There are many church people who are passionate about caring for creation. And all too often in their churches, they find laughter, and silence, and inaction from their friends, from the church boards, and pastors, and from their denominational offices.

Three years ago, I decided that I was not going to pull back. But I was going to change direction. Instead of being that lone voice – that volunteer nagging the church where I am a member, and occasionally nagging other UCC churches in this region – I decided that I was going to give in to the call that God kept thrusting at me.

Three years ago, I founded Eco-Justice Ministries as a way to work with churches that might be able to break the silence, and might be able to help those people who are the lone voices.

My Board of Directors helped me draft our mission statement:

Eco-Justice Ministries is an independent, ecumenical agency
that helps churches answer the call to care for all of God's creation,
and develop ministries that are faithful, relevant and effective
in working toward social justice and environmental sustainability.

So this is a wonderful opportunity for me. With you folk, I don't need to sell the idea of eco-justice! In this gathering of kindred spirits, we can spend a few minutes unpacking what some other parts of that statement mean. We can reflect on the deeper layers of calling, purpose and strategy that we share.

In doing that, I want to hone in on three critical words: faithful, relevant and effective.

FAITHFUL
When I'm meeting with church groups, I often say that the church does not exist to be a branch office of the Sierra Club. And that comment usually gets a very positive reaction.

Our church institutions exist– and people come on Sunday morning – to praise God, and to nurture the community of faith.

I have staked my career – and you folk have committed your efforts – to working within a church setting. And so, first and foremost, we are doing "Church" – we calling the church to be everything that it can be and should be.

Now, there are times when that involves Sierra Club-like activities, such as explicit environmental education and political lobbying. But our being the church always involves worship, community, and pastoral care.

When it is being faithful, the church must always be rooted in our relationship with God, and in the biblical heritage of our Judeo-Christian tradition. Now, we're not necessarily tied to the traditional expressions of that faith. But we are always rooted in the tradition, and we are always focused on our relationship with God.

RELEVANT
That call to be faithful is not a threat to our eco-justice agenda, because the church is also always called to be relevant.

We worship and serve a God who is revealed in, and who works through, history. And so the church is always called to deal with the important stuff of the day. In the Year of Our Lord 2003, that important stuff clearly includes the healing of God's abused creation.

You all know the litany of issues. Unfortunately, it is a list that keeps growing.

If the church is relevant to this age, and to the society in which we live, it will name those critical issues. It will interpret them, and address them, and cause large amounts of trouble about them.

But our calling is not only to be relevant to the headlines, in making bold prophetic declarations about the hot-button political issues of the day.

We also have a calling to be relevant to the folk in the pews, and to the larger community.

We have to connect our proclamation to what is going on in their lives, so that we are really offering them Good News. We need to bring genuine hope and healing that speaks to their worries, their struggles, their fears, and their pain.

As we work in our communities, we will find that Faithful and Relevant are inseparable.

EFFECTIVE
Which brings us to "effective."

That is the big one for me these days. Effectiveness is the piece that I worry about.

Effectiveness is hard, because it makes me get down to the specifics. Specifics like, "Effective at what?"

My mission statement answers: "in working toward social justice and environmental sustainability." But there are many ways of working for justice and sustainability. We have to loop back around, and remember that, in the church, we are called on to do that work in ways that are faithful and relevant.

And so I suggest that what we really need to be effective at is the transformation of individuals, institutions and society.

That's hard work! It is a long-haul effort, and it demands that we offer – not just a political critique or a technological fix – but a positive vision for a hopeful future.

Being effective in transformation requires that we deal with the very best sources in theology and ethics (which often come from the Presbyterian Church!).

It requires that we tap into the most profound resources and directions in worship and education (which may not be the current trends and fads).

Effectiveness means that we look to the solid findings of modern science, pay heed to important insights from sociology and psychology, and learn from the experts in communication and marketing.

And it means that we have to be brutally realistic in designing and evaluating our political strategies.

To be effective, we have to build diverse coalitions. And, more importantly, we need to expand and deepen our own constituency within the Christian church.

We need to engage in issue work. But we also need to consciously and intentionally build the ongoing movement which is far broader than the specific issues.

And we have to be persistent. Transformation does not happen with a once-a-year Earth Day service. Effectiveness in transformation means that we need to press our point all the time, "in season and out."

Effectiveness is hard. It is a goal that we won't always be able to achieve. But to be faithful and relevant without also striving for effectiveness is a waste of our calling.

I thank God for the leadership, commitment and vision that have been poured into this movement by the Presbyterian Church, and especially Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. You folk are a powerful force for good.

And I thank you for the recognition and affirmation that you have given today to the growing work of Eco-Justice Ministries. I am strengthened by your encouragement.

I thank God that we are in this together. We are part of a broad movement within the Christian church. It is a movement carried by the faithful people who feel the anguish of seeing God's beautiful Earth despoiled, exploited and abused. It is a movement of people who feel called to work in and through the Church for the healing of the planet.

As we go about that task together, may we always strive to be faithful, relevant and effective.

Peter Sawtell