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Caring for God's Creation Love and gratitude for God's creation lie deep within religious life. From mountaintops to forests, green pastures to still waters, stars in the sky and lilies of the field, we experience the grace of our Creator and the gift of our presence here. With Earth in grave environmental peril, many religious Americans are seeking to respond through our faith. Through the many gateways and galleries of this website, we offer resources and accounts of how people of faith are acting upon God's mandate to be stewards of our precious Earth. Partners in Stewardship The National Religious Partnership for the Environment is an association of independent faith groups across a broad spectrum: the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches U.S.A., the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network. Each Partner — in common biblical faith but drawing upon its disctinctive traditions — is undertaking scholarship, leadership training, congregational and agency initiative, and public policy education in service to environmental sustainability and justice. Together, they seek to offer resources of religious life and moral vision to a universal effort to protect humankind's common home and well-being on Earth. |

Canfei Nesharim, New York, NY and National Canfei Nesharim (“the Wings of Eagles”) partnered with Orthodox synagogues across the United States to include environmental teachings in the Jewish festival holidays of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret during the Fall of 2008. Canfei Nesharim is an organization that provides traditional Jewish resources about the importance of protecting the environment. On Sukkot, Jews celebrate water through the Simchat Beit Hashoeva (Celebration of the Water Drawing Ceremony). On Shemini Atzeret,...
Read moreDoor Creek Church Madison, WI Evangelical Free Church in America When the leadership of Door Creek Church in Madison, Wisconsin, chose the site for their new church ...
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This is a support document for the Jewish Stewardship Story, "Over a Decade of Jewish Environmental Activism at Temple Emanuel: a Model for Greening Your Synagogue," and is an example of a congregation's environmental policy statement: Adopted by the Board of Trustees, December 19, 2003 Introduction In 1992, the Temple Emanuel Board of Trustees ...
Read moreGeorgetown Gospel Chapel Seattle, WA Georgetown Gospel Chapel is a small Full Gospel congregation that sits in the heart of Seattle’s ...
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Adamah Fellowship Program at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT Beginning in the 1990’s, Zelig Golden became interested in community agriculture and dreamed about farming through experiences he’d had on farms in Idaho and South America. In 1998 he became the first program director of the Northwest Jewish Environment Project in Seattle, Washington (a COEJL affiliate), which drew connections between Judaism and environmental protection. Some of his training to undertake this task came from Adam Berman, Executive Director of...
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Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center Falls Village, Connecticut Jewish, Non-Denominational Isabella Freedman rests on 450 acres of forested land and lush meadows in the foothills of the southern Berkshires. As fall home to the Teva Learning Center and year-round home for the Adamah Jewish Environmental Fellowship, the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center is a living model of what it looks like to steward the land based on Jewish environmental ethics. Guests at the retreat center's...
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Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Munroe, MI Nationally recognized as models of sustainable living, the IHM Sisters of Monroe now are coming full circle. They are pioneering the emerging trend of "sustainable dying." In August 2009 the sisters carried out their first green burial. IHM Sister Antoinette Ruedisueli, who died on Aug. 16, was the first IHM sister to have opted for a green burial. Green burial reduces a person's environmental impact...
Read moreJeff Street Baptist Community, Louisville, KY Anointing the head with oil is a long-standing Christian tradition—but what about anointing with sunscreen? Sunscreen anointing is part of the new “Blessing of the Bikes” service at Jeff Street Baptist Community at Liberty in Louisville, KY.
Read moreLutheran Church of the Reformation St. Louis Park, MN At first, church members were suspicious of pulling ...
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Adat Shalom Synagogue Farmington Hills, Michigan Adat Shalom, a Conservative shul (synagogue) in Farmington Hills,...
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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Cleveland, OH In a city struggling with economic hardship, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, OH, stands for green renewal. In 2002, the cathedral, in conjunction with the Diocese of Ohio, expanded its buildings using green building principles and became an example of urban revitalization as well as sustainable development. As the city’s first downtown green renovation, the project won the Cleveland Engineering Society’s Excellence in Renovation Award and was a ...
Read moreNew Mexico Conference of Churches Albuquerque, NM The New Mexico Conference of Churches (NMCC) ...
Read moreEpiscopal Diocese of Ohio, OH The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio is changing attitudes about global warming by helping churches change light bulbs. Bishop Mark Hollingsworth and intern Andy Barnett are leading a campaign titled “How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Change an Episcopalian?” The program provides up to $250 per church to all 95 churches throughout the diocese to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). “Almost any bulb under 250...
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