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3 Tips to Becoming an Environmental Steward

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Aug 12, 2024

Is your church an Environmental Steward? “Of course”, you say, “we recycle!” You’ve changed the paper plates, napkins, Styrofoam coffee cups, and plastic cutlery to reusable ones. Your bulbs are LED and you have bike racks to encourage riding to church instead of driving for those able.

But it’s time to move into our communities and for churches to lead the way in change. In this week’s blog, I offer 3 tips on how to do just that with the added benefit of creating closer connections with your community.

But first, let me dispel a common myth. The myth that your community isn’t ready, or open, to environmental stewardship.

Myth: Your Church Isn’t Ready for Environmental Stewardship

Who doesn’t want to live in a cleaner, healthier environment? Everyone, right? From the folks worried about their kids playing in a toxic playground to the grandmas concerned about clean air, we all have a stake in this.

You might be thinking. “But what about those people who don’t care?” Here’s the thing: most people do care. They might not be shouting it from the rooftops, but deep down, they want a better world for themselves and future generations.

And guess what? Churches are in a perfect position to tap into this desire. You’re already a cornerstone of the community, a place where people come together to share values and support each other. So why not expand that to include caring for our planet?

Environmental Stewardship and the Christian

Is being earth-friendly just a secular movement or a political agenda, or does environmental stewardship have a place in our life with God?

As it turns out, paying attention to the health of the planet is deeply grounded in the Bible. You could say it is a core biblical value. While the Bible has some 490 references about heaven and 530 about love, it contains over 1,000 references to the earth.

When I published “Green Church” in 2010, I couldn’t have imagined the level that the effects of climate change would have fourteen years later. I recently read about how emergency personnel in Phoenix have been working to keep the death count down from the heat; all ambulances and fire trucks there now being stocked with ice-filled body bags. Of course, everything mentioned in “Green Church” is more essential now than ever.

Environmental Stewardship and the Community Connection

1) Sustainable Solutions – Start with a Community Garden if you’ve got the room for it. Encourage your community to help plant the garden, then to pick the fresh produce.

Use native plants in your landscaping to reduce the need for water and pesticides.

Install rain barrels to collect rainwater for irrigation.

And make the entire area an educational experience with signs about the garden, healthy eating, native vegetation, and the dangers of pesticides. The signs can be color-coded for multiple grade levels for children.

You can even add signs in Braille and raised the garden beds so those in wheelchairs can also plant and pick.

2) Invite the Community IN –Form a Green Team or committee of volunteers within the church to plan environmental initiatives and ensure ongoing attention to sustainability. Your Green Team can be in charge of welcoming the community to join you for workshops and events, film screenings, and guest speakers focused on environmental and sustainability practices.

As I wrote about in a recent blog, your church is the perfect place to help the community during heat waves. It can also be a welcoming place during extreme weather events like tornados, hurricanes, and wildfires. Connecting with the community on issues that affect all of us can help build strong and lasting relationships.

And don’t forget the children! Have childcare, if possible, and environmentally focused projects for older kids.

3) Go OUT into the Community – To become a part of the community, don’t just invite them to come to you! Acknowledge what your community is already doing in the areas of environmental stewardship and sustainability.

As a clergy leader, encourage your congregation to join you in helping with already-established local clean-up projects. Take part in climate action events. Become visibly active in interfaith environmental coalitions.

When it comes to environmental stewardship, it takes each and every one of us to protect the planet with which we’ve been blessed. As Environmental Leaders who are also church leaders in our communities, we have a responsibility to lead by example.

Church leadership extends into all areas of life and living. I hope you’ll join me in my free seminar, “How Christian Ministries are Achieving Success” which delves into the many aspects of clergy leadership and the renewal that leadership can generate. Register today as my August sessions are filling up fast.

