The National Council of Churches, founded in 1950, is a leader in the movement for unity and cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s 36 Protestant and Orthodox member church bodies include more than 50 million persons in 140,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

To a broken and fragmented world filled with special interests, the churches of the NCC and their partners in other faith groups offer a view of creation as whole and interrelated. Churches see humanity as stewards of God’s earth, charged with protecting and restoring it, and sharing its gifts equitably. For more than three decades, the NCC has made environmental concerns integral to its broad and multi-faceted mission. Its Eco-Justice Working Group has pioneered in making connections between environmental degradation and issues of justice.

Funding from the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation has been used to support recent work of the Eco-Justice Working Group, including:

• An opportunity for hundreds of Christian leaders to focus on global sustainability at a June 20-23, 2003 conference in Seattle;

• Development of 2003 Earth Day Sunday materials, on the theme of water as resource, made available to congregations nationwide;

• A Lenten call to "fast" from fuel use as a way to reduce U.S. dependence on oil and promote respect for God’s creation; and

• Planning for an environmental summit of African American church leaders.

For more information visit: www.ncccusa.org

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