The Quad-City Times - News, Sports and more from the Quad Cities region or Iowa and Illinois

You are not logged in.
Login

Log in to qctimes.com
Email:
Password:
Remember my information.
Register
Quadsville
Site Help

Gospel of green reaching churches

Font Size:

By Barb Ickes | Saturday, April 05, 2008 |

They are, after all, some of the biggest fans of creation.

It would follow that churches — and the people who congregate in them — would get behind the green movement. And the gospel of green is spreading.

About 35 members of various Quad-City churches met Saturday to hear from an expert what they can do to encourage more environmentally friendly places of worship.

For pastors Laura Koppenhoefer of Trinity Lutheran Church, Moline, and Stacie Fidlar of St. ohn’s Lutheran Church, Rock Island, the Green Congregation Training Workshop was an opportunity to grow a movement.

The two pastors and their congregants collaborated about a year ago on an effort they’ve dubbed Earth Keepers, which is as much an after-church consciousness as it is a way to start a new tradition of Earth awareness at church.

“The more faith communities we can bring together as stewards of the Earth, the more effective we can be in our community,” Fidlar said.

The principles of going green are fairly pedestrian. Simple changes for churches, such as using beeswax rather than oil-based candles and buying local wine for Communion, rather than having it shipped, are some ways of being more energy and Earth-conscious.

But David Rhoads of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago brought along dozens of suggestions for greener churches and greener homes. The role of church “green committees,” he said, is to nudge others into a greener way of thinking.

“It’s very important that you think of yourself as catalysts,” he told the members of 12 churches from both sides of the Mississippi River. “This is a program that’s not meant to be a straight jacket. It’s meant to give you some ideas about what you can do.”

Koppenhoefer and Fidlar already have seen some ideas put to work in their churches, including recycling programs that have been in place at St. John’s for two years and caught on at Trinity last fall.

“Today’s an effort to get other congregations interested, too,” Koppenhoefer said of Saturday’s workshop.

Rhoads, who has authored several environmental guides for churches, also cautioned congregants that matters involving global warming can be hot topics, politically.

“Some people are put off by the words ‘green’ or ‘environmental,’” he said. “Do not be the environmental police.

“Even if people disagree politically, we’re still responsible for creation. We see this primarily as a lay-driven undertaking. Our goal is to be able to contribute to the well-being of creation.”

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.