Concrete earthkeeping projects like recycling, refitting lighting systems, and putting in a church garden are exciting and worthwhile activities. However, they don’t happen without planning, and you won’t reap their full benefits without follow-up. Although you may be enthusiastic about promoting earthkeeping in your church, don’t let your excitement get in the way of doing a little helpful planning. Likewise, remember that your work is not finished when a given project is over--remember to review and learn from your activities. Throughout it all, take time to worship God and do things that keep you connected to the creation.

Each of the following steps are important to building and earthkeeping program that will suit your congregation’s needs and be sustainable over time:

1. Gather others to help—Then Let Them:

Gathering Others—Finding Allies

Work is often more enjoyable and seems easier when there are more hands to help, and this applies to earthkeeping. Find others in your congregation who are interested in earthkeeping issues and work together; form a committee. Ask for support and ideas from your pastoral staff and church council. Work on cooperative projects with churches--Lutheran or otherwise--and environmental groups in your area or synod. Find out whether there is a caring for creation committee in your synod, and make use of their resources-- you may even decide to serve on the committee. Contact the staff of the ELCA’s Office of Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education, and make use of their resources and advice.

Letting Them Help—Delegating:

Don’t try to do everything yourself. Delegating work is one of the most critical ways to involve others. Gather a committee or informal group of people who want to help with promoting earthkeeping in your congregation--then let them help! If you want to start a recycling program, for instance, delegate one person to research recycling facilities and requirements, another to make or procure recycling bins, another to do publicity, and another to recruit other congregation members to take the recyclable materials to the recycling facility. You will have plenty to do without an assigned job of your own: check with all of your committee members to make sure they have followed through with their tasks, help them figure out how to do so if they have not, and thank them for their work. Once the program is set up, one committee member can be assigned to make sure a congregation member is always responsible for picking up the recyclables. As the central organizer and delegator, you may never touch a can, but the job cannot be done without you.

2. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel--Assess the Available Resources:

There is a wealth of available materials on congregational earthkeeping. For almost any earthkeeping project you might wish to undertake, there are people and written resources to help you. Taking some time to investigate the materials already available can save you time and energy. The materials available from the ELCA and the NCC are a good place to start. ELCA Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education Office staff are also available to advise you. There is a list of resources at the end of this handbook.

3. Meet People Where They Are—Know Your Congregation:

Choose earthkeeping activities that are in keeping with your congregation’s existing energy and commitment level, and which take advantage of the gifts they have to offer. You can assess interests and resources by using a short survey: ask people what environmental issues are important to them, how they already practice earthkeeping in their own lives, what they want to learn more about, what kinds of activities they would participate in, whether they wish to volunteer for a committee, etc. A sample survey is included with this handbook. These two questions are especially important:

If few people in your congregation are educated about environmental issues and their connection to the church, you may not get immediate support for adopting a pledge to become a model earthkeeping congregation--basic consciousness-raising may be in order first. On the other hand, in a congregation where the importance of environmental issues is a given, you may spend less energy on education and more on activities such as altering purchasing and energy-use habits or participating in community environmental activism.

Resources include not only money, but also talents, interests, time, and space. Are there artists in the congregation? Encourage them to create posters or banners with an earthkeeping theme. If there are health professionals in your congregation, consider exploring the connection between the environment and health problems. Do you have lots of land? Establish a nature trail, meditation area, and/or garden, and invite members of the community to make use of them. Is yours an urban congregation with little land? Adopt your street for a regular litter cleanup event. Make earthkeeping activities relevant to people’s lives, and they will be more meaningful.

Meaningful Goals—Creating Hands-on Experiences:

Engaging multiple senses helps people learn and retain information--and it is usually more enjoyable than simply being lectured at. People also come to care about what they are familiar with. Create earthkeeping activities that let people use their senses of touch, vision, hearing, taste, and smell to get to know the beauty and mystery of the natural world. Try opening the church windows during the service, listening to the birds and smelling the air. Or do a tour of the church grounds, touching, smelling, and perhaps tasting the plants that grow there. Then reflect on the experience together, sharing what you learned or felt during the activity. Such activities help thwart information overload and go a long way toward helping people build a personal, loving connection to God’s creation.

Realistic Goals—Starting Small:

Don’t bite off more than you can chew--small successes are better than big disappointments. Many organizers get frustrated and burned out because they attempt projects that are unrealistic. Work on projects you can handle and sustain over time. As you create a history of progress and success, you build enthusiasm and recognition for earthkeeping in your congregation. This will ultimately have a longer-lasting and deeper impact than short-lived, dramatic projects that are ambitious but tire people out.

A meaningful and realistic vision is necessary for a vibrant earthkeeping program, but vision alone will not get the work done. Be specific about the who, what, when, where, and how of the activities you plan. If you are planing a church garden, decide who will organize digging and planting the plot, on what part of the property. Do you have shovels? Access to water? What will you plant? What will you do with the produce? Does someone else need to approve the idea before it can be carried out? Who will organize finding people to help tend the garden? How will you use the garden as an educational tool while it is growing? Who is knowledgeable about organic gardening methods? Considering such questions ahead of time will help prevent problems and make your efforts more effective.

6. Carry out earthkeeping activities:

While good planning is critical, don’t spend so much time planning that your vision never materializes, and resist the desire to have every detail of your plan worked out before you act. Spending meeting after meeting making plans that never come to fruition is discouraging and saps the energy of a committee. You may not have people lined up to wash ceramic cups after coffee hour for every Sunday for the next two months, but don’t let that stop you from making the switch from Styrofoam to re-usables. Appoint someone to recruit dishwashers in time to fill in the gaps, and act in faith that God is at work in our midst, even when we are not sure how God’s work will get done.

Educating people about the earthkeeping activities happening in their midst is as important as the activities themselves. Doing so helps establish the idea that earthkeeping is an ongoing part of the mission of the congregation, and educates people about the earthkeeping issues and needs relevant to their situation. This step is especially important in congregations that have little experience with earthkeeping, as it helps build the foundation of awareness and support which is necessary for taking on additional earthkeeping projects in the future. Keeping people informed also increases the likelihood that more people will want to get involved--which is unlikely to happen if they don’t know there is anything to get involved with.

You may try earthkeeping activities or projects that do not seem to work well or are not well received. Don’t take these personally or view them as failures--use them as opportunities to learn something about your congregation and adjust your activities accordingly. Conversely, analyze events that worked well in order to build on that success. Why didn’t anyone come to the Wednesday night forum on the benefits of composting? Perhaps they already know how to compost, or have no yard in which to use the compost. Or perhaps the people who were interested in coming had to work or only had Wednesday nights to spend with their families or friends. Try adjusting the topic or the time, or try a different format altogether. Great creativity can come from "failed" attempts. Don’t miss out on the opportunity.

Change takes time, whether it be change in the state of the environment or change in a congregation’s attitude toward earthkeeping. At times, you may not feel that you are making progress on either one, especially if earthkeeping is a new idea for your congregation. Know that you are sowing seeds that may take time--months or even years--and faithful tending to bear visible fruit. We are called to work in a spirit of hope, trusting in God’s assurance of a renewed creation, remembering that it is not we that make change happen, but God.

9. Worship the Creator and enjoy the creation.

Take time for activities that will remind you and your committee why you are committed to earthkeeping. Pray, sing, share stories, read scripture, and spend time enjoying the creation. Give thanks to God for the gifts of creation and redemption. Such activities are refreshing for individuals, can build group spirit, and help keep you connected to God, the natural world, and one another.