Stewardship of God’s Creation

Coming September 2012…

The Blessed Earth Church Stewardship Alliance is a year-long model for spiritual formation on environmental issues, as seen through the lens of faith. Beginning at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, Blessed Earth will take this model to at least five additional major cities, thereby returning creation care to the center of Church values, practices, and prayers.

Objectives

1. To partner with at least five influential churches in major U.S. cities that will invest significant time, personnel, relationships, and resources in creation care.
2. To create a replicable model for year-long creation care teaching.
3. To influence the thousands of churches which look to large churches for leadership, and thereby transform the place of creation care in churches throughout the United States.

Methods

The program will begin at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. With 500,000 visitors per year, the Cathedral has acted as locus of prayer and worship in times of national tragedy and triumph.
Selection of additional partner churches will be based on the following criteria: our relationship with the church; national/international prominence; location; ability to invest significant time, personnel, and resources; ability and willingness to host and accommodate media; and personal involvement and passion of top leadership.
By the end of our year-long conversation, environmental stewardship will be deeply embedded in the ethos of the Church. We will be inviting potential host churches to attend our pilot year events; ripple effects will be felt in smaller churches throughout the nation.

Timeline

The program will launch on Earth Day 2012 with a major event at The National Cathedral. Monthly programs at the Cathedral will run from September 2012 to June 2013. Five additional churches will be selected for subsequent years.

Themes

• God is Green (September)
• Animals (October)
• Food (November)
• Trees (December)
• Sabbath (January)
• Conservation (February)
• Creation Care and the Poor (March)
• “Make Earth Day a Church Day 2013”/Psalms and Music (April)
• Lilies of the Field (May)
• Hospitality (June)

Our themes springboard off existing seasonal activities. For example, September marks the start of new learning (God is Green), October the Feast of St. Francis (patron saint of animals), November Thanksgiving meals (food), December Christmas (trees), January new resolutions (Sabbath keeping), February Lent (conservation), March sacrifice (creation care and the poor), April Earth Day and a “Make Earth Day a Church Day” concert/celebration, May Mother’s Day and the Cathedral’s annual Flower Festival with 10,000 visitors (lilies of the field), and June the beginning of travel and vacationing (hospitality).
Starting with a sermon, each month will also include public forums with international speakers, movie nights with filmmakers, book readings with authors, school and small group curricula, and ample opportunities for putting learning into action.

Partnerships

We are currently going through a prayer and discernment process to find institutions and individuals to partner on the Church Stewardship Alliance. Partners may wish to sponsor events in a particular city, support a thematic month of programming, or underwrite broadcasts to local, national, and global audiences.
Our goal is to help the religious institution shine within their city. Blessed Earth will provide a template for catalyzing change and the necessary components, content expertise, and inspiration for long-term success; the partnering church will provide resources for programming and outreach within their city, and the on-going leadership that will continue to catalyze change for years to come.
Together, we will interject the wisdom and word of the Lord into one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced—survival of the planet.