Faith Based Environmental Initiatives in Canada

About: The Christian Reformed Church is a binational church body (Canada and the United States). It was established in Canada in 1905. It is a community that expresses “the good news of God’s kingdom that transforms lives and communities worldwide.” It identifies a five-fold calling: faith formation; global mission; gospel proclamation and worship; mercy and justice; and servant leadership.

Environmental Activities:

• A study group including some Canadians at Calvin College’s Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship in Grand Rapids, MI, produced Earthkeeping, Christian Stewardship and Natural Resources (1980) and Earthkeeping in the Nineties: Stewardship of Creation in 1991.
• In 2008, a creation care webpage was added to the Office of Social Justice’s website.
• In 2008, an updated version of the “Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony” confession of faith featured expanded sections lamenting abuse of creation and committing to honouring God’s creatures. The confession was first adopted in 1986.
• Creation Stewardship Task Force formed in 2010 to study and present a Reformed perspective on creation stewardship. In 2012, the Creation Stewardship Task Force Report was presented and Synod responded by accepting the report and passing a Statement on Climate Change.
• Climate Witness Project: response to the 2012 climate change statement
  • Hired staff to facilitate congregation education, action, and engagement through four pillars: education, worship, advocacy, and energy stewardship
  • Showed film “Climate Conversations in Kenya” as an education component
  • Encouraged congregations to engage with members of parliament on climate change and wrote op-eds
  • Sent a delegation to the United Nations climate change conference in Paris in 2015 and asked congregations to prepare for and receive information from delegates
  • Encouraged congregations to  engage in energy stewardship activities in their buildings
• The Christian Reformed Church has signed several interfaith statements, including:
  • “The Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change” (2011)
  • “On Promoting Climate Justice and Ending Poverty in Canada Faith Communities in Canada Speak Out” (2015)
• Congregational level initiatives include Meadowlands Fellowship in Hamilton which has geothermal heating and cooling and solar panels.

Staff:

The Office of Social Justice oversees the Climate Witness Project which has five staff members and ten part-time organizers.

Partnerships:

• World Renew: https://worldrenew.net/
• Citizens for Public Justice: https://www.cpj.ca/
• Greening Sacred Spaces: https://www.faithcommongood.org/greening_sacred_spaces
• Canadian Council of Churches: https://www.councilofchurches.ca/

Christian Reformed Church, Regional Synod of Canada, Reformed Church in America