CRC Seeking Congregations to Participate in Climate Care Project

Cameron Phillips says he believes caring for and stewarding the creation that God has provided is an integral part of the Christian faith.

“Caring for God's creation is not a trend, but is central to the biblical story. It is a natural response to the goodness of God,” says Phillips, one of 10 regional organizers recently hired to participate in the Christian Reformed Church’s Climate Witness Project.

Launched earlier this summer, the project is being implemented by the Office of Social Justice in cooperation with other CRC agencies and ecumenical partners. The project is geared to focus the attention of CRC congregations on the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) taking place this December in Paris.

The nations of the world, through the United Nations, have met every year since 1995 (this is the 21st meeting) to work on solutions to climate change. This year they hope to produce a legally binding, universal agreement on climate change.

As a regional organizer based in Hamilton, Ontario, Phillips will be working to locate, organize and mobilize individuals in at least three CRC congregations to take part in various ways in the Climate Witness Project.

Phillips says he plans to communicate to CRC congregations with which he works that climate change is having a devastating impact, especially on poor countries around the world.

“Climate change is a threat to so many people and places in poverty around the globe,” says Phillips, who works as church relations coordinator and operations assistant for the Canada-based, environmental research and stewardship group A Rocha. 

“We so often forget that creation and climate care is directly connected to so many impoverished communities globally. Christians need to come together to dream and to work on solutions to this looming threat,” said Phillips.

Regional organizers such as Phillips will be making presentations, including showing videos on climate change put together by the CRC, and identifying persons in each congregation who can be involved locally in making their communities aware of the issues being addressed in Paris, says Kyle Meyaard Schaap, creation care coordinator for the Office of Social Justice.

“From my end, the project is going very well,” says Meyaard Schaap.

“We just recently held our training webinar for all 10 of our regional organizers, and now they are in full recruitment mode, looking for interested individuals in at least three churches in their regions. I have been impressed time and again with the passion and skill that our organizers are bringing to this project.”

A CRC delegation of three — and possibly four — people will be attending the COP 21 meeting to advocate with U.S. and Canadian representatives to help pass strong strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are the cause of climate change, says Rev. Richard Killmer, co-coordinator of the Climate Witness Project.

“Along with other denominations and groups, we will have a Christian witness there,” he said. “We will meet with as many delegates as we can and try to make it clear that this is not just  a secular stewardship issue.

“This is about caring for God’s earth and for the poor who are being affected by climate change.”

As one of the CRC representatives in Paris, Killmer will help to communicate what is happening at COP 21 to people in North America, especially to the churches with which regional organizers are working. He and others in Paris will do this via email, social media and other means as the two-week conference goes on, he said.

In addition, he said, the CRC representatives will meet with lawmakers and others when they return home, seeking to make sure agreements made in Paris are carried out.

The meetings in Paris, said Killmer, are important for CRC congregations in light of statements that the denomination has made on climate change, calling for involvement and advocacy on all levels to address the issue.

Killmer recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Huffington Post in which he calls on people of all faiths in the U.S. to contact their members of Congress to make it clear that something must be done to address climate change.

In the article, he gives examples of countries such as the coastal nation of Bangladesh and the small Pacific island of Kirabati that are under threat — or are already experiencing — waters rising due to climate change.

“Taking care of creation and meeting the needs of the poor are too important to our religious beliefs to ignore these urgent tasks,” he writes.

In the op-ed, he also writes: “A core aspect of addressing global climate change is mitigating it — reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted by the wealthy countries. We also need to engage in adaptation techniques — responding to the realities that climate change has already caused.”

Climate Witness Project organizers say they have received commitments and donations totaling nearly $30,000, which puts them more than halfway toward their goal of raising $50,000 to support the project.

For more information, contact Kyle Meeryard Schaap at ([email protected]) and/or Richard Killmer at ([email protected]).