Passive Education

Preach sermons about earthkeeping.

Include the natural world in the prayers of the church.

Include music that makes reference to the beauty of creation.

Open the windows during the service and be aware of the sounds, sights, and smells of the surroundings of the church.

Hold outdoor worship services on the church grounds.

Mention earthkeeping events in the announcements or prayers.

Individual Action

Include earthkeeping gifts with the offering.

This might include items such as recycled paper, reusable plates and cups, compost, energy-efficient light bulbs, nontoxic cleaners, etc.--items that represent a change the congregation has made in favor of good earthkeeping practices.

Place recycling bins next to sanctuary exits to facilitate the recycling of bulletins.

If you have more than one service, encourage people to return bulletins for reuse in the next service instead of throwing them away.

Offer devotional materials that encourage earthkeeping.

Congregational Action

Use potted plants instead of cut flowers to decorate the altar.

Passive Education

Include a regular earthkeeping column in the church newsletter.

Include earthkeeping-related inserts or announcements in the bulletin.

These short items could be scripture verses, environmental statistics, or an explanation of the church’s earthkeeping commitment.

Hang posters or banners with earthkeeping themes in prominent places.

Distribute an earthkeeping calendar such as the one included in this handbook, perhaps as part of a newsletter or as handout available at the church.

Post signs that describe the plants and animals found on the church property.

Make information on environmental issues available with other brochures or handouts your church may post.

Organize events that will bring people into positive contact with the natural world.

You might sponsor a nature tour of the church property, a hike at a local park, forest, or meadow, or simply hold some church events such as dinners, worship services, or meetings outside.

Congregational Action

Start an earthkeeping library, with books, articles, and videos related to earthkeeping.

Start with the materials available from the Office of Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education, and add items you find out about in the course of your earthkeeping activities. Members who do not have time to participate in earthkeeping events but who are able to help financially might be invited to purchase materials for the library.

Active Education

Offer a study class on the church and earthkeeping.

There are many such studies already written; several are available through the Office for Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education. They vary in number of class sessions and environmental themes discussed, but all will generally present information on the environmental crisis, present biblical themes to reflect upon, and offer times for reflection and action planning. This can be a good opportunity for those who are skeptical about earthkeeping to voice their questions and get some answers. For those who are enthused about earthkeeping, it can be a chance to deepen their understanding and commitment.

Offer a single-session forum on a topic related to earthkeeping.

This could be a general discussion about what earthkeeping is and why the church should be involved, or it could be focused on a specific issue--perhaps an environmental matter of community interest such as a landfill being located nearby, or a workshop on how to construct and maintain a compost pile.

Active Education

Send youth to outdoor ministry camps for retreats or longer camp sessions.

Information about outdoor ministries programs of the ELCA is available by calling your local synod, the Outdoor Ministries Program at the churchwide headquarters, or on the internet at www.elca.org/dcm/camps/.

Individual Action

Designate a shelf or pegboard where individuals can store their own mugs to use while at church

Make sure there is a supply of soap and clean dishrags and dishtowels in the kitchen so people can wash their mugs after use.

Congregational Action

This saves money, reduces the consumption of resources, and saves landfill space.

Establish a Kitchen Coordinator or Committee.

The Kitchen Coordinator would oversee and recruit workers for such tasks as washing the dishes or running the dishwasher after church events, collecting and washing the kitchen dishcloths and towels, and keeping the kitchen clean and tidy. Making the kitchen a nicer and more efficient place to be will help encourage people to use and wash reusable items instead of disposables.

Set up and clearly label bins or boxes in the kitchen where people can put dishcloths and towels when they are ready to be washed.

Establish a container in the kitchen for compostable items.

Include clear instructions as to what can be composted. Make sure someone is responsible for emptying the container on a regular basis.

Put clearly marked recycling bins next to the trash cans in the kitchen.

Include clear instructions as to what can be recycled. Make sure someone is responsible for taking the materials to the recycling center on a regular basis.

Instead of using single-use, adhesive nametags, set up a bulletin board where members can hang reusable nametags.

Sponsor vegetarian meals in order to conserve resources and promote good health.

The production of vegetables, fruit, and grains requires less water, land, and energy per pound than does the production of meat. A vegetarian diet is also often healthier and less expensive than one based on meat.

Individual Action

Purchase recycled-content paper--ideally, paper that is also not chlorine-bleached.

Purchase other office supplies with recycled content, such as envelopes, letter trays, file folders, and storage boxes.

Have printing done by companies who use soybean-based inks and recycled paper.

Keep the mailing list updated so as to avoid wasting paper by sending correspondence to out-of-date addresses.

