National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

Thank you for your concern about climate change as a religious issue. This is the Global Warming Information and Strategy Packet produced by the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of the Churches of Christ. It contains materials and suggestions for working on this urgent matter. Please adapt them as appropriate for your faith community.

In this packet, you will find:

• Strategies on Climate Change as a religious issue. Please consider working on as many of these strategies as you can.

Information about climate change:

• "Global Warming and Religious Faith: Questions and Answers about Science, Public Policy and Religious Values," a briefing paper of questions and answers about science, public policy and faith in relation to climate change as a religious issue.
• The booklet "Our Changing Climate."

Resources for work with congregations:

• A bulletin insert in a form that can easily be reproduced.
  
• "It's God's World: Christians, Care for Creation and Global Warming," a five-session study guide on global warming that interweaves information on Climate Change with relevant biblical passages. (This is a pdf file and you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view it. You can download Acrobat Reader for free.)
• A flier for the video "God's Creation and Global Warming." The video describes the threats of climate and the reasons why it is a profoundly religious issue.
• The Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaigns brochure. This brochure describes the interfaith global climate campaigns that have been created in 18 states across the nation. The states and the coordinators of the campaigns are listed.
  
• The Energy Stewardship Guide for Congregations contains suggestions to help congregations use less energy by making their buildings more energy efficient.
  
• "The Environmental Justice Covenant Congregation Program" with suggestions for your congregation about worship, teaching and learning, congregational lifestyles, and community, national and global involvement.
• A description of a project that enables Youth Groups in congregations to sell compact fluorescent light bulbs. Compact fluorescents enable congregations and individuals to reduce greatly their greenhouse gas emissions.

Resources for public advocacy about climate change as a religious issue:

• "Global Climate Change: A Religious Issue," an article by NCC General Secretary Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar suitable for use as an op-ed piece in newspapers.

Additional copies of this packet (EJ0099) are available for $3 from Environmental Justice Resources, 28606 Phillips St., Elkhart, Indiana 46514. To order by phone, call 800-762-0968. For questions about this packet, call Richard Killmer, Director of Environmental Justice for the NCC at 212/870-2385.

You are encouraged to explore the web site of the Interfaith Climate Change Network at http://www.protectingcreation.org. It contains suggestions for responding to climate change in your congregation, in your home and by joining with others. It also contains information on important legislation and public policy options before Congress and the White House. You can join the Interfaith Climate Change Network and receive e-mail updates on legislation and programs that you can implement.

This is a crucial time to lift up Climate Change as a religious issue within our congregations and with our public officials. Thank you for whatever you can do to further the work of the Church in caring for God's creation.

Sincerely,

Rev. Father Christopher H. Bender, Co-chair Eco-Justice Working Group National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Tena Willemsma, CO-chair Eco-Justice Working Group National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA