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Public Lands and Wilderness
- Almost 20 youth and adults from the Church
of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill, NC tackled invasive exotic plants on the local
Greenway trail. They joined with the local Sierra Club Chapter
on the special Public Lands in Public Hands workday. Their main
task was to rid a section of the Greenway of privet – privet
seedlings, privet vines, privet bushes, and privet trees. The
event was a great opportunity for the intergenerational crew
to provide care for this world that God has so generously gifted
to us.
- Camp
Fowler is a Reformed Church in America (RCA)
denominational camp located in Speculator, New York, in the
Adirondack Park. Director Kent Busman has been working
since 1987 to integrate creation care into the camp's
operation. One of the primary programs at Fowler are
wilderness Outcamps. These teen wilderness trips are designed
to foster reflection and learning about God and God's
creation, and our role as its stewards. Camp Fowler
pursues an ethos of simplicity following upon these ideals. The
camp employs solar panels, organic gardens, green purchasing,
and composting to meet its material needs. Fowler's
website provides more information about these programs,
and includes a description of the camp's “Master
Plan” for the future.
- Restoring
Eden When Peter Illyn founded Restoring Eden
in 2001, he hoped to foster environmental stewardship in
churches. Restoring Eden encourages nature appreciation,
creation care, and advocacy as service to God by partnering
with churches, non-profit groups, and ecumenical bodies to
build a community of Christian creation stewardship. Restoring
Eden hosts an email newsletter, and is engaged in campaigns
addressing endangered species, global climate change, empowerment
of subsistence tribal cultures, and oil drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge.
- Wilderness
Ministires Under the leadership of pastor
Steve Harrington (whose doctoral thesis focused on the
theological basis of Christian wilderness adventure ministries),
Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church, near San Jose, CA, offers
wilderness retreats and expeditions that are open to participants
from outside the congregation.
- The Opening the
Book of Nature (OBN) program engages participants
in the early Christian tradition of learning spiritual lessons
from nature. The program uses periods of private prayer,
reflection, and traditional Christian spiritual disciplines
alternating with discussion to produce a blend of low key
instruction, personal experiences, and group sharing. Programs
range from one-day and weekend events to one week and longer
wilderness explorations and International Study Trips.
- Boise Vineyard Pastor
Tri Robinson's church has received national attention for its
growing “tending the garden” ministry. Church members
work on trail maintenance projects in nearby National Forests,
and lead wilderness trips and retreats for families and youth.
Some church members are selling their extraneous possessions
in garage sales, and downsizing their homes, reducing their ecological
footprint and un-cluttering their lives to better engage in service.
Pastor Robinson published a book titled: Saving God's
Green Earth, and the church has developed a documentary
DVD of their environmental stewardship work. The church’s
art gallery currently houses congregants' artwork reflecting
their interpretations of how quiet contemplative space and the
beauty of creation bring us closer to God. The church also now
serves as a recycling center, and Boise Vineyard's building managers
are pursuing plans to install photovoltaic cells that would make
the church a power generating station. The church's
website details these and other ministries.
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