Vision

The EcoFaith Network works to bring Lutherans together as we build awareness and move towards a more sustainable, just, and equitable community. In this process we seek to help people recognize the systems we live in and the power we have to change them. As a network, we step boldly together into the public square to take meaningful, powerful action for a new vision of God’s creation.

“As Lutheran Christians, … We celebrate the vision of hope and justice for creation and dedicate ourselves anew. We will act out of the conviction that, as the Holy Spirit renews our minds and hearts, we also must reform our habits and social structures.” –ELCA Statement on Caring for Creation

Issues and Campaigns

We support efforts that provide real benefits for all while ensuring responsible stewardship of Creation, increasing the sustainability and reliability of our energy systems, and emphasizing a just and equitable transition away from the use of fossil fuels.

For many households, upfront costs are the single largest barrier to providing their homes with clean energy and energy efficiency upgrades. Our consumer financing system leaves many of these households out in the cold, while public funding is wholly inadequate to cover this gap. Inclusive Utility Investment programs help support a diverse array of households across the country to improve their comfort, access savings on utility bills, and do their part to support the energy transition—without needing to have a high credit score or risk losing their home through dangerous lien-based products. We are actively working to bring inclusive utility investment programs to Minnesota.

In the 1930s, 9 of 10 rural households in the US lacked electricity. Rural Electric Cooperatives were established as part of the New Deal in one of the most successful attempts in modern history to end a resource-access disparity. Fundamental to the success of these cooperatives was their democratic structure and principles.

Rural Electric Cooperatives have a key role in shaping our energy choices and are democratic entities. As people of faith, we can engage these cooperatively-run utilities, challenging board members to greater and more equitable investment in renewable energy. We work with Minneapolis Area Synod member-owners of the Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative (MVEC) to advocate for sustainable energy systems and practices while supporting the reduction of the use of polluting fuels.

Rise & Repair is a diverse alliance of people and organizations advancing Indigenous rights & climate justice at the Minnesota state legislature. Rise & Repair’s platform includes five categories of policy work that the EcoFaith network endorses as critical to healing nature and our interconnected communities.

We participate in Rise & Repair because it is consistent with Christ’s calls to live with love for our neighbors and to make whole again those who have been injured. The ELCA and Minneapolis Area Synod have underlined these calls with numerous social messages, statements, and resolutions—including our repudiation of the harmful Doctrine of Discovery. We embrace efforts and opportunities to lift up Indigenous voices, communities and Indigenous-led coalitions.

In 2023, Minnesota passed historic legislation committing our state to achieve 100% carbon-free energy by 2040. As a partner in this coalition, EcoFaith mobilized Lutherans across the Minneapolis Area Synod to write, call and show up in demonstration of our commitment to a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. While the work is far from over, we count the 100% Campaign as a success and one we can continue to build on to ensure a just and equitable transition.

Opportunities to Connect

There are many ways to connect with EcoFaith: learn more about the Synod’s EcoFaith Network by reaching out to Nicholas Tangen, Assistant to the Bishop, volunteer in our organizing or advocacy work, support EcoFaith’s presence at other synod events by tabling with us, learn about how to effectively advocate for your climate justice priorities with your state and local elected officials, or seek out resources for centering climate justice in the life of your congregation.

Click here to sign up and stay in the loop on the latest news from and about our EcoFaith Network, find out about opportunities to advance climate justice in the Minneapolis area, and be the first to know when and where our next EcoFaith Summit will be. (Please note: We do not share your email with any other organizations.)

Is your congregation doing something amazing and worth sharing? Do you have a story about your experiences in climate justice or advocating with an elected or appointed official? Whatever you have to say, we want to hear about it and share it with the EcoFaith network! Email or call our organizer to share your story.

Visit our Facebook page weekly for EcoFaith news and updates. Like us to get notifications about important news and events.

Resources

The resources below may help you and your congregation in your faithful journey with creation.

  • Enerchange works with nonprofits of all kinds, including ones just like your congregation. Their energy audits have helped religious organizations across Minnesota to find significant savings and reduce their energy footprints.
  • Actions Speak Loudly is a program of Lutherans Restoring Creation that aims to support creation care work at congregations across the ELCA. You can access that toolkit here, which includes resources for worship, building and grounds, and much more.

Several congregations in the Minneapolis Area Synod have already committed to using their property to generate solar energy. Several more have subscribed to community solar gardens.

Is your congregation looking for resources or connections to support renewable energy development in ways that work for your context?

Contact our organizer Johan Baumeister to have a brief conversation about your context and help in identifying the resources and connections that work best for you.

  • The Green Bible, Foreword by Desmond Tutu (ISBN: 0061627996)
  • Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation. Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda (ISBN: 1451462678)
  • The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future, Gretchen Bakke, Ph.D. (ISBN: 1632865687)
  • The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, Sarah Augustine (ISBN: 1513808291)
  • Watershed Discipleship: Reinhabiting Bioregional Faith and Practice, Ched Myers (ISBN: 1498280761)
  • Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible, Ellen F. David (ISBN: 0521732239)
  • Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land, Norman Wirzba (ISBN: 0268203105)

Lutherans Restoring Creation is a national network of congregational, synodical, and churchwide teams that focus on creation care and environmental or climate justice work.