Skip ahead by visiting Actions Speak Loudly: a resource for making an action plan!
1. Explore ideas for creation care! See our share board here.
2. Choose one project from each category in the Actions Plan (see below). Be sure to choose one item from each of the five areas (worship,education, buildings/grounds, personal discipleship, public witness). Count the projects you are already doing and add more where feasible. Choose more than one project per area if it seems feasible.
Choose actions/projects that . . .
- Integrate well with existing initiatives
- Have support in the congregation
- Have committed people to carry them out
- Are affordable for the congregation
- You have energy and inspiration for
Download Print Version of Action Plan
Complete the online action plan (Actions Speak Loudly)
3. Delegate the responsibility. Identify which individuals or committee will be responsible for carrying out each project. Contact them to see if they are willing to do it (e. g. the Worship Committee). Offer access to the resources available to do the project.
4. Identify a committee member to follow up. Designate a member from the creation-care team to offer support to the committee to whom the project has been delegated and follow up to track the
project through to completion. Or use the liaison representatives to the various committees who are on the church council (e. g. a liaison from the Creation-Care team to the worship committee).
5. Have grace. Know that nothing ever goes exactly as planned. If you find your team is getting stuck, Lutherans Restoring Creation stands ready to help. Remember, this is your action plan; if the projects recommended in the action plan do not fit your situation, consider opportunities that use the resources of your congregation or serve the needs of your community.
6. Keep meeting. Meet regularly (once a month or once every two months). As you work through the year, evaluate your action plan. Where needed, go back and retrace steps to make sure your action plan is being carried out. Affirm where it is working. When the steps suggested here are not working for you, revise the plan and adjust it to suit your needs and situation.
7. Look forward. When your action plan is completed for that year, set things up so that the project will continue into the next year.
Remember the overall goal: To incorporate care for creation into the identity and mission of your congregation so that there is an ethos of care for God’s Earth in all that you do.
These ideas are part of our congregational self-organizing kit. For more details, visit this page.