Climate Conscious Chaplaincy Initiative
Our climate crisis needs the skills of spiritual caregivers.
And spiritual caregivers need to know how the climate crisis is affecting their work.
Climate Chaplaincy Study Forum
The Climate Chaplaincy Study Forum meets throughout the year in spacious 75-minute sessions.
We encourage you to bring your professional and personal experiences to enrich this community of academic exploration. Sign up for the Study Forum community and come when you’re able.
What’s Happening in Climate Chaplaincy:
Climate Changed: S4E3
With Climate Chaplain Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner
Murmurations
Autumn 2025 Issue
Convocation 2026
Early-bird registration is now open!
What is the climate crisis?
Climate change intensifies not only urgent material needs but a crisis of meaning, hope, and purpose. It magnifies the existing threats of materialism, colonialism, and radical individualism, which have severed humanity’s connection to the Earth.
Therefore, the climate crisis requires spiritual responses and reckoning.
Who are spiritual caregivers?
If you provide spiritual support or relief:
- In faith communities,
- At institutions,
- For denominational entities,
- In a specific location,
- When a disaster strikes,
- As a professional or volunteer –
– then the Climate Conscious Chaplaincy Initiative is your community.
Our Core Programs
Conversation Circles: Being Chaplains in a Climate-Changed World
The BTS Center and Chaplaincy Innovation Lab offer cohorts of Chaplaincy Conversation Circles under the guidance of skilled facilitators.
Click to learn more and fill out an interest form for the next open cohort.
February – July
Navigating Climate Spiritual Care: A Learning Community (registration open)
This learning community was developed out of a curriculum created by Jessica Morthorpe and Blair Nelsen, offered by Waterspirit.
Participants will deepen their understanding of the impacts of the climate crisis and how to address them through spiritual care.
October – March
Events
The BTS Center hosts conversations with Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner and seasonal events in collaboration with the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.
Events feature climate chaplaincy professionals, researchers, artists, and more.
Check this page and The BTS Center’s calendar for upcoming climate chaplaincy events.
Study Forum (registration open)
The Study Forum is a series of gatherings throughout the year for focused engagement with articles, essays, and other rigorous content.
We will be guided by a deep commitment to academics and practitioners on the margins of our field, drawing from interdisciplinary, global, and decolonized sources to explore a breadth of human spiritual experience.
Resources
Climate Conscious Chaplaincy 101
Recordings of Past Events
Organizations for More Exploration
Climate-Conscious Spiritual Training
Climate-Conscious Practitioners
Murmurations & Other Publications
Let’s Keep in Touch
Our quarterly newsletter, Murmurations, features articles, profiles, resources, and inspiration for those involved in spiritual care of all kinds. Sign up to receive the newsletter.
The Rev. Alison Cornish
Chaplaincy Initiative Coordinator
The BTS Center
Chaplaincy Innovation Lab
The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab (CIL) launched in October 2018 to bring chaplains, theological educators, clinical educators and social scientists into conversation about the work of chaplaincy and spiritual care. As religious and spiritual life continues to change, the CIL sparks practical innovations that enable chaplains to nurture the spirits of those they serve and reduce human suffering.
Chaplaincy Advisory Group
Rev. Nicole Diroff
Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner
Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill
Rev. Alison Cornish
Michael Skaggs, PhD
Joshua Moses
Rev. Konnie Vissers
Rev. Liz Olson
