Resources and Comments in Response to “Creation Care in Motion”
Mark Torgerson, author of “Creation Care in Motion” (the May 14, 2012 Alban Weekly, adapted from Greening Spaces for Worship and Ministry: Congregations, Their Buildings, and Creation Care), emphasizes the importance of committing to “greening the life of a faith community” if a congregation is to honor its biblical mandate to protect creation.
Once that commitment is in place, says Torgerson, leaders need to develop congregation-wide greening strategies and garner the support of the entire congregation for confirming a greener building and community. Leaders can do this by visiting other congregations that have successfully launched greening efforts, as well as by analyzing their own community’s patterns of consumption and waste, getting advice from land development professionals, and offering opportunities to “implement green initiatives”.
The author also discusses the value of education and worship in promoting and sustaining activities that honor the earth and all its creatures.
What resources might support you and your congregation in becoming more “green”? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider Sacred Acts: How Churches Are Working to Protect Earth’s Climate and Claiming Earth as Common Ground: The Ecological Crisis through the Lens of Faith.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
albanroundtable 
Thanks to Alban for featuring this topic. GreenFaith, the interfaith environmental group that I direct, has a major on-line resource – called Building in Good Faith – on green building for faith-based facilities – http://www.buildingingoodfaith.org. Our on-line resource center at http://www.greenfaith.org offers a large number of resources to help faith-based groups green their operations.
I work with groups of congregations of various faith traditions to help them identify ways to reduce their use of energy, i.e. electricity, oil, natural gas, propane, thereby reducing their carbon footprint and also saving them money. I have found that people of faith really want to do the right thing, but lack the skills and/or knowledge of what to do. Perhaps you were including energy in your thinking, but I found m=no mention of reducing energy consumption as a kind of stewardship of the earth, yet is is probably has the greatest impact of any action congregations can take..
Dear Carol:
I am Mark Torgerson, the author of the book. Attention to energy generation and consumption is indeed a central issue in the pursuit of creation care. It sounds as if you are doing much good work in guiding congregations in this area. I do address the topic of energy in the book, as well as site selection and development, building material choice, water use, interior air quality, green cleaning programs, and beauty. Perhaps my book will be a helpful supplement for your own work. Thank you for inquiring about the content of the book.
Mark A. Torgerson
Judson University