Earlier this month Presbyterians gathered in Indianapolis for Big Tent. There I had the opportunity to talk with many Presbyterians involved in earth care ministries. Rev. Lou Snead, pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas shared a resource with me that I wanted to pass along to other congregations that might be interested in incorporating environmental stewardship into their stewardship pledges.
A couple of years ago, Faith Presbyterian Church decided to include a “Stewardship Pledge to Care for God’s Good Earth” along with their tradition stewardship pledge cards. This additional pledge card asked congregants to make pledges to care for God’s creation in the fields of energy consumption, food production, water conservation, and air pollution. The card had customized information for the Austin area, so people could readily get involved in environmental stewardship.
After the environmental stewardship pledge cards were returned, the Stewardship committee tabulated the commitments that the church had made to environmental stewardship.
This is an inventive way of looking at stewardship in a holistic way, through integrating environmental stewardship into the church’s annual stewardship pledge process. Thanks to Rev. Snead for sharing the church’s pledge card, which can be downloaded here.
You can use this pledge card as a starting point for an environmental stewardship pledge for your church, and customize it with local environmental stewardship opportunities.
If your church is interested in sharing a story about its environmental stewardship programs for the Eco-Journey blog, please email environment@pcusa.org.