5 minute read
faith-based sustainability
Being Good Stewards: Local Church Goes Green
by Morgan Greene
If you were at the Southport Wooden Boat Show last November, you may have noticed a group of people volunteering their time to collect plastic litter. That would have been Trinity United Methodist Church’s (UMC) Creation Care Team, and cleaning up after festivals isn’t the only thing they’re doing to protect our local environment.
Trinity UMC is part of North Carolina’s Green Church Initiative, a statewide program created to help churches become more sustainable and care for their local environment. Trinity’s Creation Care coordinator, Peggy Lacey, says the program is about Biblically-ordained stewardship.
“As disciples of Christ, we are called to be good stewards of God’s creation,” says Lacey. “Accordingly, we call upon the United Methodist Church to adopt fresh ways to respond to the perils that now threaten the integrity of God’s creation and the future of God’s children.”
Trinity UMC officially joined the Green Church Initiative in 2020, and so far, they’re the only church in the Brunswick-New Hanover area recognized as an OceanFriendly Establishment by Plastic Ocean Project. Lacey says the church’s goal in adding “ocean-friendly” to their repertoire was to reduce their consumption of single-use plastics.
“We put things in our newsletters for people about skipping the straw and bringing bags to the grocery store,” says Lacey.
The church also provides brochures to local restaurants about how to become Ocean-Friendly Establishments themselves.
“Some of the criteria could be [offering] straws or disposable to-go cutlery only upon request, providing non-plastic biodegradable food containers,” says Lacey, “and [now] we have three restaurants [in Southport] that … are pretty much sustainable.”
Trinity United Methodist Church is practically a sustainable restaurant itself, recycling any plastics and refraining from using Styrofoam during the church’s “Wonderful Wednesdays,” periodic family dinners and Bible study nights. Trinity’s Creation Care Team has passed out boxed water at these events, and they give out LED bulbs in the Southport and Boiling Spring Lakes areas as well.
The team also collects used Inkjet cartridges and batteries from the community. The inkjet cartridges are sent to California through a recycling program called Empties4Cash. While the batteries can’t be recycled, they are gathered and sent to a hazardous waste facility to keep them from otherwise contaminating the environment. Additionally, the team donates to other environmental groups like Environment North Carolina and Creation Justice Ministries.
Trinity United Methodist Church’s creation care team donated a prayer shawl, recycling information, a reusable shopping bag and 16 LED bulbs to this newly-built Habitat for Humanity house in Southport. Their donation of energy-efficient bulbs will save energy and help defray the new homeowner’s cost of energy long-term. From left, photographer Zeb Starnes, Faith Sexton, Ann Meccarielli, Peggy Lacey, homeowner Elizabeth Hewett, Carolyn Vey and Becky Felton.
photo by Zeb Starnes
Apart from Lacey, Trinity’s Creation Care Team currently has five other dedicated members: Ann Meccarielli, Carolyn Vey, Carol Grosbier, Faith Sexton and Cynthia Hamrick. However, the team is always on the lookout for more volunteers—and if you don’t live in Southport, there’s an opportunity for your church to go green too.
“One of the things with the Green Church is to do … gardens,” says Lacey. “That’s how people are getting into becoming a Green Church, they’ll start with a garden. We started with a kitchen.”
Rather than planting a vegetable garden, Trinity UMC became a Green Church through their sustainable kitchen practices, particularly during their Wonderful Wednesday events. While the church lot isn’t large enough for a traditional vegetable garden, they do grow native plants to support bees, butterflies and other local pollinators.
As for the future of Creation Care, the team hopes to grow their numbers and continue expanding their environmental outreach, especially in terms of engaging the youth and teaching children about sustainable practices.
“Through our newsletter … we always ask if anyone wants to join,” says Lacey. “I’d like to get some more young people [and] activity books about recycling. We’re going to put those out with the Sunday school class or the after-school class.”
Anyone can be a good environmental steward and make their community more sustainable, but the youngest generations are going to feel the impacts of Creation Care the most.
“It’s hard,” says Lacey, “because the whole climate issue, it’s controversial. So … you have to come in like well, this is for our grandchildren. This is for our children. Think about what we’re leaving them.”
There are many ways to become a Green Church, such as installing solar panels, replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs, or providing fruits and vegetables during church meals. To learn more about how your church can get involved, visit nccumc.org/creation/greenchurch-initiative, and come meet Trinity UMC’s Creation Care Team in person at NatureFest in Southport on April 29!
NatureFest will be held Saturday, April 29, 2023 at Taylor Field Park, 409 E. Nash St. in Southport, North Carolina. It will feature environmental nonprofits and activities, and it will be free. Learn more at www.facebook. com/southportnaturefest.
Morgan Greene is a senior at UNCW majoring in biology with a concentration in terrestrial and freshwater conservation. She enjoys sharing fun facts about insects and other tiny animals on her blog, The ArthroBlogger, found at thearthroblogger.com.
