Resources for Congregations

Here are some resources that might be useful for congregations:

• Caring for God’s Creation is a theological statement from the LCANZ that can be downloaded from the CTICR website, and is a good starting point for understanding why creation care is an integral part of Christian discipleship.  

• Holding a Season of Creation worship service  (1 September – 4 October) can be a great way to encourage your congregation to think about creation care.

• Greening Your Church gives some practical tips for how to get some creation care actions going in your congregation.  The online video course is free to enrol, and takes less than an hour to work through.

• Five Leaf Eco-Awards are an Australian initiative to provide a structured way for church communities to take local actions that care for creation.

• ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) have a 40 page Climate Action Kit that looks at issues from acting sustainably with your congregation to how you can be an advocate for action in your broader community.

Stuck for how to start ? – here are some simple steps:

1. Hold a Season of Creation worship service, and at the end ask who would be interested to form a core team to work on a congregational creation care strategy.

2. Have a first meeting of your team, and work through the “Greening Your Church” videos together.

3.  Based on the information in those videos, decide on a first action – maybe a film night, or a fundraising campaign to replace single use morning tea cups with reusable cups and a dishwasher, or a congregational team to participate in “Clean Up Australia” day.

4. Discuss with your Church Council about applying for a Five-Leaf EcoAward – this has a number of possible actions that can guide your plans for the first year.