For the faith community who wants to increase their creation care through the greening of their congregation, the task can seem daunting. However, the “Green Congregation Training Manual” provides a thorough resource that can help guide congregations. This resource is just one of the many that can be found on webofcreation.org.
Let All Creation Praise is a website maintained by Nick Utphall a pastor in Madison, WI; Susan Zencka, a pastor in Stevens Point, WI; Alydia Smith, programing coordinator for the United Church of Canada; Leah Schade, a professor of preaching and worship at Lexington Theological Seminary (KY), and David Rhoads, director of Lutherans restoring Creation. The website has many resources for worship, and they are an advocate for supporting the Season of Creation which is an opportunity to add this season of four Sundays celebrating creation and the creator to the traditional church year.
Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice is a social statement that explains the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) teachings on ecology and the environment, grounded in a biblical vision of Gods intention for the healing and wholeness of creation. This statement provides a Christian understanding of the human role to serve in creation. The ELCA believes in caring for creation through active participation, solidarity, sufficiency, and sustainability.
Lutheran Disaster Response brings God’s hope, healing, and renewal to people whose lives have been disrupted by disasters in the United States and around the world. They strive to provide emotional and spiritual support, coordinate volunteers through their local affiliates, assist refugees in a holistic way, and provide long-term recovery efforts. They are currently assisting with the drought in Africa, flooding in West Virginia, refugee crisis in the Middle East, and more.
Over the past five years, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has worked to save lives impacted by malaria. They have educated 2 million community members, distributed 50,000 insecticide-treated bed nets, tested 160,000 people for malaria and provided treatment if positive, trained 10,000 local volunteers in prevention and treatment, empowered 12,000 households to be economically stable, and provided 32,000 pregnant women medication.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has adopted the ELCA HIV and AIDS Strategy and called on members to respond faithfully and effectively to this pandemic. They aim to halt the spread of HIV through effective prevention, treatment and care, to eliminate the stigma and discrimination experienced by those who are HIV positive, and reduce the conditions of poverty that contribute to the spread of HIV.
The Lutherans have their own environmental resource, Lutherans Restoring Creation. This site is full of education, success stories, environmental news, and even resources for preaching.