United Methodist Church - Northern Illinois Conference
CREATION CARE COMMITTEE
WELCOME
Welcome to the Website of the UMC Northern Illinois Conference Creation Care Committee
The Creation Care team is working toward Net-Zero emissions goals for Northern Illinois Conference, in concert with the United Methodist Church's 12-agency commitment to "achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 across ministries, facilities, operations, and investments."
We are Asking Each Church in the Northern Illinois Conference to Nominate a Creation Care Advocate
August 2026
It is time the time of year to prepare for church conferences. On behalf of the creation care committee I am asking each church to name a Congregational Creation Care Advocate during the nominating process.
A Resolution was passed at Annual Conference in 2024 stating that every church is encouraged to nominate a Congregational Creation Care Advocate to their leadership slate.
The Role of the Creation Care Advocate would be to keep the congregation up to date on creation justice issues, to encourage the congregation to practice sustainable actions, to advocate for creation justice and to help the congregation to work toward the denominational goal of being NetZero (having a limited carbon footprint) in 2050.
The NIC Creation Care Committee will hold a quarterly online meetings with all Congregational Creation Care Advocates. This meeting is intended to connect and resource the advocates.
There are many ways that our conference is working to care for our planet. We hope that you will participate by nominating a Congregational Creation Care Advocate and putting their name in the people portal.
Rev. Harriette Cross
Chair, NIC Creation Care Committee
Environmental Connections
The NIC Creation Care Committee Connects to groups both locally, nationally and international both within the United Methodist Church and with Interfaith Organizations.
United Methodist Creation Justice Movement
The United Methodist Church possesses a rich tradition of statements, writings, and resolutions affirming the vocation of all Christians to live in healthy, charitable, and just relationship with the whole of creation. Increasing numbers of United Methodists are responding to this call by taking action for ecological healing and environmental justice within local churches and communities, through our connectional system, and in partnership with ecumenical, interfaith, and public environmental movements.
At the same time, in an age of widespread social and environmental degradation threatening human and planetary wellbeing, many United Methodists are asking with renewed urgency what more we are called to do in faithfulness to God to care for creation and do justice with our neighbors. The United Methodist Creation Justice Movement has emerged in response to this urgency.
United Women in Faith - Climate Justice
All creation is God’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it … God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect.” (Social Principles, ¶160)
Protecting God’s creation and those who are disproportionately affected by global climate change is more than our belief; it is one of our core principles.
UMC Global Ministries
A relationship with God's creation and a ministry of caring for and healing the earth are integral to what it means to be a United Methodist.
We believe that all of creation is God’s, and that we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Our natural world is to be valued and conserved because God has called humanity to be its caretakers (Genesis 1:26-31). Explore the ways United Methodists care for and love all of creation.
Faith In Place
Faith in Place partners with communities of faith from diverse religious traditions across Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, as well as people who identify as spiritual or motivated by justice but don't identify with a specific faith tradition. Their Green Teams are the heart of their organization.
Our partners and Green Teams (groups of three or more people from a spiritual community or area who join to create healthier communities by advancing environmental and racial justice) represent diverse traditions, including Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christian churches; Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist denomination Jewish synagogues; Muslim mosques; and Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Ancestral & Tribal Traditions, and Baha’i houses of worship.
Have you had your FREE energy assessment?
So you'd like to save energy and reduce your church's carbon footprint - but there's no money, right? And with federal programs under attack, it's too late anyway, right? Very likely, wrong!
There are an amazing incentives available for small businesses - including churches - through Commonwealth Edison, for a very wide variety of energy upgrades, and can add up to 50 or 75% of an energy-upgrade project's cost - and even, in certain cases, 100% - by stacking various incentives from various state programs.
An incentive is not a rebate. A rebate requires coming up with the money up front and then getting part of it paid back. In contrast, incentives are deductions from the cost of a project up front!
Among the dozens of kinds of projects covered are: smart heating controls, HVAC systems, indoor and outdoor lighting and smart lighting controls, more efficient refrigeration. And from other departments, projects like: vehicle charger for a church van and induction ranges for the kitchen.
You have nothing to lose by scheduling a free energy assessment. Do it now - the available incentives change, and funding is handed out first come, first served. Your project may be more doable than you think. This Lent, consider helping your church fast from wasting energy.
Rev. Harriette Cross,
NIC Creation Care Committee Coordinator
The NIC Creation Care Committee is working toward Net-Zero emissions goals for Northern Illinois Conference, in concert with the United Methodist Church's 12-agency commitment to "achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 across ministries, facilities, operations, and investments."
You and your congregation are invited to join in this effort. This website offers links to resources that can help.
Also, check out our Facebook group page for timely news, and to share your testimony of success!