Faith Leadership During Climate Change – A Continuing Education Series for Faith Leaders
Date: September 9, 2025 10:00 am
Location: Virtual
As we are increasingly experiencing the impacts of climate change and becoming aware of the threat it carries for human and planetary wellbeing, this new context for ministry brings new challenges for faith leaders and ministers. Once its urgency is understood, it results in new priorities and actions. It raises significant theological and ethical questions. It calls for leadership and preaching that help congregations rise to their calling to care for creation. It involves new forms of pastoral care for those experiencing climate anxiety and grief. It also requires new forms of ministry and missional engagement that are relevant to the needs of this unique time in history. It involves recognizing that faith leaders and congregations can be important in helping to build the spiritual and public will needed to enact the impactful solutions for climate change that are available. And it invites us to a deeper spirituality that is equal to the challenges of this day.
This free online continuing education series aims to prepare faith leaders for the new challenges to ministry that come with climate change.
It will meet on zoom on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays (10-11:30 am, Central time) during September – November.
Topics for these six sessions will include climate science and solutions, theological and biblical perspectives, nurturing spirituality, worship leadership and preaching, new ministry opportunities, mercy ministries for those suffering from climate change, and pastoral care for eco-anxiety and climate grief.
**Faith leaders who participate are asked to attend all six zoom sessions**
Tuesday, September 9: Climate Change as Ministry’s Context: Basic science of climate change, climate solutions, and urgency of action
Presenter: Dr. Leigh Stearns, Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania and glacier researcher.
Tuesday, September 23: Eco-theological Grounding: Biblical, theological, and ethical perspectives on climate change and creation care
Presenter: Rev. Dr. Greg Hunt, Research Professor and Supplemental Assistant Professor of Theology at Central Seminary, author of two books, Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night: What to Do When God Won’t Answer and Leading Congregations through Crisis.
Tuesday, October 14: Ecospirituality: Nurturing spirituality and faith practices in the context of climate change
Presenter: Dr. Rachel Wheeler, Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Portland; author of Ecospirituality: An Introduction (2022) and Radical Kinship: A Christian Ecospirituality (2024).
Tuesday, October 28: Pastoral leadership in the context of climate change: Preaching, teaching, leading worship, talking about climate change, and dealing with conflict
Presenter: Rev. Dr. Leah Schade, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky; author of Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit (2015) and Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide (2019).
Tuesday, November 11: Ministry opportunities in the context of climate change: Building church and community resiliency, advocacy, climate justice, and mercy ministries for those affected by climate change
Presenter: Josh Richardson: Executive Director and Founder of Brugmansia Ministries, an interfaith, nonprofit organization committed to helping prepare communities for climate change and climate migration through resiliency building.
Tuesday, November 25: Pastoral care in the context of climate change: Caring for those experiencing anxiety, grief, guilt, and hopelessness related to climate change
Presenter: Rev. Dr. Ruth Rosell, Director of the Buttry Center for Peace and Nonviolence and Associate Professor of Theology Emerita at Central Seminary, Overland Park, KS.
**Faith leaders who participate are asked to attend all six zoom sessions**
