Earth Ministry: Caring for God’s Creation
helps lead our congregation as we care for the environment.
Read below to learn more about the history of Pullen’s rich history of Creation Care, and what that means. During the pandemic, the Earth Ministry team continues to meet every two weeks or so, via phone conference or Zoom. Reach out if you would like to get involved. We welcome new members! Just email news@pullen.org.
Pullen has a rich history of Earth Care and we are deeply indebted to three Pullen members (Alice Loyd, Dan Figgins, and Pam Bruns) who in 1999 had the foresight and spiritual direction to organize the Earth Care Mission Group, and the Earth Care Sunday School Class at Pullen.
Their goal was to support each other in their commitment to live in harmony with the Earth and to raise awareness among church members of Earth care as an expression of faith. Pullen’s Care of Creation mission group continued to organize programs for the larger congregation, such as a Wednesday night adult session on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s), helping youth raise money by selling compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s), sponsoring the showing of the IMAX video The Cosmic Voyage, and presenting a Wednesday night program on butterflies for 2nd through 5th graders.
In 2005 leadership segued to Linda and Bob Rodriguez, who continued to grow and develop the program for eleven years. Bob has served on the NCIPL advisory board since 2004 and was a member of the design committee for the Pullen building expansion. Bob carried the voice and spirit of Care of Creation in the new building design which integrated geothermal heating/cooling, daylighting, rooftop garden and rainwater cistern. Linda Rodriguez, who has formed connections with local environmental leaders in organizations such as 350.org, introduced the Pullen’s Sunday School Creation Care class to visionaries such as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Bill McKibben, the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Majora Carter and many others from the Bioneers Conferences which Linda and Bob attended regularly. Classes also hosted local political leaders and many citizens with practical information to share. Under their leadership, Care of Creation hosted educational screenings of films for the entire congregation and organized a church-wide eco-fair.
Leadership of the Sunday school class was passed to Karen Delahunty in 2016. Since then this class has focused on an ecopsychological investigation of how it is that humans have become dis-connected from the Earth and explored practices to reintegrate the human psyche with the psyche of the non-human world which included studying the works of Thomas Berry, Richard Rohr, and Pope Francis’ 2015 Encyclical on Climate Change & Inequality.
In 2018, the Care of Creation Sunday School class spawned the Earth Ministries Advocacy Group – a dedicated group of people seeking ways to live a life that cares for Creation as part of our Christian Spiritual practices. This ministry creates opportunities to educate the congregation on ways that we can individually, and collectively, live a sustainable relationship with our planet. The group contributes regular articles on Creation care in church bulletins and newsletters; they implemented a comprehensive composting program for all food waste within the church, with an annual average of 6000 pounds of organic waste diverted from the landfill. In 2019, the group developed a 3 part presentation about Project Drawdown (100 solutions to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere) and presented them to church members at our Wednesday night community gatherings. The group recently received a grant to increase awareness of recycling at Pullen, are exploring use of solar panels, have launched a local farmer CSA program, and are designing a new rooftop garden.
This ministry also spawned the Interfaith Creation Care of the Triangle network (www.interfaithcreationcare.org) The mission of this group: “Working within and across communities of faith to urgently fulfill our sacred duty to love and protect Creation, address our changing climate and ensure justice for all life.” ICCT now encompasses members from 103 faith communities within the Triangle, who share Earth friendly practices, education programs and promote advocacy for Creation Care from an interfaith perspective. ICCT is one of the programs that is supported by the Pullen Church Missions and Outreach efforts. The Earth Ministry is always looking for others to join us.
– Karen Delahunty