Make double-sided copies whenever possible.

Save paper that is blank on one side and use it for draft documents or scrap paper.

Sort and recycle paper when cleaning out old files.

Remember that many recyclers require colored paper, white paper, and heavy items such as file folders all be recycled separately.

Refill or send back for recycling such items as printer and copier toner cartridges, printer ink cartridges, and printer ribbons.

Save empty envelopes to use for scrap paper.

Congregational Action

Recycle paper and cardboard.

Passive Education

Hold a church service without using electric lights.

This may mean using candles, printing bulletins using large type, opening windows, or changing the time of the service to make the most use of sunlight.

Sponsor an event that is conducted without using a particular resource, such as electricity, gas, or water.

The total amount of resources conserved from a single event will be a small portion of the church’s total consumption, and should not be a substitute for more comprehensive energy conservation measures. However, the consciousness-raising benefits can be great, and such an event might be held in conjunction with other activities--to kick off an energy conservation campaign, for instance.

Individual Action

Conduct an energy audit.

How much energy are you using to heat and cool the building, light the building and grounds, and heat water? How can you reduce your energy usage?

Have a meal to which people bring food which they prepare without using electricity or gas, or have a contest to see who can prepare the dish that required the least use of electricity or gas.

Remember that not only do stoves and ovens use electricity--refrigerators and small appliances do, too.

Have a meal to which people bring food which they prepare without using electricity or gas, or have a contest to see who can prepare the dish that required the least use of electricity or gas.

Remember that not only do stoves and ovens use electricity--refrigerators and small appliances do, too.

Congregational Action

Encourage car pooling to church.

Set up a map that indicates where members live and lists contact information.

Replace leaking windows and doors with well-fitting ones.

Make sure the building is properly insulated.

Replace incandescent bulbs with more energy-efficient fluorescent or compact fluorescent bulbs.

Install timed thermostats that heat or A/C will adjust the temperature of rooms to correspond to when they are used.

Install motion-sensitive light switches where appropriate.

Turn down the temperature of the hot water heater.

If you cannot afford to replace leaking windows, cover them with plastic during the winter.

If you can, only heat or cool the portions of the building being used at any given time.

Install blinds or shades on interior office and classroom windows if you do not already have them.

These can be closed during hot summer days to reduce air conditioning costs, or opened during sunny days in the winter to reduce lighting and heating costs.

Congregational Action

Install low-flow toilets and shower heads to conserve water.

Use nontoxic or low-toxicity cleaning products instead of harsh chemicals.

If you are considering purchasing new furnishings such as office furniture, bookshelves, carpeting, pews, tables, etc., prayerfully examine whether you can do without these items, purchase them secondhand, or make them yourself.

Buying such items new is expensive and resource-consuming. While it is necessary for the church to have adequate operational facilities, consider such purchases in light of how much wood, metal, plastic, adhesive, packing materials, and money could be saved if you avoided a new purchase. Also consider that purchasing secondhand items is a form of reuse, which keeps them from being landfilled or otherwise discarded.

Think carefully before building a new building or addition.

Building construction generates huge volumes of landfill waste and consumes a great deal of materials. Is this project really needed? Could we achieve our goals in another way? Are our priorities in the right place? Is this exercising the best stewardship of our money, time, and materials?

If you will be building an addition or a new building, ask your architect to use environmentally-friendly materials.

It is possible to use materials that will promote energy-efficiency, minimize exposure to chemicals from paints, glues, plastics, and carpets, and reuse fixtures reclaimed from other churches or from building material salvage outlets.

If you are rebuilding or adding on, consider carefully how large a building you need.

The construction of buildings is expensive and adds great amounts of waste to landfills; you can reduce both by expanding responsibly instead of extravagantly.

If you are considering renovations of your building, seek out environmentally-friendly paint strippers, paints, and stains.

Conventional forms of these items can contain harsh chemicals that are polluting to make, use, and dispose of.

Establish a recycling program for paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, aluminum and steel cans, newspaper, and/or glass.

Be sure to find out what materials are acceptable at your community’s recycling facility.

Passive Education

Inform the congregation through a forum, newsletter article, signs, or bulletin announcements as to what kinds of plants and animals are found on the property.

Individual Action

Research where run-off water from the property goes--into storm drains? Creeks? Aquifers? Water treatment systems? Does it go into drinking water supplies for you or someone else?

Congregational Action

Investigate xeriscaping, which uses naturally available water sources and climate-appropriate plants instead of irrigation.

Maintain your grounds organically.

Maintain a compost pile to convert food and yard waste into soil-enriching material.