Greening the Bread of Life

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Apr 19, 2018

As Earth Day approaches, it’s time to take a look at how green our practices are. Every Sunday we offer people the bread of life, yet our fellowship hour boasts some of the unhealthiest practices of the church. Taking a close look at how and what we eat at church is an important part of going green, as is maintaining and sustaining good health. Dealing with unhealthful food, toxic cleaning supplies, and wasteful practices are simple ways of deepening our commitment to greening the church.
Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, has greened its kitchen––no small feat for a 5,000-member church that prides itself on environmental stewardship. Dwight Tawney, administrative pastor,reports, “We serve 300 people every Wednesday night for dinner. Three years ago we were using paper, plastic, and Styrofoam. We disposed of 300 sets of that every single week. Now that’s completely gone. We don’t use it at all.”
Gold and green melamine dishes grace the tables of their dining areas. Reusable silverware rounds out the table setting. The Styrofoam is long gone, as is the sizeable amount of trash generated each week. “There’s a little tradeoff,” Tawney notes. “We have to wash the dishes.” Even so, the amount of water used to wash the dishes is insignificant compared with the manufacturing, transportation, and disposal process that used to be involved. Unlike smaller churches, a full kitchen staff takes care of cleanup here.
Not just the dishes have changed at Village Presbyterian; what is served on them has also changed. “In season we serve local produce,” says Tawney. “And we have virtually eliminated fried food from our menu.” A dietician attends the monthly meetings of the Environmental Action Committee. Not only does she bring great ideas to the table, she brings purchasing power.
Even so, purchasing decisions are carefully weighed for economic feasibility and environmental sustainability, which means the church uses paper napkins, albeit with a higher recycled content. After careful consideration, staff realized that the cost of laundering cloth napkins would be prohibitive.
Traditional cleaning supplies have been replaced with a greener alternative. “We now use low volatile organic compound (VOC) cleaning agents,” Tawney says. “Our building superintendent is part of the Environmental Action Committee. It is important to have him in on the decision-making process.” The superintendent helps them make and meet policy guidelines that keep this facility on the growing edge of green.
Even the coffee has gone green at Village Presbyterian. “We drink a lot of coffee here,” Tawney says while giving a virtual tour of the facility. “We had coffee pots going all the time, but we were consuming a lot of energy and wasting a lot of product. Now we have on-demand coffee.” Using a rental system that includes frozen coffee concentrate means no waste and a guaranteed fresh cup of coffee every time. “It actually ends up being cheaper,” he says.
It is easy to reference intangibles such as carbon foot- prints when talking about the need for environmental stewardship, but all Tawney has to do is point to one steaming cup of coffee in a real mug. Through his eyes, it is easy to see that going green makes sense for the climate and the pocketbook.
Ready to try some of these things yourself? Check out the following options:
The Basics

Encourage the use of mugs instead of paper or Styrofoam cups at coffee hour. Create a wall of mugs that can be used and reused. Be sure to include mugs for guests.
Use the “good” dishes and flatware at church dinners instead of throwaways such as Styrofoam, plastic or foam plates, and plastic utensils. Alternatively, ask people to bring their own table service for meals.
Use dishtowels instead of paper towels and maybe even cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. When using paper, make it recycled.
Wherever possible, buy organic foods. Pesticides harm the health of growers and consumers; and they taint soil, water, and air.
When eating fish, choose species that are not being overfished. For more information, go to montereybayaquarium.org.
Purchase and serve fair-trade coffee, tea, and chocolate. Fair-trade items emphasize responsible steward- ship of the land and provide a good living for the growers. Shade-grown coffees, planted and harvested under the forest canopy, are particularly bird-friendly. For more information, go to coffeereview.com.
Compost leftover food.
Reuse plastic bags as garbage can liners. When purchasing new plastic bags, look for ones made of recycled plastic. Choose those with a high post- consumer waste (PCW) content.
Look carefully at the cleaning agents you are using. Many contain harmful or toxic ingredients. Purchase and use environmentally-friendly cleaning agents.
Refrain from buying antibacterial soaps. Generally, plain soap and water are as effective. Antibacterials seem to cause more problems than they solve.
Try toilet paper and paper towels made of recycled paper.
Just say no to commercial air fresheners; many contain phthalates which are linked to human health problems. Fresh air, sunshine, fans, and baking soda in the bottom of a garbage can provide natural air freshening.

Get Creative

Make your own green cleaning supplies.
Experiment with natural sachets for bathrooms that make use of essential oils or natural herbs and spices.
Establish a scent-free zone in the sanctuary to accommodate those with asthma and allergies.
Try holding meat-free potlucks. Bovines such as beef, buffalo, lamb, and goat produce methane, a greenhouse gas that is twenty-three times more potent than CO2.Choose poultry, grain, beans, and eggs to achieve a lower carbon footprint.
Make your own communion bread out of organic, whole-grain flour.

Go All Out

Ask church members to observe one meat-free day per week and to limit seafood consumption to species that are not being overfished.
Hold cooking classes to help people rediscover the art of cooking using natural ingredients. Invite children to help. Use a cookbook such as Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon.

Adapted from 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church by Rebekah Simon-Peter. To purchase copies of Green Church: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice! Or 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church, please contact us directly: of****@***************er.com. Downloads also available on Kindle.

Green is the New Red

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Feb 9, 2015

‘Tis the season of red: red hearts, red candy, red cards, red bows, red boxes of chocolates…all for Valentine’s Day. I love red as much as the next person, but when it comes to how followers of Jesus show love, I believe green is the new red.

In the church we know green as the color of growing in Christ, of maturing in faith. It’s the color of Ordinary Season–the weeks between Advent and Lent, and between Easter and Advent.

Green has another meaning as well. It’s also the color of sustainability, eco-friendly practices, and environmental awareness. Both the ecclesiastical and the ecological meanings are deeply intertwined.

