A Rocha provides a Christian perspective on climate change

‘Let’s use love to consider how our actions are impacting other people,’ says Katharine Hayhoe, seen here at COP 21.

At the A Rocha worldwide family virtual get-together in June 2021, renowned climate scientist and communicator Prof Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist for the Nature Conservancy, spoke ontalking climate change with Christians, finding hope and dealing with disagreement. Her current research focuses on analyzing models to help engineers, city managers and ecologists quantify the impacts of climate change.

Looking to COP 26 in Glasgow, November 2021, A Rocha UK is running a special programme to educate Christians on the links between climate and nature and what they can do about them. The Climate Sunday Intiative is a broad coalition to accelerate churches’ action on climate change, alongside working with the international A Rocha network to develop a common position on nature-based solutions to climate change.

At COP 21 in Paris, December 2015, A Rocha worked with partners (including Tearfund and the Lausanne Movement) to advocate for climate-based creation care and to engage attendees and campaigners in two major events. Our presence raised the profile of faith communities and their active role in the world of conservation. One direct result was an invitation to A Rocha International from IUCN to be part of the Spirituality Journey at the 2016 and the 2020 IUCN World Conservation Congress (to take place in 2021). Read more and listen to Katharine Hayhoe, Bishop Ephraim Tendero and others speaking at COP21.

Church resources

Follow A Rocha International’s Planetwise blogs at blog.arocha.org for regular posts which include climate change comment – e.g. Greta goes to the UN, Can a Christian be a climate activist? and Healing and the earth.

Our ‘At your service’ site is designed for Christian groups who want to explore the biblical basis of caring for God’s earth. You’ll find sermon ideas, Bible studies, prayers, songs, children’s activities and much, much more. Share, adapt or translate our resources; just give attribution to the creators and contributors of a resource and reference the original work.

For churches in Canada:

Good Seed Sunday: is an annual event with downloadable resources to inspire, equip and mobilize church members from many denominations across Canada to care for creation.

For churches in Wales & England:

Eco Church was launched at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, in January 2016. It consists of an online survey and suite of resources enabling churches to become more environmentally-friendly, from creed to coffee, invocation to insulation and worship to wildlife. The free resources give lots of support and advice, so even if you live in other parts of the world you are welcome to use them, although the awards (at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels) are only for churches in England and Wales.

Publications in French: read more

Hope for Planet Earth – A Christian response to Climate Change:

This downloadable package contains professionally-filmed 15 minute presentations on the science of climate change, impacts on the poor, impacts on biodiversity, the biblical and moral basis for action and practical actions. The clips were filmed as part of the ‘Hope for Planet Earth’ tour in 2009, in which A Rocha UK partnered with Share Jesus International, Tearfund and the John Ray Initiative.