Creation Care efforts at bg真人
At bg真人, we care deeply about our interactions with the natural environment God created. We care for creation as part of being disciples of Jesus Christ, as an essential facet of our commitment to peace and justice.
This commitment becomes evident in many ways, from restoring native grasses and trees on the campus to raising some of our own produce for meals to making our buildings energy efficient. What isn鈥檛 immediately evident are the ways in which we work to make creation care an integral part of our campus culture, courses, worship services and spiritual formation.
Academics
- The seventh Rooted and Grounded Conference on Land and Christian Discipleship will take place Sept. 18鈥�20, 2025, on the bg真人 campus (with some components available online). The theme this year is 鈥淜inship with All Creation: Pursuing Relationship, Justice and Community.鈥�
Prior conferences brought participants from across the U.S. and Canada to campus in September 2014, October 2015, April 2017, September 2018, October 2021 and September 2023. Rooted and Grounded: Essays on Land and Christian Discipleship was published in January 2016, featuring papers from the first conference. - Course offerings in creation care in 2025鈥�26 include Earthkeeping, Christian Ethics and Peace Theology (both Sept. 2 鈥� Dec. 12, 2025) and Spiritual Practices: Trees of Life (a two-day retreat to be held May 29鈥�30, 2026). (See our upcoming courses.)
- An Environmental Sustainability Leadership concentration is part of our Master of Arts: Theology and Peace Studies and our Master of Divinity Theological Studies major through a 15-week residency at of . For more information about this experience, read more about two students who completed this concentration.
Facilities
- The bg真人 Library, completed in 2007, was the first theological library to register with the U.S. Green Building Council and earned Gold Certification in the LEED program (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Use of indirect natural light, local cherry wood trim, ground-source heating and cooling, water-saving plumbing features, and energy efficient windows make this space inviting for study, reflection and collaboration.
- The Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount was renovated in 2011; one major goal was to improve energy efficiency.
- Other main buildings have been equipped with energy-efficient heating/cooling, high-efficiency lighting and recycled carpeting.
- Bicycle racks and showering facilities encourage students and employees to use bicycle transportation.
- Recycling bins are present throughout the campus, and the seminary contracts with a firm that separates recyclable materials from trash.
Grounds
- bg真人’s 50 and 80kW solar arrays offset our energy use and save tons of CO2 emissions per year. See how we’re doing , installed in April 2017, and with the that went live in February 2020.
- Two electric vehicle (EV) charging stations were installed on campus in 2023, thanks to a grant from the JustPax Fund. A single charger is located on the south end of Waltner Hall, and a double charger is located on the east side of the Maintenance Building. There is a grass-permeable parking pad next to the double charger.
- Seventeen acres of our 44-acre campus are not mowed. Six acres have been restored to native prairie. (Read about the plants on the prairie that were blooming in May/June 2024!)
- The grounds feature hundreds of trees from more than 20 species and provide habitat for deer, bats, birds, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, hawks, insects and more.
- A walking path nearly a mile long goes through areas of prairie and woods. Another path winding through the prairie features 16 markers identifying native grasses and wildflowers.
- A mowed prayer labyrinth on campus (Chartres design) provides a setting for spiritual renewal for individuals and small groups.
- More than 50 species of wildflowers and grasses grow on the campus, and seeds are harvested to share. (View photos and wildflower descriptions from May/June 2024.)
- Rain gardens around the chapel and library restore water to the aquifer.
- A student-run garden provides space for growing produce while also building community. Several areas of campus have edible landscaping.
- Volunteers tap campus maple trees each spring to make syrup.
Presentations, classes and retreats
- The first class required for Master of Divinity students, Leadership Education in Anabaptist Perspective, includes an introduction to our creation care commitments and a session on being aware of context.
- Chapel services are occasionally held outside, including prairie prayers, a Sukkot observance and a celebration of St. Brigid’s Day.
- A few bg真人 classes specifically focus on creation and creation care issues (see descriptions in the bg真人 Catalog):
- HTE670: Earthkeeping (biennial 鈥� three credit hours)
- HTE541: Christian Ethics and Peace Theology (biennial 鈥� three credit hours)
- CHM589: Spiritual Practices: Water of Life 鈥� Creation, Conservation and Faith (biennial 鈥� one credit hour)
- CHM592: Spiritual Practices: Trees of Life (biennial 鈥� one credit hour)
- Three courses at are part of the Environmental Sustainability Leadership concentration:
– SLS601: Integrated Social and Ecological Systems (four credit hours)
– SLS602: Empowering Sustainable Communities (four credit hours)
– SLS603: Leadership Experience in Sustainability (four credit hours)
- Several spiritual retreats have included canoeing experiences; another involved a visit to a local Community Supported Agriculture farm.
- Occasional tours of the prairie are offered for the bg真人 community and its neighbors.
- The bg真人 community holds an annual campus retreat at .
