A Legacy of Seeking Climate Justice
Rev. Richard Killmer is retiring from the Christian Reformed Church’s Climate Witness Project, for which he has worked in various ways since its inception to help the church minimize effects of the climate-change crisis.
Although he served as the coordinator of the project for just a brief period, he has been a driving force and inspiration behind it.
From serving on a church delegation to the Paris Climate talks in 2015 to helping churches adopt solar power for their energy needs, Killmer has been following what he sees as a solid biblical mandate.
He knows not everyone sees it his way, but when he comes across what he considers injustice, he has to do something about it, he says.
“As a Reformed Christian, I believe that God is at work in the world, healing all that is broken — and what has happened to the environment is part of that brokenness,” he said.
“This is a survival issue; it is about what God’s world will look like in the next generation. We need to take out the greenhouse gases we are emitting and cut them in half.”
Killmer, a Presbyterian pastor, has spent his career as a minister involved in issues ranging from calling into question policies of torture around the world to fighting against the use of drones in warfare.
He has also been deeply involved in national organizations in efforts to fight hunger, to build bridges with Muslims, and to help bring about justice for hurting children and their families.
Especially on his mind these days are racial inequities.
“I hate injustice when I see it; it makes me very angry when I see things like racial injustice,” he said. The Climate Witness Project has been one of the efforts that has kept him busy in recent years. He became involved with the initiative at the request of the Office of Social Justice a year or so after Synod 2012 released its response on creation care.
In that response, synod said that “it is the current near-consensus of the international scientific community that climate change is occurring and is very likely due to human activity.” As a result, said synod, “Human-induced climate change is an ethical, social justice, and religious issue. . . . We are called to ‘commit ourselves to honor all God’s creatures and to protect them from abuse and extinction, for our world belongs to God’ (Contemporary Testimony, par. 51).”
It was this report that first drew Killmer to work for the Office of Social Justice. He believed that the CRC had placed itself on the forefront of fighting climate change — in and of itself a difficult task — and in that document there was a spirit and a path forward that he appreciated.
He was especially attracted to joining the Climate Witness Project (CWP) as a way to address climate change. The CRC, he said, has stepped forward to involve its congregations in this effort by connecting with them and helping them launch energy-saving initiatives in their buildings and on their grounds.
“We were able to hire 10 regional organizers across the denomination to encourage congregations to get involved in this issue,” he said.
The Climate Witness Project, he added, played a role in securing funding to help cover the cost for several churches in Classis Red Mesa and elsewhere to install energy-efficient lighting and to take other steps to save money on their energy bills and to protect the environment.
Among other accomplishments: raising funds to send CRC delegations to the UN climate change meetings in 2015, 2016, and 2019; developing strong programming for congregations in the four pillars of the CWP — worship, education, energy stewardship, and advocacy.
In addition, the project has registered more than 1,300 climate witness partners in more than 300 CRC congregations in Canada and the U.S. in working to fulfill the creation care goals of the 2012 synod.
“Climate work has always been important for me, and I love the fact that the CRC has been willing to be involved in this issue,” Killmer said.
Though it can seem like an uphill battle at times, Killmer added, “I think we are finding more and more churches that are considering this as important to them. As I retire, I would certainly like to see this grow and deepen.”
Killmer leaves behind an admirable legacy of imagination, hard work, and leadership, said Kris Van Engen, coordinator of CWP.
“Rich has over 50 years of experience serving churches in the area of biblical social justice,” said Van Engen. “He applied that experience during his time with the Office of Social Justice and helped to create the Climate Witness Project.”
Steve Mulder, a regional mobilizer for the CRC in West Michigan, added: “Rich Killmer has devoted his life to justice work in the name of Christ. CWP has been blessed by his leadership. I will always be grateful for his generous mentoring, wise teaching, and friendship.”
Although Killmer is stepping back from the CWP, he will stay busy advocating for issues close to his heart. Recently, for example, he wrote a passionate, well-reasoned op-ed in the Bangor (Maine) Daily News arguing against the U.S. government’s decision to open the Arctic Wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil drilling.
“Nearly 200 nations, in the Paris Agreement, have made a commitment to produce net-zero emissions by 2050,” wrote Killmer, who lives in Maine and East Grand Rapids, Michigan. “New sources of fossil fuels are not needed, and automobile companies are now beginning to increase their production of electric vehicles.”
His heart remains captivated by these issues, he said, and he believes his faith continues to move him to speak out, even when he is aware that his opinions can cause disagreement among fellow believers.
“I always see the need to fight for justice because the world is a lot better to live in when we don’t deny people access to the fruits of creation,” he said.
