By creating walking paths, wetlands and wildlife habitats, local congregations are investing time and resources to preserve what they believe is God’s gift of nature.

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“Every religion has a sense of stewardship of natural resources. This is a way everybody can come together to take care of the creation,” said Gwen White, a naturalist who worked with her church, First Mennonite, to plant native trees and shrubs.

The acreage includes wetlands, a wildlife prairie, walking paths and a playground that First Mennonite members and surrounding neighbors enjoy. Church members hope to incorporate a vegetable garden.

A group of local organizations — including Indiana Wildlife Federation and Global Peace Initiatives — will host a workshop called “Faith-Based Gardens” on Nov. 11 and 12 at Marian University.

“The workshop targets green committees or grounds facilities people within places of worship,” said Ben Reinhart, habitat programs director with the Indiana Wildlife Federation. The workshop will offer both detail and design tips.

“The vast majority of these sites have great potential to do restoration or preservation with habitat. We want to show them how to do the implementation and the maintaining of the areas,” Reinhart said.

Barth Hendrickson, director of landscape architecture at Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects, has worked on projects at Geist Christian Church and Central Christian Church of Carmel. The projects range from creating “outdoor rooms” for small group meetings to nature trails. One church installed campfire rings to encourage high school students to enjoy the space after football games.

“When you talk to church members, they look at it as building on God’s land and they want to restore his creation,” Hendrickson said.