Sustaining Congregations

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Sustaining Congregations

• What Can the Church Do
• About Global Climate Change?
• First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
• 14 October 2007

Audrey deCoursey MDiv Student at Pacific School
of Religion Speaker for California Interfaith
Power Light
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Outline

• Introductions
• The Congregational Life Cycle
• - for Sustainability
• Ways Organizations Can Help
• Ways Churches Can Help
• Conclusion
• Time 40 minutes presentation, with discussion
  20 minutes questions
• Do interrupt to ask me to define words I havent
  explained well enough!

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Introductions

• Audrey deCoursey
• Church of the Brethren
• Pacific School of Religion, MDiv Candidate
• CIPL Intern through the Beatitudes Society
• My Environmental Passions
• Toxicology (Environmental Health)
• Logging (Tree Hugging)

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Congregational Life Cycle 1

• Any living system experiences a cycle of
• birth,
• growth,
• (fleeting) stability,
• decline,
• and death.

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Congregational Life Cycle 2

• Organizations can renew themselves through
  periodic redefinition, and a return to stability
  instead of declining.

• The Churchs commitment to addressing global
  climate change can be a process of redefinition.

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• In becoming a light
• to empower the world
• to live sustainably,
• the Church will sustain itself.

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The Church can be the light of the sustainability
movement in two wayslets do MORE.
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Enviro Work All Organizations Can Do

• Greening the Church Building and Community
• Supporting Individuals Greening Work
• Political Mobilizing
• Community Involvement
• Education
• Using International Networks of Committed People
• Working for Justice Locally and Globally

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Greening the Church Building and
Community/Structural Greening

• (This is the stuff that may be easiest to put a
  finger on.)
• Material Resource Conservation
• Waste Reduction
• Energy Conservation
• Transportation
• Sustainable Products
• Gardening/Landscaping
• Sustainable Food
• Greening Organizational Sub-Communities

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Structural Greening MATERIAL RESOURCE
CONSERVATION

• reduce paper usage
• print bulletins and newsletters on recycled paper
  
• or dont print them at all
• use Green Bibles (Forest Stewardship Council
  approved)
• use recycled-content toilet paper and paper
  towels
• dont use paper towels
• save paper to save water.
• conserve water
• no bottled water!!!!
• install low flush toilets and waterless urinals
• install low flow fixtures
• use gray water
• harvest rainwater
• garden water-efficiently

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Structural Greening WASTE REDUCTION

• make recycling available in the church,
  especially for hard-to-recycle items like plastic
  bins and CFLs
• use real mugs at coffee hour bring your own and
  wash it
• compost coffee grinds and tea bags
• hold enviro-friendly fundraisers like a group
  garage sale
• reuse decorations
• use washable, reusable plates and utilities
• set a goal of zero waste for the congregation
• provide a library of tools, especially eco tools
  like energy meters
• use salvaged materials for rebuilding projects
  and for crafts

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Structural Greening ENERGY CONSERVATION

• shop IPL! (www.shopIPL.org)
• use CFLs and LEDS
• use natural lighting and sky lighting
• install motion sensors on lights
• energy star appliances (you get the CIPL
  discount!)
• buy renewable energy from your utility
• install geothermals or solar panels onsite for
  electricity - make the solar panels visible
• insulate windows (triple-pane) (for stained
  glass?)
• use solar water heating
• consolidate worship services
• install revolving doors to be more efficient
• turn electronics off overnight or when not using
  them - watch out for phantom loads from plugged
  in appliances - use power strips and turn them
  off
• shut the door to the sanctuary
• only heat parts of the building youre in
• set thermostat to 78F in summer, 68F in winter -
  hold Sweater Sunday to celebrate turning down the
  temperature
• use stairs, not elevators - and dont use
  automatic door buttons unless you need them
• be climate neutral for church business
• install a kiosk about energy consumption to offer
  real time feedback (seeing the immediate impact
  is more effective in reducing consumption)
• offer online consumption meters to show
  consumption patterns in real time

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Structural Greening TRANSPORTATION

• buy offsets for congregant and staff commuting
  to church, including travel to annual church
  conferences and retreats
• install (weather-sheltered) bike racks
• provide shower facilities for bikers
• bless bus and bike riding
• locate churches and off-site functions near
  public transit
• provide preferential parking for hybrids and
  carpools
• carpool to services efficient transportation
• advertise the carpool program through church
  newsletter or online

