Former St. Paul Teaching Pastor Peter Pettit Helped Connect Group to Local Faith Organizations as Connie Learned to Assemble Key Resources

Former St. Paul teaching pastor Peter Pettit played a key role in connecting an emerging interfaith environmental initiative to broader faith networks in the Quad Cities region. The group, which began after members attended an online faith and climate webinar in April 2025, has since grown into the Interfaith Creation Care coalition, meeting monthly at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa. Their efforts focus on sharing resources, learning across traditions, and advocating for environmental stewardship as a spiritual practice.

The initiative was sparked when St. Paul member Becky Wiese organized a local gathering following the webinar. A small group of attendees signed in, exchanged contact information, and agreed to continue meeting. Pettit, drawing on his experience in interfaith engagement, helped link the nascent group with other faith organizations in the area. Concurrently, Connie King took on the responsibility of creating a newsletter to document and share the group’s activities.

By June 2025, just two months after the initial gathering, the Interfaith Creation Care group distributed its first newsletter. The publication has become the group’s primary outreach tool, covering topics ranging from native species planting to interfaith dialogue on ecological responsibility. Meetings are held monthly during the lunch hour to accommodate working participants, providing a space to exchange information about congregation-led sustainability efforts and available community resources.

Although the core group remains small—typically about half a dozen regular attendees—their influence is expanding through the newsletter and word-of-mouth engagement. The initiative welcomes anyone in the community, regardless of religious affiliation, to join discussions on how different faith traditions approach care for the Earth. Participants emphasize that environmental action is not only practical but deeply rooted in spiritual values across Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other traditions represented in the coalition.

Peter Pettit’s background in interfaith understanding informed his involvement. As a Lutheran minister (ELCA) and former Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, he has long focused on Jewish-Christian dialogue and theological collaboration. His work includes co-directing the Institute’s Theology Conference since its inception in 1984 and contributing to the New Paths: Christians Engaging Israel project. Pettit has also served as a faculty member at Muhlenberg College and led its Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, bringing academic and pastoral experience to grassroots ecological efforts.

Connie King, a longtime gardener and native species advocate, found renewed purpose through collective action. Having planted native flora in her own yard for years while observing pollinators and seasonal changes, she described her prior efforts as quiet and solitary. The group transformed her individual practice into a shared mission, allowing her to contribute organizational skills through newsletter production while learning from others’ experiences in sustainable land use.

As of April 2026, the Interfaith Creation Care group continues to meet at St. Paul Lutheran Church, maintaining a steady rhythm of education, collaboration, and advocacy. Their model demonstrates how localized, interfaith cooperation can translate spiritual concern into tangible environmental action, even with limited institutional resources. The newsletter remains central to their strategy, serving both as a record of progress and an invitation to broader participation.