University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
Midway Christian Church, known locally for its environmental
stewardship, is now nationally recognized for it.
For at least the last
decade, the church made changes to its structure and services in line with the
goal of “creation care,” a term for environmental stewardship representing the
congregation’s belief that humans are stewards of divine creation. They believe
creation care enacts God’s plan for a healthy and livable earth.
These changes were nationally recognized in 2015 when the
church was honored in the “Cool Congregations” challenge organized by a
religious non-profit, Interfaith Power and Light, that identified inspiring
responses to global warming.
According to the challenge’s website, “Our unique stewardship
program helps congregations engage their members in creation care by reducing
individual greenhouse gas emissions and helps save hundreds of dollars in the
process.”
The church's colorful bike rack is made from used bicycle parts, from the Bluegrass Cycling Club. (Photo by Austyn Gaffney) |
Also, the church’s improvements to its historic sanctuary,
built in 1894, and its fellowship hall, included the installation of LED and
motion-sensing lights, water-saving toilets and high-grade insulation.
“Creation care is now in the DNA of our church,” said the
Rev. Heather McColl, pastor to about 60 regular attendees and 300 members. “It
took a long journey to get us to this place.”
Sandy Gruzensky, chair of the church’s board of trustees,
said she hopes the influence of creation care in the church’s decision-making
will influence the broader community.
“We hope that the more people who see us choosing
sustainability, the more our congregation and community will start to make
changes intuitively,” Gruzesky said. “The changes become integrated. We’re
leading by example.”
Green Campus
One catalyst for the church’s mission of creation care was a
broken heating and air-conditioning system. In 2005, the church chose to
replace duct-taped repairs with an energy-efficient system. The new system had
a higher upfront cost, but saved money in the long run, Gruzensky said.
“The green philosophy was already there,” she said. “We’re a small congregation and limited
in our funding. When our first major project came along we decided to look at
it as a long-term investment.”
The church’s dedication to environmental work continued to
grow.
“I think our biggest project when we were going green was
our kitchen, certified by the health department,” said McColl. “We were already
pretty close, but we had to add a three-base sink and a mop sink. It really
wasn’t that much.”
The certified kitchen allows the church to serve the general public at monthly community dinners like this one at Thanksgiving in 2015. |
Secondly, the kitchen moved the church forward in its
mission of greening its campus. While planning how to serve such large groups
of people, church leaders decided to stop buying styrofoam plates and instead
took the dusty, reusable dishware out of the cabinet. Along with serving food
on real plates, the church invested in eco-friendly cutlery and cups that are
recyclable and compostable.
“People really appreciate it, when they know that they’re
using sustainable stuff,” McColl said. “People notice that.”
The church’s creation care recently reached new heights
dealing with a colony of bats occupying the belfry. Estimating a population in
the thousands, Adele Dickerson, a church trustee, joked, “I think we probably
had a case study.”
Dickerson, along with church members, found an ecologically
sound way to remove the bats without exterminating them. She noted their
importance in the life cycle, which includes eating mosquitoes.
“The method of bat exclusion works like a revolving door,”
said Dickerson. “The bats can leave the belfry, but they can’t come back in.”
The bat-friendly solution also required the church to upgrade the belfry’s
insulation, reducing a potential fire hazard.
Green congregation
One of biggest promoters of the church’s “green” changes is
Carol Devine, pastor of Providence Church in Nicholasville and minister of the
Green Chalice program of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
One side of the church's historical marker. (Photo by Austyn Gaffney) |
To become a Green Chalice congregation, the church followed
three steps. Beginning in 2010, the church formed a Green Chalice team and
adopted the Alverna Covenant, an agreement recognizing the human causes of
climate change, and promising to create a more sustainable lifestyle,
congregation, and community. Then, it declared three specific, identifiable
acts of creation care: the new heating and air-conditioning system, the
commercial kitchen, and the rain gardens.
One of 124 Green Chalice congregations in North America, the
church is only one of eight that has received a Green Chalice certification, an
honor bestowed on churches that show a strong devotion to creation care. It
requires a rolling three-year commitment to continually improve four areas of
the church: its buildings, its other property, its worship practices, and its
education and outreach.
“The Green Chalice
program is a grassroots ministry that began in Kentucky,” Devine said. “In
2011, our ministry grew from a few passionate people in Kentucky to a movement
throughout the U.S. and Canada.”
The Disciples of Christ’s work for ecological justice began
much earlier, in 1977, when its General Assembly formed a Task Force on
Ecology. The task force, made up of 18 Disciple members and staff, met at the
Alverna Retreat Center near Indianapolis, and wrote the Alverna Covenant. The
document is named after Mt. Alverna in Italy, where Francis of Assisi, patron
saint of animals and the environment, occasionally lived.
Forty years later, the church is still using this initial
framework. Each year, before Earth Day on April 22, the congregation
re-confirms its commitment to the Alverna Covenant. McColl emphasized its
value, stating, “It’s important because it signals that it’s not just words.
It’s a pledge, a covenant, a promise.”
Green Community
Church members didn’t accomplish these accolades alone.
Their conservation efforts created partnerships with Midway Renaissance
GreenSpace, Bluegrass Greensource, Third Rock Consulting, Woodford County High
School, Equus Run Vineyard, Bluegrass Cycling Club, and other churches within
the community.
The church was built in 1894. (Photo by Austyn Gaffney) |
After the presidential election, Dickerson and Gruzensky
started organizing Food for the Soul, a bi-monthly Sunday dinner at the church.
They discuss topics such as climate change and immigration.
McColl has considered moving their sentiment for community
care into local advocacy.
“We’ve had conversations that our role may be changing from
educators to advocates, and we’re asking what will that look like in this new
political landscape,” McColl said. For example, McColl voiced her opposition to
this month’s congressional vote to repeal the recently enacted Stream
Protection Rule, allowing coal waste to continue leaching into Kentucky
waterways.
With this possible new direction in mind, McColl will take
the church’s story to the General Assembly of the Disciples of Christ in
Indianapolis in July.
“We want to show that small churches can go green, and they
don’t need major, expensive changes,” McColl said.
Reflecting on the future of her congregation and community,
McColl said the church “will follow our basic tenet of faith: take care of our
community and love one another.”
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