When people imagine climate leadership, they often picture scientists, policymakers, or activists in the streets. But at Union Theological Seminary, a growing community of faculty, students, and partners is making a clear claim: the pulpit belongs in this conversation, too.
Supported by a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., Union’s Center for Earth Ethics (CEE) is leading the Innovative Preaching and Eco-Justice Initiative (IPEJI)—a fellowship designed to help Christian leaders meet the ecological crisis with theological depth, pastoral care, and moral clarity. Rooted in the conviction that eco-justice is central to Christian witness, IPEJI equips preachers and lay leaders to bring climate ethics out of the margins and into the heart of congregational life—through preaching that is spiritually grounded, intellectually rigorous, and genuinely usable in real communities.
From concern to action—one congregation at a time
“This initiative… represents the practical application of ideas,” Gore shared. Too often, she noted, the work of climate ethics and movement-building can feel abstract. IPEJI, by contrast, focuses on formation that multiplies outward: “Each one of the people in this cohort… will each reach so many others”—a ripple effect that begins in preaching and spreads through communities.
IPEJI’s animating question is deceptively simple: Why isn’t climate preached from the pulpit more often? Gore traced that silence to two familiar obstacles—political polarization and lack of confidence about science and policy—and emphasized that IPEJI is designed to address both. The initiative breaks the isolation many preachers feel, builds practical fluency, and creates a learning environment where fellows can workshop and strengthen their voice.
But the heart of the challenge, Gore suggested, is spiritual as much as practical: “People are depressed and weary and anxious, and don’t want bad news.” And yet, she believes preaching can go deeper than doom—down to the root illusion that humans are separate from the rest of creation. That illusion, she said, is theological, and so is the invitation to heal it: toward communion, belonging, and “right relationship.”
A fellowship shaped like an ecosystem
Ryan Cagle, IPEJI’s program manager, describes the fellowship as an intentional bridge between knowledge and congregational life. “Issues around ecological justice are… relegated to political conversations… or academic… or scientific conversations,” he said. “We believe people of faith have a crucial role to play… and preaching is historically a place where theology gets worked out in a community.”
Cagle brings this commitment from lived experience. An ordained minister who works in rural Appalachia, he described communities shaped by extractive industry and long-term environmental harm: polluted groundwater, elevated asthma and heart disease, and livelihoods disrupted as coal economies collapse. For him, IPEJI is about helping leaders name what many already know in their bones: “Our neighbors couldn’t grow tomatoes last summer… because of extreme drought… That is a theological issue.”
The fellowship’s structure is deliberately multi-modal: rigorous courses taught by Union faculty and partners, cohort gatherings that cultivate dialogue across traditions, and immersion experiences that deepen learning through practice. “We’re pairing academic rigor with community,” Cagle said—creating “an ecosystem for learning” where fellows bring their contexts into the room: their land, histories, congregations, questions, and doubts.
And in the months ahead, the program shifts into its most hands-on phase: preaching workshops and congregational projects where fellows incarnate what they’ve studied into sermons, liturgies, and public witness.
Prophetic and pastoral—together
Both Gore and Cagle returned repeatedly to a core IPEJI commitment: eco-justice preaching must be both prophetic and pastoral—truth-telling and care, held together.
For Cagle, this matters especially in a politically charged moment. “Preachers are not called to be partisan,” he said, “but they are called to speak to the moment.” IPEJI helps fellows gain confidence with the data and the ethics, while also learning how to speak to grief, fear, and fatigue with tenderness rather than despair.
This integration—prophetic and pastoral—also reflects CEE’s deeper framework, which Gore summarized as three roles for faith leaders in an ecological age: the prophetic, the pastoral, and the practical. The prophetic names the truth. The pastoral tends to grief, anxiety, and spiritual struggle. The practical recognizes that faith communities have land, buildings, kitchens, budgets, and local influence—and can model real steps forward, from community gardens to renewable energy to spaces for organizing.
“Bring the outside inside”: preaching in an urban ecosystem
For Xiao Ma, a second-year M.Div. student at Union and IPEJI fellow, the ecological crisis is inseparable from the deepest questions of spirituality. Ma, who identifies as agnostic described feeling closest to “anything that makes me feel spiritual” through relationship with nature and land. That longing is shaping her vocational imagination—from eco-chaplaincy to creative forms of preaching.
One of IPEJI’s gifts, Ma said, has been the “innovative” aspect of the fellowship: expanding what preaching can look like in practice. Rather than only speaking about climate, she’s exploring how to create experiences—changing the place of preaching, the audience, and the form—to help congregations encounter ecological connection directly.
In a city like New York, that can require creativity. “It’s hard for people to understand… they’re also a part of this ecosystem,” she said. So she’s asking: How do we bring the outside inside? How do we help people pay attention—to water, air, trees, land, and one another—with practices that awaken connection and dissolve loneliness?
For Ma, eco-justice is not a “far away issue.” It’s tied to immigration, housing insecurity, community harm, and how we treat one another. And the work of preaching, she suggested, can become less a lecture and more “a hug”—a collaborative act of remembering togetherness: with creation, with community, with the sacred.
“Get over the fear”: preaching the truth in public life
IPEJI’s formation is also giving fellows language for moral courage.
William Meredith, an ordained Baptist minister, a recent Union graduate, January 2026, and IPEJI fellow, described the program as expanding his sense of what faithful preaching must include: not only Genesis creation, but “every living creature, including the Earth.” He sees eco-justice intersecting directly with racial and economic injustice, pointing to the ways environmental harm is routinely placed in vulnerable communities. In his view, preaching can move congregations from awareness to action—through prayer, concrete steps, and advocacy.
And yet he named what many clergy feel: congregations often want “good news.” Meredith believes the path forward isn’t avoiding hard truths—it’s learning to preach them with courage. His message to emerging faith leaders was simple: become knowledgeable, name the facts, and “get over fear,” even when pushback comes.
A Union story: justice with roots, fire, and hope
IPEJI is not happening in isolation. It builds on Union’s broader climate commitments and culture of justice—shaped by liberation theologies, the Social Gospel tradition, and deep interreligious engagement. Gore described Union’s distinctive “fire” for this work: a school grounded in moral imagination and oriented toward real-world transformation.
And IPEJI’s vision is ultimately hopeful—not because the crisis is small, but because faith communities have always been places where fear can be met with meaning, where moral clarity can become shared practice, and where people learn to live differently together.
When asked what she would invite pastors and people of faith to do right now, Gore offered both a practical and spiritual response: join the community—apply, learn, train, connect—but also listen more deeply. “The invitation is from the Earth,” she said. Begin to notice. Ask where your water comes from. Greet the sunrise. Set an intention—prayerful attention—and “things will come your way.”
As IPEJI continues through the year—with preaching projects, workshops, and an emerging network of eco-justice preachers—Union and the Center for Earth Ethics will share stories and resources from this growing community of leaders.
Because the ecological crisis is not only a scientific and political challenge. It is also—inescapably—a spiritual one. And Union is helping prepare preachers to speak a true word, with courage and care, for the sake of the world God so loves.