In praise of Earth Care Congregations

January 24, 2022

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During the dinner break on the final day of the Presbyterians for Earth Care Conference, participants were treated to images of a minister in a clerical collar blessing a crawfish, a seven-person congregation that installed solar panels on its church building, a woman tending her church grounds with Earth-friendly lawn-care equipment and more.

“For every story I have told you, there are dozens I don’t have time to share,” Jessica Maudlin Phelps, the Presbyterian Hunger Program’s (PHP) Associate for Sustainable Living and Earth Care Concerns, said to the virtual audience.

Maudlin Phelps decided to use her dinner-break slot about PHP’s Earth Care Congregations “to lift up the ways” in which she’s seen “God in the work that many of them do,” she said.

“One of my very favorite parts of my job is getting to resource the Earth Care Congregations network, particularly the last year in the midst of so many very hard things,” Maudlin Phelps said. “It has been such a joy to get to spend time on the phone and via Zoom and meeting with so many people talking about the passion they have around caring for the Earth, and what does that look like now that the ways in which they’ve done that in the past are not an option.”

Earth Care Congregations are churches that have taken PHP’s Earth Care Pledge in which they promise to incorporate Earth care in their worship, education, facilities and outreach and complete activities and projects in each of those areas to be certified. The certification period is Jan. 1 to Feb. 15 each year.

There were 276 Earth Care Congregations certified or re-certified last year.

As Maudlin Phelps’ presentation showed, there are a lot of ways to practice Earth care. She cited Genesis 2:15 (NRSV), which says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” and said, “I’m so honored to get to see churches doing that day in and day out.”

“And we know that we can’t always address every single environmental problem that exists, and it’s easy to be overwhelmed with how big that is,” Maudlin Phelps said. “But by the ways in which I’ve seen churches and people in churches integrate environmental practices and thinking into all the different facets of the life of their church, I have been honored to see how seriously you all have been taking that charge to garden to serve the Earth, and you’ve not taken it lightly.”

Sometimes, they have taken it home.

Maudlin Phelps recalled the story of Robin Bedingfield, a member at Hillsborough Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, who liked the Earth-friendly lawn care equipment purchased for the church so much she got some for her home.

It was amazing enough that the seven members of Spencer Presbyterian Church in Spencer, West Virginia secured the financing to equip their church building with solar panels. But they also inspired a neighboring small church to do the same.

Conference chair the Rev. Bruce Gillette recalled how putting solar panels on a church he served led several people who saw them to visit and eventually join the church, inspired by its open commitment to Earth care.

There were also pure fun moments in Maudlin Phelps’ presentation, like a blessing of the animals ceremony in Hastings, Nebraska, where the blessed pets included a crawfish, and stories of activism like a West Virginia congregation leading local opposition to a harmful manufacturing plant proposed for its town.

There were stories of innovative and imaginative ways churches used their grounds, one able to make part of its property a nature preserve that people in its community have used during the pandemic, intergenerational groups sharing Earth care tips, and worship innovations including new prayers and liturgy that churches had created.

Being the Earth Care Conference, there were a lot of members of Earth Care Congregations in attendance who exchanged tips about things like Earth-friendly disposable communion ware, which has become an issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, and other Creation care practices. It was a virtual manifestation of the inspiration and exchange of ideas the Earth Care Congregations program aims to engender.

Rich Copley, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today's Focus: Earth Care Conference

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Randy Hobson, Manager, Design & Multimedia, Office of the General Assembly

Destini Hodges, Coordinator, Young Adult & National Volunteers, World Mission Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

O Lord, our great all-powerful God, so many people are in desperate need of your help. There is so much work to do and so many people in need. Thank you for providing love, strength and guidance. Amen.