Caring for God’s world with our heads, our hands, and our hearts

How A Rocha Canada is igniting creation care in churches

By Rick Faw, Education Director 

July 10, 2026

“Why do you work for A Rocha?”

I’ve been asked a version of this question many times over the years. Typically, my response acknowledges that, for me, this work is more than a job, it is also a calling. You see, before I ever began with A Rocha someone posed a different question to me. “For what aspect of the Christian life do you have a particular burden?” The query helped me recognize my longing to help God’s people better understand, and live out, the human vocation to care for God’s world. Thus, I’ve always viewed my A Rocha work as a way for me to pursue this “particular burden”.

A Rocha’s operations in Canada have always included connecting with local churches. And while we do our fair share of preaching and teaching, oftentimes our church engagement involves inviting people to come and join in the hands-on work happening at one of our project sites. We love it when people have a chance to participate in planting native shrubs, banding hummingbirds, or growing carrots in ways that also build soil health.

That said, these days we are igniting creation care in churches by coming alongside local congregations that want to grow their earthkeeping activities. Of course, each church is unique and has opportunities and limitations and priorities that are specific to their situation. We seek to listen and understand the desires and possibilities of each group in order to offer suggestions for the next step in their earthkeeping journey. And despite the differences between each context, we’ve found it helpful to recommend that each church find ways to care for creation with their heads, their hands, and their hearts.

Heads

For instance, for some people the first thing to do is expand their imagination for what’s possible or improve their understanding of why earthkeeping is biblical. For example, see Ellen’s story highlighted in our annual review about an Ideas Exchange. This event gathered people to swap stories and mutually encourage each other. Alternatively, in partnership with St. Clement’s Church, we offered a series of talks and discussions that deepened the collective grasp of how the scriptural narrative, from start to finish, invites us to join God’s work of enabling all creation to flourish.

Hands

However, other congregations have already identified what they want to do but they need help in pursuing that plan. For instance, a recent Church Earthkeepers webinar offered tons of helpful advice for starting a garden at one’s church. Imagine how attractive it can be for local neighbours when the church is a place where butterflies and bees and birds find food and habitat. Or a very different example is a local church that became known for the way it supports affordable, alternative transportation by offering bicycle repair training and services.

Hearts

The epistle to James exhorts Christ followers to put their beliefs into action. This combination is compelling and powerful for at least a few reasons. First, living in ways that allow all God’s creatures to flourish is a wonderful witness to the Lord, the giver of life, the one who is reconciling all things in and through Jesus. Secondly, when we put our beliefs (God invites us to care for God’s world) into action (solar panels on the church roof or re-usable mugs at the coffee station) it not only impacts the earth, it changes us. It changes our hearts. We begin to love what God loves and care for what God cares about. Our eyes are opened to see kingdom opportunities all around us and our ears are opened to receive the Spirit’s next invitation. In this way, the task of washing re-usable dishes transforms from mere chore into yet another way to worship our Creator by expressing our conviction that God’s way is best.

We recognize this pattern in discipleship. The Spirit invites us to adapt our lives in some small way, and when we respond in faith and obedience then we discover new joy and peace. We find ourselves more closely attuned to a Christ-like way of living and, therefore, more open to the Spirit’s next invitation. This is the core conviction behind A Rocha Canada’s Becoming an Earthkeeping Church program. If this interests you, please get in touch with us. We are eager to help more local churches join a growing groundswell of God’s people responding to the Spirit’s invitation to care for God’s world with their heads, hands, and hearts.