In recognition that the climate crisis is a global event reliant on forces beyond our individual control, our program urges participating parishes to collaboratively raise their voices and actions to influence transformation on all levels of society. Step by step, it encourages participants to advocate for just climate and environmental legislation, demand institutional responsibility and oversight, become informed and active voters, stand with the marginalized and forgotten, and build relationships across race and class as we work together to create a more just, safe, and resilient world.
We will challenge our parishes on the necessary role of reparations in repairing the harm that has been overwhelmingly inflicted in unjust ways based on race, nationality, and income. The Path considers public advocacy and political engagement not as an optional add-on to faithful discipleship but rather as one of its essential components.
PREPARE (LEVEL 1)
COMMUNICATION & CONNECTION
Take an inventory of advocacy work and skillsets in your congregation. Invite parishioners to share their stories of advocacy with the congregation.
Identify which environmental issues are important in your region and which organizations are addressing them.
Offer training on how to talk about climate justice and other civic issues without treading on partisan landmines, and/or how to talk to elected officials and build relationships with them.
DIRECT ACTION
Hold an outdoor public prayer service that advocates for climate justice.
Attend a public event/action such as a rally or a protest to stop the expansion of fossil fuel extraction and/or encourage financial institutions to defund carbon-intensive industries.
Host a forum or a book discussion about the history and spiritual principles of nonviolent direct action.
CITIZENSHIP
Find out and share how to register and where/how/when to vote.
Encourage the team to make a pledge to vote regularly with God's Creation as a priority.
PUBLIC SECTOR ADVOCACY
Learn about your local and state government.
Identify environmental issues or bills that resonate with your congregation or local community
PLANT (Level 2)
COMMUNICATION & CONNECTION
Participate in and promote national or international days of prayerful action and advocacy on behalf of God's creation.
Join a local, state, or national group active in advocating for climate justice.
Learn about and support communities or groups beyond your community that are affected by pollution.
DIRECT ACTION
Participate in a day of prayerful advocacy organized by faith-based or climate justice groups.
Offer indirect support to a group planning non-violent civil disobedience.
Encourage clergy to sign the pledge and lay people to sign a supportive pledge at Clergy Climate Action.
CITIZENSHIP
JLearn about Faith Votes and set a goal for your congregation’s level of participation.
Participate in a voter registration drive.
Participate in a candidate forum, asking questions that focus on the faith-based moral values of creation justice, racial equity, economic transitions, etc.
PUBLIC SECTOR ADVOCACY
Build relationships with local and/or state government officials.
Form a group of parishioners who want to increase their political advocacy, find opportunities to work together, and share with others in the parish.
GROW (Level 3)
COMMUNICATION & CONNECTION
Organize a forum for education and conversation about a significant creation justice issue in your community or region.
Share the congregation’s interest and involvement in environmental priorities with articles in local media and letters to the editor.
Partner with another congregation whose members are being harmed by climate change or environmental racism; learn from and support them in their advocacy efforts.
Reach out to other congregations (Episcopal and other) interested in creation care and faith-based advocacy. Explore joint activities.
DIRECT ACTION
Organize a local advocacy event that is part of a larger advocacy campaign led by GreenFaith, Creation Justice Ministries, or another faith-based group.
Receive training in non-violent civil disobedience.
CITIZENSHIP
Sponsor or help organize a candidate forum, asking questions that focus on the faith-based moral values of creation justice, racial equity, economic transitions, etc.
Organize or help lead a voter registration drive at the local level.
Get involved in local government. Attend meetings to observe or to speak on specific issues.
PUBLIC SECTOR ADVOCACY
Join with others to advocate for the passage of a law or regulation that addresses an issue of concern.
Identify national environmental legislation and work with others to develop an advocacy campaign to call upon elected officials to support environmental justice. Share your concerns with elected officials.
HARVEST (Level 4)
COMMUNICATION & CONNECTION
Organize discussions/study groups for audiences beyond the parish on the intersection of climate, racial, social and economic injustice.
Organize an event that is part of a larger (national/international) day of prayerful action and advocacy on behalf of God's creation.
Offer to mentor another congregation in becoming a creation-care community.
DIRECT ACTION
Help organize an ecumenical or interfaith non-violent civil disobedience action that advocates for climate justice.
Have at least one member risk arrest in an act of non-violent civil disobedience.
Offer direct support to a group planning non-violent civil disobedience.
CITIZENSHIP
Work with other congregations in your diocese to increase participation and make every election a call for values-based voting on environment and justice.
Participate in programs that monitor and protect voter access to polls and ballots. Apply to be a poll worker in your community or less privileged towns.
Get involved in local government.
PUBLIC SECTOR ADVOCACY
Join or build a coalition that addresses local issues of concern and works with elected and appointed officials.
Establish a “Climate Advocates” group to mobilize the congregation for rapid response to emerging issues or legislation.