Special to United Methodist Insight | March 10, 2026
I’m a professor, not a pastor, but there is at least one way that clergy and faculty are similar. We both spend a large part of our lives teaching about subjects we care deeply about and have expertise in, but as we teach, other subjects inevitably come up. Perhaps a student asks a question we weren’t prepared for, or a parishioner brings up an idea we haven’t thought about since graduate school. If you are like me, there is a moment of discomfort. I am supposed to be the expert, and I have suddenly found myself out over my skis. I think this is why American pastors don’t talk much about climate change with their congregations, despite the fact that they overwhelmingly believe that it is happening and that humans are to blame. It is hard to teach or preach on something – especially something controversial – when you don’t feel like an expert.
Yet pastors have a unique responsibility for combating the climate crisis. When the laity are informed that their clergy believe in climate change, they are less likely to vote for politicians who refuse to take action on climate change. But just because pastors have a unique power to influence their flock doesn’t solve the problem; they still aren’t experts on climate change. Just as it would be unfair to ask a climate scientist to teach about the resurrection, it is unrealistic to expect pastors to teach climate science. What, then, can we do?
Fortunately, you don’t actually need to know anything about climate change to understand that the solutions to it are deeply Christian. In essence, Christ says, “thou shalt not cause climate change”.
Of course, Jesus never used the words “climate change” so how can the solutions to climate change be deeply Christian? Because climate change is less an issue of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and more an issue of too much greed in our hearts. Greed is an issue that Jesus spoke about at length, most notably in the parable of the talents, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, his dialogue with the rich young ruler, his dialogue with Zacchaeus, and his discussion of the love of God and money. Jesus did not say, “thou shall not cause climate change,” but he did repeatedly warn us against greed and wealth, and the difference between the two is less than the width of the eye of a needle.
What does greed have to do with climate change? Simply put, every dollar we earn or spend represents an exchange of energy. When I buy a new car, I am paying for all of the energy that went into mining and processing the steel, aluminum and plastic, along with all of the labor energy of the people who did the work. That energy use emits carbon dioxide which warms the planet. Thus, the very best strategy we have for combating climate change is not solar panels and EVs, but thrift and generosity.
Indeed, we could argue that John Wesley was preaching about stopping climate change 200 years before it became an issue. Wesley famously argued that Methodists ought to earn all they can without harming themselves or others, spend as little as they can, and give as much as they can. Assuming that by “earn all you can” Wesley meant to assure his largely lower-class followers that they did not have to live as mendicants and that it was okay to make a living wage, then this is solid economic advice for addressing climate change. And as in many things, Wesley practiced what he preached. When he died, Wesley owned a few books, some worn clergy robes, and a single silver spoon. Through his faith, he had overcome his natural inclination to greed, and not coincidentally, had the carbon footprint of a church mouse.
Thus, we don’t need to understand atmospheric physics to preach about climate change. We don’t need to know much of anything outside of the Bible. We just need to know that greed and money are corrosive to the soul. We need to know that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven, and that holding on to our wealth and our desire for more will lead to far greater hazards than hurricanes and sea level rise. Like with every other problem, the solution to climate change is not some new technology or policy, but Jesus Christ. Fortunately, that is a message that pastors are uniquely qualified to deliver.
Brian Snyder is a member of First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge and an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Louisiana State University.