Ideas on how to go green in your congregation and at home:

be a collection site for old batteries and printer cartridges. Then take these items to be recycled for the community

replace old boilers with newer efficient ones

replace lights in the building with CFL’s and save money on energy and labor because they don’t need to be changed as often

use the common cup or intinction instead of those little throw-away cups for communion

hand wash all those little communion cups

create a community garden and save on lawn maintenance

carpool on Sundays to reduce the carbon footprint of the congregation

use ceramic mugs for serving coffee or ask members to bring coffee mugs with them to church

form a coalition with another congregation (or two) to buy green products in bulk

consume less

purchase a dishwasher and is use real dishes and silverware

educate congregation about the importance of being good stewards of the planet

get an energy audit and start going green today

install energy saving blinds significantly cuts down on the amount of heat that enters the building

remove one of the three fluorescent light bulbs and ballast in every light throughout the building without affecting the level of light

buy “green shopping bags” with the church logo on them. Sell them to congregational members and let the use of these bags in the local stores be an evangelism tool

form a green team in your church

if the congregation supplies their pastor a car make sure it is a hybrid car. Bishop Gary drives one now. Follow the lead of our leader

reduce the number of inserts and pages of the bulletin. Consider using the new ELW hymnals more instead of printing so much from the hymnals in the bulletin. Or get rid of the bulletins altogether by using an LCD projector and screen for all services

use the practice of “if it’s yellow, let it mellow and if it’s brown flush it down” to save thousands of gallons of water annually (there are now two-button toilets being sold that use much less water depending on whether it’s yellow or brown in the toilet)

congregations with fairly low attendance during the winter months can consider having  joint services with a neighboring congregation

collect metal to recycle (good project for youth)

use a monitoring system so heat is used only when it is needed

install motion sensing switches in the restrooms to save electricity

have your church council develop a multi-year greening plan

instead of mowing acres of land next to the church turn it into natural prairie

congregations could have outdoor services in the summer and use no energy to cool the sanctuaries

use printer paper more than once - print on both sides before recycling the paper

make quilts from recycled clothes and donate them to Lutheran World Relief. You can also use recycled “filler” for quilts

have your church do roadside cleanups (this also gets a sign put up advertising your church)

install solar lighting to light up outdoor areas

use solar panels on the church building and parsonage

start small and improve over time

get rid of Styrofoam cups - use paper cups or sugar cane cups

have temple talks or integrate into the Children’s sermons each month a message about how congregational members can “go green” at home

switch over to a “time of day” metering system so the billing for the electricity is from the peak usage time, early Sunday morning (check with ComEd on how to make this switch)

instead of being the typical consumer for Christmas this year try some of the practices in the book “Whose Birthday is it Anyway?”  www.simpleliving.org

replace all windows with more energy efficient ones

reuse worship bulletins (one church reuses their Sunday morning bulletin 6 consecutive weeks before making a new one changing out only the announcements page - be sure to have a collection container for the members to recycle their bulletins.)

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