Welcome

We extend a warm invitation to pastors, musicians, and other interested church leaders and laypeople to join our community of theologians, activists, and artists for three days of reflection on one of the most urgent concerns of our time—the sustainability of our planet home in the face of environmental damage.

All who rely on water, air, and food for life are endangered by climate change and the other mounting effects of disregard for the well-being of creation. Indeed, no other set of concerns is of such encompassing importance to the future of the world. At this crucial moment in the life of the planet, many Christian congregations are growing in awareness of their own complicity in environmental damage—and many are finding ways to respond to God’s call to care for the earth. 

This conference will lift up the role of Christian congregations in developing faithful ways of life in this time of ecological crisis.  In particular, the conference will consider how some of Christianity’s richest gifts—worship, music, and the arts—inspire, form, and empower diverse local communities in this effort, in a wide range of distinct settings. We shall hear from the leaders of congregations that are doing bold and creative work related to this concern—and we shall provide opportunities for all conference participants to share the questions and contributions emerging in their own contexts. The structure and tone of the conference will be collaborative. The conference is designed to encourage pastors, musicians, and lay leaders to share practical wisdom with one another.

Our time together will be

• Ecumenical, as we gather across a variety of communions and learn from the musical and liturgical gifts of different traditions
• Practical, as we discover what other congregations are doing and reflect on challenges and opportunities in our own communities
• Inspiring, as we worship together, as we share gifts of testimony and discernment, and as we join in a great festival of hymns, participating in the testimony, hope, and endurance embodied in the song of the church
• Renewing, as we lift up liturgical and artistic practices that have enabled communities of faith to bear witness and sustain hope across the generations, tending and cherishing God’s beautiful and fruitful creation.   

We hope that you will join us for these days of reflection and renewal.

Yours,

Martin Jean, Director of the Institute of Sacred Music
Dorothy Bass, Conference Planner