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God’s Sacred Earth: A Renewed Commitment, 2024

Introduction: The National Council of Churches is strongly committed to the work of climate justice and creation care. In 1983, it formed the Eco-justice working group, now known as Creation Justice Ministries. In 2004, communions recognizing the importance of this work studied and composed a theological statement on the environment titled, “God’s Earth is Sacred: An Open Letter to Church and Society in the United States.” In 2013, the NCC voted for the Eco-Justice Working Group and Eco-Justice Program to reform as a separate organization, Creation Justice Ministries, which became an independent entity and partner, leading and expanding the ecumenical mission for ecological justice.

Over the last four decades, the National Council of Churches and its member communions, in collaboration with Creation Justice Ministries, have preached, prayed, and engaged in education and advocacy on creation justice. Yet, the environmental crisis is even more dire today, and a deeper commitment to the healing and reckoning called for in the “God’s Earth is Sacred” letter is more urgent today. All churches, all followers of Christ, and all people of goodwill are invited to join the National Council of Churches and Creation Justice Ministries in the work of seeking justice for God’s planet and God’s people.

Abridged Statement (adapted from “God’s Earth is Sacred,” 2004)

 

We believe that the created world is sacred—a revelation of God’s power and gracious presence filling all things. As partner communions of the National Council of Churches, we lament the shattering of the splendid gifts of this web of life, the ways we ignore our responsibility for the well-being of all life, and the destruction of species and their habitats at a rate never known in human history. We are called to care for God’s good earth in ways that sustain life on the planet, provide for the needs of all humankind, and increase justice. We acknowledge and lament that colonialism and racism have exacerbated the impacts of climate change and environmental injustices on minoritized people, and we recommit ourselves to working in solidarity against these systemic harms.

Churches, as communities of God’s people in the world, are called to exist as representatives of the One who creates, restores, and sustains. We are called to worship God with all our being and actions, and to treat creation as sacred. We all must engage in ensuring a thriving future for all creation, and cling to the true Gospel – for “God so loved the cosmos” (John 3:16) – rejecting the false gospels of our day.

Therefore, we urgently call all churches, all followers of Christ, and all people of goodwill to join us in:

  • rediscovering and celebrating the presence of God’s creation in prayer, preaching, and worship,
  • educating on creation care, climate, and environmental justice with our communities,
  • advocating for climate and environmental justice,
  • seeking justice for communities of color and low-wealth communities that bear disproportionate impacts of environmental harm, and
  • healing creation through ecological restoration, biodiversity protection, climate resilience, and adaptation.

This abridged statement stands as a reaffirmation and expansion of all that is written in “God’s Earth is Sacred: An Open Letter to Church and Society in the United States (2004),” and by our vote, we commit to the ongoing work of our churches, as embodiments of Christ on Earth, in response to the “groaning of creation” (Romans 8:22) and to God’s passionate desire to “renew the face of the Earth” (Psalm 104:30). By our vote, NCC will model this commitment to creation care and encourage all member communions to do the same; we further commit to naming and celebrating annually what actions our communions have engaged in as catalysts for change.

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