Congregations practice sustainability and environmental stewardship. Understanding creation care is valued and taught in all facets of congregational life. Meetinghouses designed with green and sustainable architectural principles.
Featured Story
Rain Barrel Project Inspires Blossom Hill
Rain barrel in process
Blossom Hill Mennonite Church,
Lancaster, PA, takes rain seriously. On March 22, 2008, the congregation
sponsored a rain barrel-making day that produced 11 barrels.
Rain barrels enable homeow
ners to
capture rainwater and save it for later use watering lawns or gardens. A rain
barrel cuts down on ground water usage and on the amount of unfiltered
stormwater rushing into local streams.
Doug Ehst, a teacher at Lancaster
Mennonite Middle School, led the barrel-making endeavor. He says enthusiasm was
high and hopes to organize another barrel-making day that will produce 11 more
barrels.
Blossom Hill is a congregation of
about 120 people, many of whom feel a strong sense of responsibility to care
for the earth. Some drive hybrids; others favor cloth diapers as a way to cut
down on waste. Recently the group built a new building that is heated and
cooled with a ground source heat pump—a highly efficient HVAC system that
exchanges heat with the earth rather than the air.
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Rockway
Mennonite Church Initiates Carbon Offset Program
Members of Rockway Mennonite Church, Kitchener, ON, have gotten our their calculators and their check books lately. They've been figuring out how much C02 their lifestyles are putting into the air and offsetting that amount at the rate of $30 per tonne.
The congregation first became
interested in the issue of climate change through prompting from one of our
members, Roger Baer. Roger is a retired French teacher, a long time environmental
activist and prophetic voice on this issue. Roger and another member, Graeme
Stemp-Morlock, a journalist who writes on environmental topics, convened a
meeting in the fall of 2006 and invited the congregation to attend. Much to
their delight, approximately 50 people (out of a congregation of about 100)
turned up!
The Rockway group held more meetings last winter to explore the
issue and to identify what they could do, both as individuals and as a
congregation, to raise awareness and take action. As a result of those meetings,
an ad hoc committee of eight people was formed to follow up on ideas that had
been discussed.
In the summer of 2007, Roger encouraged the group to
implement a Carbon Offset Program. Participants are invited to calculate their
carbon footprint using a CO2 emission calculator. They are then asked to
contribute a fee of $30 per tonne to offset their emissions. Funds raised will
be used to undertake an energy audit at Zion United Church in Kitchener (where
Rockway meets) as well as to assist Rockway Mennonite Collegiate (the former
home of the church) with its carbon reduction program.
The Peace and Social Concerns Committee and Church
Council processed this idea further and both agreed that the proposal could be
presented to the congregation. This was done on November 18, 2007, and it
received a positive response. To date, approximately 25% of members have
expressed an interest in participating. The committee is now helping them to
calculate their carbon footprints for 2007 and make donations accordingly.
However, the primary purpose of this initiative is to promote education and
lifestyle change, not to raise funds.
The Rockway Mennonite Church Climate Change Group welcomes interchange with other congregations on
this issue.
From Brian Hunsberger on behalf of Rockway Mennonite
Church Climate Change Group. Its members are: Roger Baer, Graeme Stemp-Morlock,
Kimberly Barber, Lewis Brubacher, Pastor Scott Brubaker-Zehr, Bob Dingman and
Dave Willms.
