Care of the Environment

Environmental Stewardship Committee

History of Concern

Christ Church’s environmental stewardship and creation care roots stretch back to 2012, when clergy and lay leaders (including some professional environmentalists) convened a pilot effort to explore actions the parish could take to live into the calling expressed in the Prayers of the People in the Book of Common Prayer: “Give us all a reverence for the earth as your own creation, that we may use its resources rightly in the service of others and to your honor and glory.”

The Christ Church vestry approved the establishment of a formal Environmental Stewardship Committee in 2014. The committee focused on introducing creation care into four main areas of the parish’s life: worship, education and outreach, internal environment, and external environment. Activities included creating additions to the Sunday Prayers of the People, writing articles for the parish newsletter, conducting energy audits that were presented to the vestry, improving recycling, greening the parish property with masterfully designed gardens, and conducting trash clean-ups in local waterways.

Partnering for Impact

Most recently, environmental stewardship activities have included adult forums on “Stormwater Management Using Green Infrastructure” and “The Spirituality of Environmental Stewardship,” and the promotion of creation care across our school and parish community with jointly maintained pollinator gardens. Christ Church also proudly became an Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake partner congregation. (View our parish profile.) Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake is building a movement of faith communities throughout the Chesapeake region who are answering the call to honor, restore, and protect the sacred blessings of creation and our shared waterways that sustain and nurture us.

We welcome collaboration with other faith communities, and invite you to join in our efforts to serve and honor God’s creation.