A Creation-Care Group Covenant

In the presence of God and by the power of God's grace we renew the ancient Christian confession that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:11; Rom. 10:9).

We affirm the Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation, and declare the Lordship of Christ over all creation. We profess that Christ died to reconcile all of Creation to God, showing how much God loves all of Creation, as Scripture proclaims: "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Col. 1: 19-20, NIV).

As disciples or followers of our Lord Jesus Christ we affirm our calling to fulfill the Great Commandments to love God and love and care for what God loves. We acknowledge that pollution hurts people. As Christians we will seek to be ministers of Christ's reconciliation of all of creation, and we affirm our special calling to care for and protect the less powerful, including children, the poor, and the rest of Creation.

We recall the words of the Apostle Paul that Christians are to "Carry each other's burdens" (Gal. 6:2). Affirming God's desire for a healthy and well-functioning Body of Christ in the fulfillment of His will, we recognize the benefits of working together and supporting one another.

We affirm that the purpose of our group is to build and sustain a fellowship of believers with a passion for the care of God's creation by meeting, learning, sharing, and serving together. Specifically, we agree to the following:

1. We will meet for ____________ (weeks/months), after which we will evaluate our direction.
2. We will meet from ___________ to ___________, and we will strive to start and end on time.
3. We will meet at _______________________________________ (place).
4. Our meetings will begin and end in prayer.
5. Through prayer, Bible study, and reflection upon the state of God's creation today, we will learn more about Christ's reconciliation of all of creation and our calling to be ministers of Christ's reconciliation.
6. We will seek to serve one another by sharing some or all of the roles and responsibilities that are vital to our group life: leader, apprentice(s), host/hostess, prayer coordinator, event planner, media contact, administrator, treasurer, service project coordinator, etc.
7. We agree to the following concerning our group process:
   • Priority: While we are in the group, we will give the group meetings priority, and if we are unable to attend or are running late, we will call ahead.
   • Participation: Everyone is given the right to their own opinion, and 'dumb questions' are encouraged and respected.
   • Confidentiality: Anything of a personal nature that is said in the meeting is never repeated outside the meeting.
   • Openness: The group stays open and actively reaches out to new people as long as they understand the ground rules.
   • Apprentice leaders: We will strive to identify and develop the apprentices in our group.

We acknowledge our creation-care responsibilities and covenant with our Creator and Redeemer to care for all of his creation. Specifically we agree to:

1. seek to educate our church about what the Bible says concerning the Christian's creation-care responsibilities;
2. explore ways to do creation-care  within our church such as recycling and energy efficiency;
3. discover ways to serve the community and wider world;
4. carefully consider how we can work with the Evangelical Environmental Network.

[Please provide a copy to EEN after asking every group member to sign this covenant.]