Black Churches Success in Climate Justice

Communities served by churches of color are often the same communities that are most directly affected by poor air quality and severe weather, just some of the effects of climate change. Leaders in Black churches across America are taking the lead in breaking down barriers that separate people from the much-needed resources that can build resilience and make our communities healthier and safer.

Black Churches Bridge the Gap to Resources

Black churches are leading the charge in building climate resilience in lower-income communities and communities of color in California, where systems and neglect have worn away trust in what the government says or does.

Here, from the pulpit, pastors can offer their congregants a fresh, faithful perspective on creation care and environmental justice.

Reverend Frank Jackson, Jr. is the president of the auxiliary council of his church and leader of Village Solutions Foundation, which exists to connect Black churches and communities with money- and building-saving energy programs in Southern California.

Jackson believes that there’s no separation between our Christian witness in the world and that caring for the planet is caring for our neighbors—which is exactly what Jesus Christ called his followers to do.

One of the objectives of Village Solutions is to connect churches and community members with the resources that are available to them to save money and conserve energy. They also strive to educate the next generation about energy and STEM initiatives that can lead to a more engaged and active population of young people. 

Pastors and faith leaders like Jackson generally already have the trust of their congregations. “If you can get that pastor to stand in that pulpit and endorse you, you’re gonna get some of those folk that’s gonna try you, just because,” Jackson shared.

If Black churches take up the charge to adopt clean energy principles, install solar panels and heat pumps, start community gardens, become climate resilience centers, and so on, there’s bound to be a trickle-down effect. More and more households will begin to embrace the cost and energy savings for their own homes, and that will spread outward to the surrounding community as well.

And that will lead to a greener, brighter, cleaner future.

Preserving the Gullah Geechee Heritage Along the U.S. Coast

Image Courtesy of Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor National Heritage Area

On the other side of the country, as sea levels rise and more severe storms threaten the coastal communities of the Southeastern United States, the Gullah Geechee people are stepping up to preserve their history and protect the land in the process.

The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of enslaved African men and women who were brought to the southeastern coast of the United States, primarily in the coastal areas and Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, from the late 1600s to the mid-1800s. They developed a unique culture and language, Gullah, which blends elements of African, European, and Native American influences.

Scattered all along the coast are tiny praise houses, which were originally small gathering spaces where enslaved people were permitted by plantation owners to meet and worship. The gathering houses were intentionally designed small to limit the number of people who were able to gather at one time, but these tiny houses of worship became the cradle of the Black church in America.

Development and climate change threaten these historical centers, but members of the Gullah Geechee community and leaders in Black churches are rising up to restore and preserve the rich heritage these praise houses represent. 

The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is a National Heritage Area managed by the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission. According to their website, it exists “to preserve, share, and interpret the history, traditional cultural practices, heritage sites, and natural resources associated with Gullah Geechee people of coastal North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.”

Another effort to preserve the region’s rich history was enacted at the governmental level. St. Helena Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina put in place a special zoning law in the late 1990s to protect the verdant coastal marshlands and cultural landscape. 

There once were 50 such praise houses in St. Helena. Today, only three remain.

The preservation of these physical spaces of worship helps to hold the history of the Gullah Geechee people. One visual artist, Charmaine Minniefield, sees the preservation and celebration of praise houses as a way to honor the memory of her ancestors. The praise houses remind descendants of the Gullah Geechee people about what their people endured, their strength, their resilience, and their faith.

“We upheld our gathering and worship traditions in spite of enslavement,” Minniefield said in a New York Times story about the Gullah Geechee praise houses. “In that teeny tiny place, you are intimate with yourself and your community. They are the salve, the medicine we need.”

Change in Individual Black Churches Sends Ripples into the Broader World

Image Courtesy of EEPRO

Stories like those in Southern California and Beaufort County, South Carolina are not isolated incidents of climate change pioneers making a difference in Black churches; they are everywhere, spanning the country and changing communities of color for the better.

Perhaps you missed the story of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, a community fighting against injustice and striving to bring peace and restoration to their community. Or the story of the ROCK Initiative in Indiana, where Eastern Star Church is working to “renew our community for the kingdom.”
These stories matter. They serve as testimony and witness to the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit to change lives. Do you know of a church or community that is taking steps to make a difference in the fight for environmental justice and creation care? Let’s tell their story together. Leave a comment in the Root & Vine Instagram community!