As the White House undoes scores of environmental regulations and protections, some Christian leaders are inviting their congregations to do as the Bible asks, and be good stewards of the land.After years of decline, the number of Christians in the US has stabilized. But as they file into church on a Sunday morning, only a few will hear about the state of the planet the Bible calls on them to steward. According to a 2025 study, although almost 90% of US Christian faith leaders across all major denominations believe in at least some degree of human-caused climate change, only around half have ever discussed it with their congregation. One of the paper's researchers, and assistant professor at the University of Arizona's school of sustainability, Styliano Syropoulos puts the disconnect down to many factors. "Just because they care about it doesn't mean they feel obligated to talk about it," he said, adding that pastors may feel ill-equipped to bring it up. "Or some might feel it's not their role. Climate change, at least in the US, is a heavily politicized issue." 'Second Coming capitalism' That is not lost on Reverend Mattson of the Hope Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania, who sees divided views on climate change in the US as a reason to talk about it rather than stay quiet. "I would say that political forces in this country and in other countries around the world may work very hard to distance the human impact piece on our climate," he said. "They are working actively to say, 'there's nothing we can do about it. Let's slash, mow and spray and let's just go ahead and do whatever we want.'" Under the current administration, the US is a case in point. From blocking renewables expansion to promoting the extraction and use of polluting fossil fuels, US president Donald Trump has undone literally dozens of regulations implemented to safeguard not just the nation, but the rest of the world from environmental destruction. "Any of us have the capacity to go too far with power, and we need to keep ourselves in check for that," Mattson said. "I think certain groups of people use power for unbridled consumption, and there's just no Jesus in that." He says some people have a "Second Coming capitalism" way of looking at the world; the idea that we can consume at will "because eventually God will come back, destroy the earth and make it new." Mattson argues that this narrative stems from a misreading of Genesis, originally written in Hebrew, where the call to "fill the earth and subdue it" is taken to mean exploitation — "just plow it down." He adds it is actually a call to be good stewards. And he takes that calling of stewardship seriously. He has involved his church in climate advocacy, reforestation and protection of the Great Chesapeake Bay Watershed, which stretches across six states, including New York. For the most part, his congregation is on board. But that's not the case for every pastor who wants to introduce care for the planet to their flock. Pushback against climate in church One state away in Maryland, Brother Ken Taylor's efforts to weave environment and climate awareness into his sermons at St Nicholas Lutheran Church in Huntingtown, have met with a varied response. "There's a very loud minority of people, who when we have dedicated a series of Sundays or a teaching series about climate, that say 'why are you bringing so much politics into the pulpit?'" Taylor said. Some have told him outright that they're leaving his church because they found the approach too overtly environmentalist. And though the pushback initially caught him off guard, it has not stopped him from encouraging climate action. His congregation plants native species to counter erosion, has set up water dispensers and bins for collecting things that are hard to recycle, and is getting involved in clean water protection. He says he understands that faith leaders can easily feel out of their depth when it comes to knowing enough about climate to talk about it. Or to face challenges from the pews — which is where the idea of having a congregation comes into its own. "We have to lean on the full community of people who care about this in order to move the needle at all," Taylor said, adding that he has often invited people from his flock to give talks to the congregation. Starting small with respect Back in Pennsylvania, Bradley Mattson says when he joined the Hope Episcopal Church six years ago, he began by integrating care for the planet in small ways that congregants could respect rather than imposing a whole climate agenda on them. One example was simply giving people freshly grown vegetables. "And then we did pollinators, and then we did herb gardens. And then we started to talk to some granting organizations around environmental work and expanded into land stewardship, watershed protection." He is grateful his congregation has accepted him and his ways, which includes an understanding that preaching is not the best approach when it comes to climate and the environment. "We tend to approach the life of faith from a position of running towards light, not away from darkness," he said. "I didn't tell you to not run your gasoline lawnmower, if that's all you have. I didn't tell you that you were evil because you had a gasoline lawnmower. What I said was: think about pollinators. You know, Jesus said: consider the lilies of the field. Consider them. Just think about it." Edited by: Jennifer Collins This article was adapted from a DW Living Planet podcast. To listen to the full episode, click here.