My friend Lorainne is working on greening her church and asked me for some tips.  I don't have the perfect plan or a lot of experience with this, but hey Earth Day is coming up and we don't have time for perfection, so here goes.  All of my "tips" are in draft status and probably always will be.  Please send me any ideas you have and I'll add them. Keep coming back to the "Connected" category on the side of the blog named "Green Church Resources" for updates. 

Step One: Get involved with your church.  When I started going to St. James, I didn't know who anyone was, I just knew it felt like home.  I asked Father Ryan for guidance about how to get involved and he pointed me to Patty Bowman, the Pastoral Associate in charge of Social Ministries.  She suggested I join the Just Faith program. Two years of social justice classes later and I have a wonderful community of friends to share ideas and for support.  This community grounding is essential for trust and nurturing those Holy Spirit connections.

Step Two: Don't reinvent the wheel. Other groups have had success with Greening churches.  Earth Ministry has been doing this for years. Their staff and volunteers can point you in the right direction. Their "Greening Congregations Handbook" is a comprehensive guide to green ideas and strategies that laypeople and clergy can apply to their congregations. Partnering with others, both secular and religious will get you going a lot faster. The Interfaith Creation Festival will be a great avenue for ideas on how to green your congregation and for connecting with people to help you.

Step Three: Propose a plan: We created a short menu of eco ideas for St. James to try over the next year.  We borrowed heavily from Earth Ministry for our strategies, but customized them to our particular parish.  A plan could come out of step four, or you might use it to get to step four. I used this plan as a pitch to the parish staff. Our eco-justice group will change parts of the plan and implement parts over time: St. James Environment Plan  We also created a timeline: Eco Justice Timeline 

Step Four: Create an Eco Justice Group: You'll need other people to support you in your efforts.  That support will be emotional, spiritual, intellectual andthe group will nurture relationships and fun to sustain some of the tedious or difficult aspects of environmental justice.  The group can be structured in many ways, but should include elements of prayer, study, support and action.  Earth ministry has great advice on how to get started and good formats for the meetings. Here's a sign-up sheet your group can use to get names and numbers of parishioners interested in environmental action or information at your parish:Eco-Interest Sign-Up Sheet

Step Five: Identify Lay-Folk v. Staff Responsibilities: In many churches, lay people (parishioners) are playing bigger roles.  This can lead to some ambiguity around who does what and how to make decisions.  Establish a liaison from your eco-justice group and a parish staff liaison so everyone works together in harmony.

Step Six: Just Do It: Just get started.  Do stuff.  Be iterative in your approch.  Go where the spirit moves you.  And that brings us to the final step, the first step and the best step in a pinch...
 
Step Seven: Pray.

For narratives along the way regarding Green Faith from my perspective, check out the Green Faith category on the side of the blog.  The steps above will change too depending on my experience at St. James.  Please contact me at derek@seattlecitizen.org if you have any questions or ideas.  God is Good and Green.