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Structural Greening SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

• use nontoxic (Green Seal-certified) cleaning
  products
• use soy-based inks
• use beeswax candles or dont use candles
• use hemp robes and stoles
• buy non-vinyl banners

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Structural Greening GARDENING/LANDSCAPING

• landscape with drought-resistant plants
• water at night if you have to
• plant in the fall
• plant native species
• garden for habitat and thus for natural
  pest-resistance
• reuse garden fixtures for style and
  sustainability
• phase out lawn areas
• construct bioswales
• make living roofs
• install permeable paving
• disconnect downspouts
• dont use pesticides
• build trails through church land for nature
  education
• provide nature education from signs in the native
  plants garden
• plant edible landscaping - and eat it!

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Structural Greening SUSTAINABLE FOOD

• host Green Communion
• provide organic, fair trade coffee and tea
• eat slow foods/eat and live locally
• serve as a CSA drop-spot
• host a farmers market at the church
• share from your home gardens
• go vegetarian as a community (seriously)

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Structural Greening ORGANIZATIONAL
SUB-COMMUNITIES

• use the existing church structures to enhance
  the green scene
• youth
• do green youth fundraisers
• sponsor outdoor retreats to commune with Creation
• involve youth in gardening
• kids
• utilize salvaged/scrap materials for craft
  projects
• green team
• connect the green team to the churchs visioning
  committees and administrative/budget committees
• budget
• do socially responsible investing (especially for
  endowments) and/or shareholder activism
• outdoor ministries
• hold outdoor retreats to honor and commune with
  Gods creation (offset travel energy, of course!)
  for all congregants

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Greening the Church Building and
Community/Structural Greening, redux

• Material Resource Conservation
• Waste Reduction
• Energy Conservation
• Transportation
• Sustainable Products
• Gardening/Landscaping
• Sustainable Food
• Greening Organizational Sub-Communities

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Supporting Individuals Greening Work

• The Church, as a collection of individuals, can
  multiply its influence. Help others do
  everything they do on Sunday throughout the rest
  of the week. Let the churchs structural
  greening initiative be a light to inspire
  congregants - and neighbors - in their daily
  living.
• Support students in greening their campuses.
• Support employed folks in greening their
  workplaces.
• Support all congregants in greening their homes
  and neighborhoods.

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Political Mobilizing

• CIPL can help!
• support environmentalist legislation locally,
  regionally, nationally, and internationally
• lobby your representatives
• write letters to representatives and local
  newspapers
• - and do it all AS PEOPLE OF FAITH!
• This is doing more.

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Community Involvement

• get involved in local environmentalist and
  environmental justice movements
• get recycling into your community
• screen green movies, such as An Inconvenient
  Truth (possible through CIPL!)
• host church-sponsored community events and
  environmentalist guest speakers
• open the church building to environmental groups
  and activists
• sign up for regional green certification and
  green business listings
• join cleanup efforts, at the beach and elsewhere
• join trail restoration and tree planting projects
• donate to eco groups, especially within the
  denomination
• host community gardens on church land
• educate members about local environmental justice
  issues and how to take action

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Education

• keep eco books in the church library
• do environmental education in Sunday school
• put signs up to tell people what you are doing
• promote eco accomplishments in newsletter, on
  website, in services
• install solar panel energy consumption panels in
  heavily-trafficked places
• provide a bulletin board for the green team

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Using International Networks of Committed People

• connect internationally, nationally, and
  regionally using your churchs ties - to learn
  and to influence others

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Working for Justice

• GLOBALLY
• buy fair trade
• avoid sweatshop-made clothes
• participate in boycotts of unethical businesses
• do socially responsible investing (especially for
  endowments) and/or shareholder activism
• LOCALLY
• support minority-women-owned businesses
• support affirmative action for hiring
• fair labor conditions for janitorial and
  childcare staff
• provide a living wage and health care for all
  employees
• host a homeless shelter and soup kitchen
• make the building accessible
• support unions/hold fundraisers for striking
  workers
• get involved in ending environmental racism in
  your neighborhoods
• EVERYWHERE
• honor diversity and overcome dualisms
• gender justice

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Enviro Work All Organizations Can Do, redux

• Greening the Church Building and Community
• Supporting Individuals Greening Work
• Political Mobilizing
• Community Involvement
• Education
• International Networks of Committed People
• Working for Justice Locally and Globally

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Enviro Work the Church In Particular Needs to Do

