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Rev. Peter Adewale Adenekan, from Nigeria, is a master's student at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. He is focusing his research on the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development. He reflects on what led him on this unique scholarly path, and his hopes for change. 

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Louise Green

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Read an excerpt from Rev. Louise Green’s sermon “The Ecosystem of Congregational Care.”

An interfaith prayer vigil on the evening of Thursday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) held both in-person at National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., (5 Thomas Circle NW) and online via live-stream will support a court hearing in the sensitive locations lawsuit.

[Church of England] Acting to prevent global warming and biodiversity loss is the “right thing to do” and a sign of Christian compassion for those who are suffering as a result of the climate crisis, the Church of England’s lead bishop for the environment said on March 25. Speaking to a gathering of Church of England diocesan representatives, Norwich Bishop Graham Usher thanked parishes and staff for their “hard work and commitment” toward making churches net zero by 2030 and their support for churchyards to become havens for biodiversity. Both aims have been backed by the General Synod. He said the Net Zero program is already building up a “huge impetus,” resulting in savings on energy bills for churches and helping make many churches sustainable into the future. Acting to tackle climate change is the “right thing to do,” he told the gathering at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, attended by 120 diocesan environment and Net Zero officers as well as ecumenical representatives. “There is a link here through compassion with Anglicans – with all people around the world, many of whom are on the frontline of climate change and biodiversity loss,” he said. “If we truly believe that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we should have a concern and a compassion for where biodiversity and climate change loss is impacting people’s lives.” During his speech, Usher highlighted the achievements of the Church of England’s Net Zero program. He spoke of St Peter Mancroft in Norwich, a “demonstrator” church leading the way for other churches in energy efficiency, and the example of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, where solar panels have been installed. He said that changes available to churches could range from solar panels to low cost features  such as LED lighting, both of which could make “all the difference” to a church’s carbon footprint, whether rural or urban. Usher told the conference of his experience as part of the Anglican delegation to the COP16 United Nations biodiversity conference last year in Cali, Colombia. He warned of the need to keep up pressure on governments on meeting the goals to halt climate change and biodiversity loss.“Climate change and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin,” he said. “COP16 came over very loud and clear to me of the need to hold these together. Investment in conservation and restoration and environmental protection are futile if we are going be doing nothing around climate change.” The meeting also heard from Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley, director of innovation and impact at the British Antarctic Survey, on the extent of the climate change emergency, focusing on the impact of climate change in the polar regions. In a vote last year, the General Synod backed a series of measures to promote biodiversity on Church of England land from churchyards as havens of wildlife and plants to the stewardship of agricultural and forestry land. The General Synod endorsed a plan to reach net zero carbon by 2030 at its July session in 2022. The Net Zero program’s first impact report can be read here.

