{"id":287203,"date":"2025-04-22T00:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T00:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/indiana-evangelicals-are-focusing-on-creation-care-with-environmental-work\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T00:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T00:35:17","slug":"indiana-evangelicals-are-focusing-on-creation-care-with-environmental-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/indiana-evangelicals-are-focusing-on-creation-care-with-environmental-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Evangelicals Are Focusing on Creation Care With Environmental Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/21\/multimedia\/21CLI-50x50-INDIANA-01-zpcj\/21CLI-50x50-INDIANA-01-zpcj-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Indiana Evangelicals Are Focusing on Creation Care With Environmental Work\" title=\"Indiana Evangelicals Are Focusing on Creation Care With Environmental Work\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The solar panels on the churches were inspired by Scripture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So were the LED lights throughout the buildings, the electric-vehicle charging stations, the native pollinator gardens and organic food plots, the composting, the focus on consuming less and reusing more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The evangelical Christians behind these efforts in Indiana say that by taking on this planet-healing work, they are following the biblical mandate to care for God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">50 States, 50 Fixes<\/strong> is <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/climate\/50-states-fixes.html\" title=\"\">a series about local solutions<\/a> to environmental problems. More to come this year.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a quiet movement,\u201d said the Rev. Jeremy Summers, director of church and community engagement for the Evangelical Environmental Network, a nonprofit group with projects nationwide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Central Indiana, a patchwork of evangelical churches and universities has been sharing ideas and lessons on how to expand these efforts, broadly known as creation care. Some have partnered on an Earth Day-like celebration they named Indy Creation Fest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Faith communities of all kinds have been caring for nature throughout history, and many have taken up environmental causes in recent decades. Some religious leaders, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/04\/world\/europe\/pope-francis-letter-climate-change.html\" title=\"\">like Pope Francis<\/a>, have made the environment a central focus and have called for action on climate change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the efforts in Indiana stand out because they\u2019re springing up in communities that haven\u2019t been as engaged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Of all major U.S. religious groups, evangelical Protestants are the least likely to hear about climate change during sermons, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/religion\/2022\/11\/17\/religious-groups-views-on-climate-change\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to a survey by the Pew Research Center<\/a>, and the least likely to view global climate change as extremely or very serious. Now, networks of evangelicals are looking to shift that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf you frame it as environmentalism, or if you frame it as combating global warming, it suddenly gets really politicized,\u201d said the Rev. Nate Pyle, senior pastor at Christ\u2019s Community Church in Fishers, Ind. \u201cWhen you frame it as stewardship or caring for the creation that God has given us, people are more open.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2021, the creation care committee at his church led an effort to put solar panels on the building. Some members questioned the move, Pastor Pyle said. But they seemed to come around after learning that the church paid for them through grants and private donations and that the panels would save on energy costs, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The next year, Christ\u2019s Community joined forces with Grace Church, a few miles away in Noblesville, and the Evangelical Environmental Network to sponsor the first Indy Creation Fest, a day of education and family-friendly activities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Visitors could sample vegan cooking, learn about composting and meet rescued dogs, rabbits and a potbellied pig. \u201cDiscover what the Bible says about conservation and sustainability and find out how others in your community are caring for Creation as an expression of their faith,\u201d an announcement read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Concerns sometimes come up. Is creation care a form of nature worship? (<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/creationcare.org\/who-we-are\/beliefs.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Absolutely not<\/a>, its advocates say.) Aren\u2019t people more important? (Caring for the environment is part of caring for people, they answer.) <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At Grace Church, the creation care committee, called Project Eden, has converted about 10 acres behind the church into a meadow of native plants. Members have diverse interests, said Hannah Miller, who volunteers with the committee and also works for the church. Some are passionate about clean energy, while others care deeply for animals, both wild and domestic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe common thing that brought them together was seeing creation care as an integral part of the way that they express their love for God and their love for people,\u201d Ms. Miller said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of the most ambitious work has been undertaken by Englewood Christian Church in central Indianapolis, which has built senior housing with solar panels intended to generate at least as much energy as the building uses. The church also has solar panels on its roof and two electric-vehicle charging stations. Members turned an empty lot nearby into a nature play area for preschoolers with vegetables and native plants. Many in the congregation live nearby and share items like lawn mowers and cars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Universities are engaged, too. Just over an hour\u2019s drive north of Englewood, two Christian schools, Indiana Wesleyan and Taylor, are home to a smattering of faculty members and students who are active in the movement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jennifer Noseworthy, a professor of biology at Indiana Wesleyan, in Marion, Ind., is studying how small, native plant gardens bolster native bee populations. In 2022, she helped start an environmental science major that has been growing every year, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s something that we knew students were looking for, especially students looking for a Christian education,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Students are often introduced to the concept of creation care for the first time at college, and class discussions sometimes center on why the idea isn\u2019t discussed more at church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One student at Indiana Wesleyan, Becca Boyd, experienced a crisis of faith in middle school when her concerns about climate change were dismissed in her conservative Christian circle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOne of the things that I feel like I heard a lot was that I needed to trust in God more,\u201d Ms. Boyd recalled, \u201cthat I was questioning God by wanting to take action in that way with the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It made no sense to her, and she quietly decided that she was an atheist, she said. But during her senior year of high school, she began exploring her faith again. Then, in her freshman year of college, Dr. Noseworthy introduced her to the concept of creation care.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was an answer for me,\u201d Ms. Boyd said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now Ms. Boyd is a college fellow with Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. She holds a weekly Bible study called Creation Care and Faith in Action. In one meeting this month, the group discussed how consumer culture in the United States can be a kind of false idol. She has been working to get space for a new pollinator garden on campus. And she helped start a student Sustainability Club, which is working with its counterpart at nearby Taylor University, a club called Stewards of Creation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, as the academic year draws to a close, she\u2019s focused on what\u2019s to come, including educational programming and a clothing swap to encourage students to buy less.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019re not going to find ourselves through having more things or more money,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s through the community that we have, and being able to provide a healthy future, not just for ourselves, like, as an individual, but for those around us and those on a global scale, and the people who aren\u2019t even here yet, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/21\/climate\/indiana-evangelicals-creation-care-stewardship.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The solar panels on the churches were inspired by Scripture. So were the LED lights throughout the buildings, the electric-vehicle charging stations, the native pollinator gardens and organic food plots, the composting, the focus on consuming less and reusing more. The evangelical Christians behind these efforts in Indiana say that by taking on this planet-healing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/21\/multimedia\/21CLI-50x50-INDIANA-01-zpcj\/21CLI-50x50-INDIANA-01-zpcj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[223317,3755,168520,175828,33683,3648,175583,223321,31495,23784,38793,223320,164769,6321,223318,51975,223319,1021,1396],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287205,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287203\/revisions\/287205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}