Creation Care

As Christians, we believe that the Earth belongs to God; that all things have been created and will be redeemed in Christ; and that we have been entrusted with the care of the Earth.

Care for creation is lived out through the Cast the Net Calls to Action, including:

• Call #4: Recognize and act on opportunities to participate in God’s healing work in the world
• Call #5: Make explicit connections between following Jesus and working for justice and peace
• Call #8: Intensify advocacy and action in response to the climate crisis

Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care

The Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care provides support to individual Anglicans, parishes and the Diocese as a whole to make creation care an integral part of our worship, life and witness. Our mandate is to encourage Anglicans in the Diocese of Toronto in creation-informed, Christ-centred discipleship.

To learn more, contact the Rev. Canon Susan Spicer and the Rev. Paige Souter, co-chairs of the committee, at [email protected].

The Season of Creation is an ecumenical movement by Christians around the world to observe the period between Sept. 1 (the World Day of Prayer for Creation) and Oct. 4 (the feast of St. Francis of Assisi) as a time of particular attention to praying and caring for the earth.

In 2019, General Synod passed a resolution adopting the Season of Creation in the Anglican Church of Canada and encouraging dioceses and parishes to participate. In 2025, General Synod, along with other church bodies around the world, adopted the Feast of the Creator, a celebration of God’s original and ongoing acts of creation, to be held on Sept. 1 or another date during the Season of Creation. A new Feast of the Creator liturgy is available for trial use from the Anglican Church of Canada.

The theme for the Season of Creation for 2026 is “Living Water.”  The Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care has produced the following package of resources to help you and your parish observe the Season of Creation in your local context, including an exciting “Watershed Mapping” activity.

• Theological Reflection on “Living Water” 
• Season of Creation liturgy for Eucharist in the Garden
• Prayers and other Liturgical Resources
• Watershed Mapping Activity
• Advocacy and Action Ideas 

We encourage you to explore these resources and find ways to incorporate them into your parish life this fall.

Learn more about the Communion Forest Movement.

The Fifth Mark of Mission, “To safeguard the integrity of Creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth” was incorporated in a sixth baptismal promise added to the Baptismal Covenant in the Book of Alternative Services by General Synod in 2013. The online version and newer printings of the BAS include this addition, but older print versions don’t. You can find a template for printing stickers including this promise, which can be placed at the bottom of p. 159 of the BAS.

Zero Emissions Church – Parish Heating Survey
We encourage all parishes to participate in the first step of the Zero Emissions Church process by filling out a survey form about your parish heating system. Nearly 50 parishes completed forms distributed at diocesan Synod in 2023. If your parish hasn’t already done so, you can fill out the form.

• Report to Diocesan Council on Environmental Synod Motions, June 17, 2021
• Diocesan Policy Paper on Environmental Issues, 2019
• World of Wonder: Contemporary Discipleship, Climate Crisis and Anglicans
  (reflection paper by the Rev. Dr. Stephen Drakeford)

We’re connected to the Creation Matters working group of the Anglican Church of Canada, and through it to the global Anglican Environmental Communion Network.

We commend these other Canadian faith-based organizations working on environmental justice and stewardship:

• Citizens for Public Justice: a Christian voice for social and environmental justice in Canadian public policy
• Faith and the Common Good: an interfaith organization helping faith communities with practical greening through their Greening Sacred Spaces program
• KAIROS: a coalition of Canadian churches working together for justice and peace
• A Rocha Canada: a Christian environmental stewardship organization working in conservation, environmental education and sustainable agriculture