Eliminate the use of chemicals on your property so as to clean up the water supply down the pipe.

Plant trees that will shade the building in the summer and provide a windbreak in the winter.

Plant trees because they contribute to clean air, provide fruit, and/or are simply nice to have around.

Establish a nature trail and/or meditation garden on the property. Invite members of the community to use them.

Congregational Action

Start a church garden and donate the produce to a food pantry, soup kitchen, or shelter.

You don’t need a lawn to start a garden. You can create a container garden in a child’s wading pool or by packing dirt into tires, then locate your garden in a parking lot, untillable ground, or a rooftop. In addition to being a source of food, gardening is a valuable educational experience, especially in this age when so many people are out of touch with the process of growing food. It builds a positive relationship with the natural world, and lets us observe in detail God’s mysterious processes of creation. The staff of the Office of Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education can assist you in setting up a garden.

Participate in a CSA (congregation- or community-supported agriculture).

In congregation-supported agriculture, church members purchase shares of a farm and receive a portion of the produce grown on that farm. This innovative arrangement allows CSA participants and the farmer to share the risks, benefits, and joys of being more directly involved in the food-production process, and provides the farmer with a guaranteed market, a fair price, and money up front to pay for the cost of operating the farm.

Passive Education

Make brochures from local organizations available at the church.

Publicize special waste collection opportunities for household hazardous waste, bulk waste, etc.

Invite a speaker to present a forum about local issues or help generate ideas for earthkeeping projects.

Have a meal to which people bring food which they prepare without using electricity or gas, or have a contest to see who can prepare the dish that required the least use of electricity or gas.

Remember that not only do stoves and ovens use electricity--refrigerators and small appliances do, too.

Encourage car pooling to church.

Set up a map that indicates where members live and lists contact information.

Write letters to state, local, and/or national officials about your views on environmental issues.

You can get information about current issues from environmental organizations, the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, or the Lutheran Office for World Community.

Communicate with environmental organizations in your area and with your municipality’s waste management office.

Contribute volunteers to help with projects organized by environmental groups in your community.

Congregational Action

Organize to address environmental issues in your area.

Contact your municipality about participating in an adopt-a-street/highway program.

Encourage car pooling to church.

Set up a map that indicates where members live and lists contact information.

Encourage individuals to pray and reflect about the role of money in personal and congregational decision-making.

Is the cheapest option always the one most in keeping with Christian values, regardless of the environmental (or social or spiritual) impact? Set some guidelines for when earthkeeping is worth spending money on.

Congregational Action

Have a special offering or fundraiser for an environmental organization, or for earthkeeping activities in the church.

If your congregation has investments, consider investing with an environmentally and socially responsible fund or bank; your investment advisor can show you options for this.

Remember that your money is supporting the activities of the companies you are invested in. Research their environmental and social performance as well as their financial performance. Do their actions reflect your values as a congregation of earthkeeping Christians? Reflect on the relative importance of maximizing financial return vs. supporting responsible institutions.

Active Education

Hold a workshop in which participants reflect on their use of time and attempt to slow down the pace of their lives.

Being in a hurry contributes to consumption and pollution as we drive instead of walk or ride a bike, eat heavily-packaged instant food, or use disposable items so we can cut down on cleaning time. It also gives us an excuse not to give time to worship, personal devotion, or volunteering for the church or others who need our help. Reflect on what activities can be cut out in order to simplify our schedules, reduce our consumption, and allow us more time to spend with loved ones and those who need our help.

Hold a series of workshops for those who wish to practice earthkeeping at home.

Have participants do environmental audits, identify areas to work on, and carry out a plan. Compare notes and support one another as you make changes. Celebrate together at the end.

Encourage environmental tithing, in which members save money while reducing their environmental impact, and donate the difference to an environmental organization or use it for an earthkeeping project.

Encourage members to practice alternative Christmas celebrations that observe the religious significance of the holiday, promote community, and resist consumption pressures.

Give gifts of time, services, or experiences instead of physical possessions. Resist the pressure to set up the biggest light display in the neighborhood and instead donate the time and energy to an organization that works to help the homeless. Spend time with family members in devotions and discussions observing the passage of the four weeks of Advent.

Congregational Action

Adopt a statement committing the church to being an environmental covenant community.

The National Council of Churches sponsors a registry of congregations who have made a commitment to "become engaged in or to continue to become engaged in [healing and defending creation] in the following ways: worship...learning and teaching...lifestyle...community, national, and global involvement..." Covenant congregations sign a pledge to uphold this commitment, and they receive a certificate of participation. The NCC’s Environmental Justice Covenant Congregation Program form is included in the appendix of this handbook.