NCC Conference Promotes Covenant Congregations

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Eight, Number Five
July/August 1999

NCC CONFERENCE PROMOTES COVENANT CONGREGATIONS

From a report to his church
by soil conservationist Dennis Testerman,
3101 Irish Potato Rd, Concord NC 28025

Over 250 participants, representing eighteen communions, gathered in Chicago in May for the second biennial National Council of Churches of Christ (NCC) conference on environmental ministries, titled Christ in Our Midst.

For me, inspiring and uplifting worship was the highlight of this conference. Worship services reflected a diversity of traditions: African American, Episcopalian, Lutheran and Orthodox. Tours of urban Chicago to witness both environmental degradation and environmental healing culminated in an Orthodox "Blessing of the Fields" service on the site of an urban landfill.

From the two dozen workshops offered during conference, I chose two: "Working with Children and Youth," and "Eco-Therapy: Healing the Earth; Healing Ourselves." The conference also included other training and networking opportunities to help participants in their work with state councils of churches and denominational regional offices.

At the heart of the NCC's eco-justice efforts is the Environmental Justice Covenant Congregation Program. (See below.)

Thirty-one American Baptist participants gathered during the conference to form a working group and to draft environmental justice strategies for the denomination in the 21st century. These strategies include some activities already under way at Myers Park Baptist: we observed Soil and Water Stewardship Sunday in May. The church has already had an energy audit.

The conference affirmed my call to environmental ministry as a public servant, to bring the heritage of faith into the stream of mission.

In the Environmental Justice Covenant Congregation Program the governing body of the congregation (church council, session, vestry, consistory etc.) affirms the importance to its mission of healing and defending creation, and promises to become, or to continue to be, engaged in this ministry through Worship, Learning and Teaching, Lifestyle, and Community, National and Global Involvement. To request the Covenant Congregation form (@$.25) and a list of resources (free) produced by the NCC Eco-Justice Working Group and its participating denominations, call Eco-Justice Resources, PO Box 968, Elkhart IN 46515; 800/ 762-0968; fax 219/ 262-0966.