Statement of Faith

We believe that God creates all things,
renews all things, and celebrates all things

We believe earth is a sanctuary,
a sacred planet filled with God’s presence,
a home for us to share with our kin.

We believe that God became flesh and blood,
And became a part of earth, a human being called Jesus Christ,
who lived and breathed and spoke among us, suffered and died on the cross,
for all human beings and for all creation.

We believe that the risen Jesus is the Christ at the core of creation
reconciling all things to God, renewing all creation, and filling the universe.

We believe that with Christ we will rise
And with Christ we will celebrate a new creation.

From the Web of Creation, a Lutheran Ministry, for Earth Day, 2017.

What We Do

Inspired by the foundational efforts of Dr. Joseph Sittler, Web of Creation was established to foster the movement for personal and social transformation to a just and sustainable world from religious perspectives. To that end, the information at this site will:

  • connect you with ideas, resources and strategies for doing eco-justice
  • inform, inspire, encourage, educate you about eco-justice
  • support you in your efforts to live, work and pray in ways that promote eco-justice

The Web of Creation has also been developed to provide information and connections for theology students interested in environmental ministry. Click to see the Feb 8, 2010 “Welcome” video by Dr. David Rhoads.

Our Philosophy
We define eco-justice as any effort that promotes ecological integrity with social justice as a central focus of religious understanding. The Web of Creation subscribes to basic norms of eco-justice ethics including

  • community life that is celebrative, cares for all creation, and uses appropriate technology
  • sufficiency of production-consumption as an alternative to materialism
  • fair participation in social policy decision- participatory democracy
  • private and public choices that allow the Earth to be ecologically sustainable

Who We Are

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago conceived the Web of Creation. The first iteration of the website went live in February of 2003. Over the years it has been supported through grant funding, sponsorship and endorsement from a variety of faith-based sources including:

National Groups
Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches
Theological Education to Meet the Environmental Challenge (TEMEC)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Presbyterian Church (USA) (PC/USA)

Seminaries
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC)
McCormick Theological Seminary (MTS)­ (Presbyterian)
Meadville-Lombard Theological School (MLTS — Unitarian-Universalist)

The Web of Creation’s original staff included:

Designers
David Rhoads, Director, Web of Creation and Professor of New Testament, LSTC
Andrea Orcutt, Associate Director, Web of Creation

Student assistants
George Kidangalil, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
Rae Paarlberg, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
John Bischoff, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Technical Support
Laura Wilhelm, Interim Director of Information Technology, LSTC

Developer Note: Conversations began in March of 2014 to update Web of Creation’s website. By August of 2014, full stewardship and control of the original Web of Creation Joomla site, domains, social media, and content passed to David Schoenknecht with Dr. Rhoad’s blessing:

David [Schoenknecht], you are certainly a courageous person!!
One thing will happen in the transition. You will learn the resources on the site very well! And you will know Joomla!
Please keep in touch as to your progress. Will any of the tools cost money for you?
Keep in touch, Dave [Rhoads]
I continue to be very grateful for this and eager to be of what help I can offer.

~From an email from Dr. Rhoads dated August 21, 2014. A full transcript of all emails related to this transition is on record.

David Schoenknecht is currently the sole developer, manager, and payor for all Web of Creation domains and hosting services. He is open to partners in this endeavor. Contact him via: kanenature@gmail.com.