding. This may be especially beneficial for communities beginning their journey in creation care.
In the final article, simplicity is considered as a way of life that is both an inward and outward reality. It establishes the necessary connections between a state of mind and actions. It begins to close the circle of the arc of this book that began with the necessity of affirming the sacred nature of the experience of every living thing.
In my opinion, if you chose to only read one section of this book, pick this one. It captures the Biblical and faith inspired foundation of the movement toward simplicity and implicates those of us who are participants in a culture of over-consumption for the damage we’ve done to the gift we’ve been given.
To see a general overview of Simpler Living, Compassionate life click here.
In this section (Social Structures and the Politics of Simplicity): “Christian Existence in a World of Limits” by John B. Cobb Jr. (117-122); “Structural Changes” by Cecile Andres (123-130); “The Lifestyle of Christian Faithfulness” by William Gibson (131-140)
Previous sections have looked specifically at how food consumption impacts the global community and economy. This section turns to look at systems in society that perpetuate and encourage over-consumption; from theology to capitalism to advertising, authors call out ways in which we’ve built our world for destruction. It focuses not only on personal choices, but the necessity of engaged politics and policy.
Andrews outlines specific structural changes that could be made in society to bring the kingdom of God ever closer. Andrews and other authors in this section are under no delusion that these complex societal problems will be easy to fix. They point to our addiction to overconsumption as the primary source of difficulty in our creation of a more just economy and world.
The essays found here provoke an affluent middle class’s compliance in keeping the poor poor. The guilt of our addictions and choices must be confronted and surpassed. Only when this is accomplished is there hope for a future that affirms the life of all God’s children.