They’re so deeply intertwined that I don’t think we can grow in Christ and mature in our faith without taking an active interest in the health and vibrancy of the Creation too. Why do I say this? The Creation is the general revelation of God, revealing God’s own nature. (Romans 1:20) We have been given dominion over it and asked to be caretakers of it. (Genesis 1-2). So wiping it out is like erasing God’s own imprint on the planet. Not a good idea. Christ himself is the firstborn of all Creation, through whom all Creation has been made. (Colossians 1:15). We have a responsibility toward it, as much as toward one another. That’s why I say green is the new red.

I want to share with you five things to start doing to green your love of God and one important thing to stop doing immediately.

Start Doing: Incorporate awareness of the Creation in Worship

When we gather to worship God we are joining our voices with the majestic choir of creation. Just as we humans gather to praise God through song, liturgy, sermon and communion, so the creation offers its praise to God, too. The psalmists write that the earth rejoices, the coastlands are glad, the trees clap their hands, and the heavens and earth praise God.
Sing: So many of the traditional songs of the church lift up creation. Sing them!
Pray: Ask for God’s wisdom in how to fulfill our role as stewards of the Creation. Focus on different aspects of the earth weekly such as different animals, rivers, forests, oceans, beaches, soil, and sky. Use your prayers to affirm positive advances being made.
Children’s sermon: Teach children about our interconnectedness with nature. Jesus told stories incorporating sky, sheep, goats, birds, flowers, mountains, and fields. So can we!
Sermon: Develop a yearly series on our deep relationship to the Creation. Incorporate the new four-week Season of Creation into your liturgical calendar. It highlights the work of God the Creator and the wonders of creation.
Observe Earth Sabbath or Environmental Sabbath, a worldwide ecumenical day of reverence for the earth around June 5, World Environment Day. Gather with other congregations in your area to hold an interfaith service. Consider patterning your service after the United Nation’s Environmental Sabbath Programme.
Holy Communion: Recognize Christ as the firstborn of all creation, our oneness with him, and by extension, our unity with creation.

Stop Doing: Thinking It’s Too Hard

All of us live on one planet. We all share the same water, air, earth, and sky. God would not give us something to do that we are not capable of. Read the Green Bible (NRSV) to get grounded in the Word in a new way. Start a Green Team. Read Green Church with your friends. Or simply begin with a prayer for courage. Just don’t say it’s too hard! Love always wins. Especially if it’s green.

The Earth is My Parish

by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Mar 7, 2012

John Wesley famously said, “The world is my parish.”
I believe this generation of Christians is called to claim the whole Creation as ours.
Even as people are suffering from hunger, thirst, the effects of war, unemployment, and a dizzying array of natural disasters, the Earth is suffering too. Climate change, polluted oceans, disappearing species, melting poles, and deforestation are taking their toll on the interdependent web of life God created.
Our fates are tied. We are seeing with greater clarity that what we do to the Earth, we do to each other. And what we do to each other ripples out throughout Creation.
Resurrection Sunday and Earth Day are just around the corner. Both focus on fresh, new life. This is a perfect time to start a green ministry in your church!
But don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew or gulping more than you can swallow. Instead take the “S.I.P.” approach.
1. Start! Even if it means starting small. Many churches recycle. Now take the next step and close the recycling loop. Stock the restrooms with 100% recycled paper products. I like Marcal’s Small Steps toilet paper. Or switch from regular coffee and tea to Fair Trade. Or make sure lights and equipment are turned off when not in use. Small steps build consciousness and momentum.
2. Make it Intergenerational. A recent Barna poll shows that young Christians leave the church in part because the church seems anti-science, and doesn’t deal with the problems of the real world. You can address that. Take a Mother Earth Mission trip and connect with the youth and young adults in your church and community. Clean up a local river or waterway. Pick up trash. Plant trees. Include boomers and seniors, too. This is a concrete way to reach out beyond the walls of your church while making a statement that Christians care about the environment.
3. Preach! Pastor, your impact is larger than you know. Fossil fuels create a sizable carbon footprint. But you have an even larger spiritual footprint in people’s lives. When you preach or pray something it becomes REAL. Check out Green Church: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice! for sermon ideas. Or try incorporating a simple refrain,in your weekly prayer concerns like, “For the gifts of earth and heaven we are grateful. Help us hear the cries of creation, and teach us to be wise stewards of this good gift.”
Six years ago I preached a sermon on recycling. It was summer and most folks were gone. As far as I could tell it was a big fat dud. But one person was listening and it touched something in him. He started a little recycling ministry. That grew into a small business. One that is continuing to this day. It has changed the consciousness of that town. You never know the power of your words!
Here’s to the Resurrection and Renewal of all Creation! Including your congregation. 🙂