• Eco-liturgy
• Denominational advocacy
• Healing the rift between science and religion
• Attending to our values
• Community as a goal in itself
• Interpretation of Bible and Christian traditions
• Spiritual tools for healing
• Symbolic language
• Eco-theology

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Eco-liturgy

• incorporate natural elements into baptisms,
  liturgical seasons, etc.
• shape services to honor the changing natural
  seasons
• bless bikers and public transit commuters
• bless animals (St. Francis Day)
• incorporate Earth consciousness into table
  prayers
• hold outdoor services in local parks also to
  outreach into the neighborhood
• pray for the planet and its people in community
  prayers
• buy sustainably harvested palm fronds or use
  local plants on Palm Sunday
• hold green weddings and funerals

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Denominational Advocacy

• Green certification programs have more bite at
  denominational levels.
• Example Unitarian Universalist Green Sanctuary
  program

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Harmonizing Religion and Science

• - starting with our Creation stories

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(No Transcript)
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Talking Values

• Facts do not translate automatically into action
  they are first filtered by values/judgments.
• Our values shape our worldviews, and our
  worldviews are how we interpret our experiences
  of the world. Our values are what help us choose
  (how) to take action.
• Churches are communities where people talk about
  values - how we should lives our lives.

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Christian community is an end, as well as a
means. (See Jacques Ellul)

• Thy Kin-dom come, thy will be done, on Earth as
  it is in Heaven
• The Church is the Body of Christ.
• We have arrived.

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Our Rich Textual Heritage

• The Bible and Christian traditions can foster
  justice-making and radical Creation community.
• Christianity has a long tradition of standing up
  for peace and justice, for siding with the
  oppressed, for doing activism over the long haul.

• And if we dont do the job of (re)interpreting
  the Christian Scriptures and traditions, who
  will? Can we afford to leave this task to
  someone else?

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Spiritual Tools for Healing

• lament and curse
• the power of hope
• eschatologies beyond apocalypticism
• community as healing Christianity can unite us
  with people and creatures across the globe, and
  remind us that were not alone in facing these
  huge oppressions.

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Symbolic Language

• Church is a community that tells its faith by
  combining words with ritual, story, dance, music,
  visual art, film
• Symbolic language honors layers of truths
  literal and figurative metaphors that are true
  on all levels.
• Symbolic language can be more accessible to
  different people than scholarly language alone.

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Eco-theology

• No more
• Idolatry
• Blasphemous certainty
• Hierarchical dualisms

• Abundance of
• Right Relationship
• Interconnection
• Mystery
• Faithful doubt
• Diversity

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Enviro Work the Church Needs to Do, redux

• Eco-liturgy
• Denominational advocacy
• Healing the rift between science and religion
• Attending to our values
• Community as a goal in itself
• Interpretation of Bible and Christian traditions
• Spiritual tools for healing
• Symbolic language
• Eco-theology

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Conclusion

• Congregations need to redefine themselves through
  sustainability.
• The Christian Church as a whole needs to renew
  its faithful life, as a sustainable community
  within Gods Creation.
• Sustainability ministries will serve to renew
  and, thus, sustain the Church itself.
• And we do eco-justice ministries not simply to do
  something new, but because an ecological
  consciousness instills in us a radically
  God-centered vision of community.

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Recommended Readingon General Environmental
Issues

• Sandra Steingraber, Living Downstream. On cancer
  and environmental health.
• Derrick Jensen and George Draffan, Strangely Like
  War. On deforestation as violence.
• Ruth Ozeki, My Year of Meats. Novel about the US
  meat industry, through the eyes of a Japanese
  television producer.

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Recommended Readingon Christian Eco-theology

• Eco-Justice Notes, by Rev. Peter Sawtell,
  available at ministry_at_eco-justice.org.
• Laurel Kearns and Catherine Keller, eds.,
  Ecospirit. 2007 collection of essays of
  eco-theology.
• Ivone Gebara, Longing for Running Water. Great
  primer to ecofeminism.
• Sallie McFague, The Body of God and Life
  Abundant.
• Rosemary Radford Ruether, Gaia and God.
• Catherine Keller, The Face of the Deep. Thick
  analysis of the Judeo-Christian creation story
  through an ecofeminist lens.

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Thanks!

• For more information, please contact us!
• California Interfaith Power Light
• 510-444-4078 ext. 319
• Audrey deCoursey
• AdeCoursey_at_psr.gtulink.edu