Climate Change

The Earth is a sacred trust. We recognize God's call…to draw on the Earth's sustenance responsibly, and to care for it that all may benefit equitably now and in the future.

—from One Earth Community (1992)

What We Believe

We are in a Climate Emergency. Mother Earth is hurting. The burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet at an alarming rate and causing devastation. We, humans, are but one strand in a web of life, and only one being among many relations. The land and waters are not resources to be exhausted. Serious disruption and harm has been and continues to be caused by colonization and extractivism in the material and the spiritual. 

We need to be leaders that seek balance, repair relations, and live with respect in creation today and for seven generations.

What You Can Do

1. Be part of Together for the Love of Creation Earth Week 2026 beginning on Earth Sunday, April 19th and running until April 26th. Hold or attend an event to pray, learn, and act for Climate Justice. New this year is an call for Climate Leadership letter for your community members to direct to your Member of Parliament. See Together for the Love of Creation Earth Week 2026.
2. Hold a Faithful Climate Conversation in your community of faith. On the For the Love of Creation website you can download simple guides, check out these stories, and view a short video to hear how well it works at the community of faith level. Conversation and community are key to the transition we need to make away from burning fossil fuels.
3. Celebrate Creation in worship, while committing to action for its well-being, with the use of Climate Change Worship resources.
   • Earth Hour (the fourth or fifth Saturday of March)
   • Earth Sunday (the Sunday closest to April 22) and part of Together for the Love of Creation week
   • Environment Sunday (the Sunday closest to June 5)
   • Indigenous Sunday (the Sunday closest to June 21)
   • Creation Time in the Season of Pentecost (five Sundays in September and early October)
   • Thanksgiving Sunday (the second Sunday in October)
   • World Food Sunday (the third Sunday in October)
4. Develop spiritual practices for a climate in crisis individually or with a group using Act/Fast, the 2024 Lenten devotional from United Church Publishing House.
5. Reduce the environmental impact of your faith community's buildings. Faithful Footprints offers United Church congregations inspiration, tools, and grants to help the church and its communities of faith live our climate commitments. Applications due annually by April 30.
6. Raise your Spirited Voice: Sign this e-petition endorsed by The United Church of Canada calling on Canada to take responsibility for its Climate Fair Share. Advocate for this with your local MP.
7. Offset your air travel by supporting communities in Kenya addressing climate change through a Climate Impact donation to Mission and Service.
8. Learn more about the role people of faith play in climate justice:
   • Watch the Voices of the Land: Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Justice,  and the Roll Away the Stone for Climate Justice sessions.
   • Read The United Church of Canada's second sustainability report (2023-24), "Deep Roots, Bold Action, Daring Decisions" for examples of how it is putting its house in order, raising its spirited voices, and reconnecting with the earth, featuring examples from across the country.
   • Join the United Church e-mail network Concerned for Climate Justice.
   • Learn how a sermon given at Eglinton United Church in the early 1990s lead to a the inclusion of  “to live with respect in Creation”  in the New Creed.
   • Look for ideas in the World Council of Churches' "Walk the Talk" toolkit to promote an economy of life and ecological justice.

Religious leaders in ecumenical celebration for Creation at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, during COP21 climate talks, 2015.

Credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/LWF

The Work of Our Networks and Partners

• Canadian Foodgrains Bank
• Citizens for Public Justice
• Climate Action Network
• Faith and the Common Good
• Faithful Footprints
• For the Love of Creation
• KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
• United Church Camps
• World Council of Churches – Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action

For more information, contact