[Episcopal News Service] Parishioners at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Homestead, Florida, again this year can experience the events of Holy Week represented in dioramas on display in the church’s narthex. They include figures of Jesus, his disciples, Roman guards, onlookers, others and animals involved in the events of Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus carrying the cross. They end with the Crucifixion and Jesus’ Resurrection. The dioramas – models that use three-dimensional figures to depict a scene – all are the work of Ahmed Otero, a parishioner who also is the church’s senior warden. There are 10 scenes of Holy Week events in all, as well as a model of the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem. While five of his scenes overlap with the Stations of the Cross – a typical Lenten devotion depicting a series of usually 14 scenes representing the stages of Christ’s Passion and death – the others take place either before or after those depicted in the stations, he told Episcopal News Service. All of Otero’s scenes spring from his love of the Christmas Nativity sets, sometimes called a crèche, that he saw as a child at the Roman Catholic church he attended with his grandmother in Cuba. “We had a different Nativity each year,” he said. “It was always kind of mysterious and interesting.” He started annually displaying one of his several nativity sets at St. John’s four years ago. But after packing one away in 2022, he decided he wanted to create something similar for Lent that depicted the events leading up to Easter. In 2024, he displayed the Holy Week dioramas for the first time. The human figures are about 10 inches tall, Otero said, and he owns them all, including many he has collected since childhood and some that he bought in Europe. He makes the scenery from cardboard boxes and Styrofoam containers, and he buys items at dollar stores that he can transform into parts of the scene. When the dioramas debuted last year, they were displayed on one long table in the narthex. This year, he placed scenes on individual tables, beginning with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and ending with the Resurrection, to make the display more interactive. “It’s like a pilgrimage, as people start walking around each one,” Otero said. “It’s a whole journey.” The scenes are important to him because, he said, the nativity sets he saw as a child helped shape his faith and a lingering sense that he was called to be a priest. (He is now in the first phase of the ordination discernment process in the Episcopal Church in Southeast Florida.) He makes sure students at the church’s school also have the chance to experience them. “The kids are being touched by these dioramas, too,” he said. “I’m wondering whether one of them in the future will become a priest or a lay leader – you never know.” But it’s not just children who are benefiting from seeing the events of Holy Week depicted in Otero’s scenes. He said adult congregants have told him they have found them useful in recalling Holy Week events. He likened the scenes to stained-glass windows in medieval cathedrals that helped people understand and better remember the stories of the Bible. He admitted that doing both Holy Week and Christmas scenes is a lot of work, but he does get help from his wife. She comes in after he has set everything up and makes any small adjustments that are needed, he said, and she helps tackle one of the bigger jobs – cleaning up afterward. He also would like to get some of the students at the school involved, including teaching them how to craft scenery, making it a team effort. “We want people to get involved,” he said. — Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

Speaking before the German network ProOikoumene on 26 March, Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, World Council of Churches programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace, delivered a lecture entitled "Prophetic Theology, Prophetic Church – in Times of Multiple Crises.”

[Church in Wales] St. David’s Church in Loughor, in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon, Wales, has become the 75th Gold Eco Church in England and Wales. The award was given by the Christian conservation charity A Rocha UK, and reflects St. David’s commitment to walk in step with nature and put creation care at the heart of its mission. While there are more than 8,000 registered churches with Eco Church, St. David’s is only the third gold award in Wales to date and the first in the diocese. St. David’s has adapted its worship to regularly include messages and hymns about creation care, and has changed from printed worship sheets to TV screens. Regular community litter picks and recycling points for harder-to-recycle items have been established for a number of years involving the wider community, and its solar panels and associated battery storage, LED lighting, water saving, and toilet and bin twinning have been described as “great examples to demonstrate to others.” Helen Stephens, Eco Church’s church relations manager, said, “Our huge congratulations to St. David’s Church, Loughor, on their well-deserved gold Eco Church award. Becoming a gold Eco Church is not an easy journey, and they are an example of the dedication and perseverance that is required to reach this accolade. “By remaining focused on the biblical mandate to care for God’s creation and love your neighbor, we hope other churches will join them in taking action to care for this amazing world. We wish them all the best as they celebrate their award.” St. David’s was also praised for improving the limited land around the church for wildlife – including the presence of several bird boxes and feeding stations, bug hotels and a “messy corner” – and also for people, with a recycled church pew from its closed sister church at St. Michael’s for quiet contemplation alongside the fruit trees and herb beds. A Rocha UK aims to equip churches and individuals to create a movement to help restore biodiversity at a local level in this critical decade for the climate. Now, in its ninth year, the Eco Church award scheme brings together a national community of churches addressing the environmental crisis, using a common framework and an online toolkit to learn and speak up together.

A Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) team of four volunteers (three from Iowa and one from Missouri) will provide disaster child care in Multi-Agency Resource Centers (MARCs) in areas of Missouri hit by tornadoes last week.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and is a time of celebration, worship and charity for Muslims worldwide. Observed with special prayers, gatherings and festive meals, this joyous occasion fosters a deep spiritual connection and community. As the month-long fasting period of Ramadan ends, Muslims around the world rejoice in the arrival of Eid al-Fitr, a time for celebration ... Read More