LSTC has a legacy of environmental commitment. For 16 years LSTC has functioned as a Green Zone, a place dedicated to practicing care for the earth in its geographical space and its communal life. For over 10 years, students, staff and faculty have supported the Web of Creation, an extensive web site dedicated to resourcing churches and individuals on care of creation. A few years ago, LSTC buildings underwent a lighting retrofit, stopped using herbicides in landscaping, and placed recycled furniture in student housing. As this witness continues and grows, students can care for creation through a variety of opportunities: weekly chapel services, Earth Day celebrations, comprehensive recycling program, tree planting, environmental courses, and more.
The Green Zone committee, sub-committee of Community Life, "creates a space for sharing between students, staff, and faculty and encourages us to stretch creation care into future parishes," explains student Stephanie Lord. Goals of the Green Zone are to promote transformation through worship and education, to maintain buildings and grounds in environmentally friendly ways, to foster earth-keeping disciplines, and to exercise responsible public ministry.
A meeting of the LSTC Green Zone Committee
In its dedication to serving a wide audience, LSTC has produced two books Care of the Earth: A Manual for Church Leaders and Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on the Environment. Anticipated future publications include a two-volume series of sermons on the environment and a “systems analysis” comprehensive analysis of the environmental crisis. LSTC also has co-sponsored four eco-justice conferences.
LSTC also maintains the Web of Creation, created in 1995. "The Web of Creation is a place of information and of action. We hope that those who visit the site will find the resources to make a change in their homes, workplaces, or congregations," says Lord, a Web of Creation staff member. Among many, some of the current projects of Web of Creation include an Online Green Congregation Program, a two-year pilot project for greening congregations in Chicago and Wisconsin, the development of a Lutheran Earthkeeping Network of the Synods, and adapting Australian church materials for American congregations on “Season of Creation” (a four-Sunday liturgical cycle held before the commemoration of St. Francis and World Communion Sunday).
Students entering the MDiv or MA programs at LSTC may opt for an emphasis in environmental ministry. In the emphasis, the student meets quarterly with a covenant group and the emphasis director, takes at least one environmental course (such as Environmental Ethics or Nature and the Bible), conducts field work, writes environmentally-themed papers/projects for 3 or more other courses, and completes a senior project. LSTC Professor David Rhoads, also Director of the Web of Creation, supervises various aspects of creation care on the seminary campus, including the environmental emphasis program. He can be contacted for more information about any of the environmental programs at LSTC at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .