Caring for Creation

The statement Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice establishes the ELCA’s teachings on ecology and the environment, grounded in a biblical vision of God's intention for the healing and wholeness of creation. It speaks of human beings as part of God’s creation and of the human responsibility as servants of all God has made. It provides a framework of hope rooted in God's faithfulness for understanding this human role in creation, the problem of sin, and the current environmental crisis.

Caring for Creation expresses a call to pursue justice for creation through active participation, solidarity, sufficiency and sustainability, and states the commitments of the ELCA for pursuing wholeness for creation — commitments expressed through individual and community action, worship, learning, moral deliberation and advocacy.

You can read or download the full social statement Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice in English or en español. This statement was adopted in 1993 by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

Follow these links to find resources for understanding this social statement:

• Engage with the study guide | Download
• Read an introduction | Download
• Read a brief summary | Download
• Social statement | Order