by Ken Walker 11 Jul 2007

The church’s call to action on the environment is clear for one Idaho pastor who has led his church to establish earth-friendly programs that have made his church more visitor-friendly as well. Tri Robinson, senior pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Boise, established "Let’s Tend the Garden" in the spring of 2005 to promote environmental awareness.

The church placed bins on the property and encouraged members whose community didn’t offer recycling to bring trash there. Vineyard also sponsored a series of seminars on such topics as making your home more energy efficient.

"Because our focus is on discipleship, we think discipleship is a verb," Robinson says. "You’ve got to put people’s hands and feet to things before it becomes a reality."

To get involved, members cleaned up streams and rivers, replanted sage brush and cleared hiking trails. After Hurricane Katrina, it spearheaded a cell-phone recycling drive that generated enough money to send dozens of volunteers to the Gulf Coast to work on environmental clean-up.

In addition, Vineyard distributed cloth bags to members for grocery shopping. Adorned with the church’s logo, the bags became conversation pieces and outreach tools.

Non-Christians who used to scorn the Church have noticed. They have observed that Vineyard’s members are relevant and care about the same things they do, Robinson says.

"In terms of evangelism, it’s probably the most powerful thing we have done," says Robinson, who in May became the first Christian leader to speak at the annual meeting of the Idaho Conservation League.

Still, many Christians wonder about a movement that includes people who worship "Mother Earth" and sometimes throw stones at the Church. Robinson advises not getting caught up in political debates and remembering the biblical basis of caring for the environment. In his book, "Saving God’s Green Earth" (Ampelon Publishing, 2006), Robinson delves into the scriptural background for his beliefs.

Northland: A Church Distributed in Orlando, Fla., also clings to scripture for a guide in its new emphasis on the environment. Pastor Joel Hunter agrees that scripture is clear about the responsibility of God’s people to honor him by caring for his creation. It’s also about caring for the poor who are harmed by environmental degradation, he says. But it’s not about politics.

"If we just focus on what scripture says in doing the right thing, there’s no reason to get caught up in the rest of this stuff," Hunter says.

These ‘green’ pastors say there are practical steps churches can take to cut down on waste. Recycling, using fluorescent bulbs and cutting energy use are simple starting points.

Any congregation can pay closer attention to the lights left on in Sunday school and meeting rooms. Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, hired consulting firm Energy Education Inc. to help save nearly $1 million a year in utility costs for their buildings in part by using a zoned utility system to power only areas of their facilities when and where activities were happening. Big waste translated into big savings. Prestonwood was honored for their cost-cutting work and named "Best Green Church" at a WFX worship facilities conference last year.

Bob Adams will address church leaders about going green at the National Association of Church Business Administrators’ conference this year. A church consultant with design/builder, J.H. Batten, Adams will share his expertise on building energy efficient churches, a trend that is quickly catching on in congregations across the U.S. –though that may be due to cost savings rather than environmentalism.

"Well-managed facilities, operating with green principles are buildings that can boast reduced energy and maintenance costs," Adams says. That means more effective ministry, according to Adams.

"A green church and sustainability help you use your resources efficiently so you can be more effective in your ministry," he says.

Repent and recycle?

The ideas of better efficiency and more thoughtful stewardship compelled Northland church volunteers to sift through the church building trash this spring to learn ways to make a bigger impact in their community by making a smaller impact on the environment. The church plans to purchase more recyclable products when it moves into its new 3,200-seat sanctuary in mid-August. The congregation hopes to lessen the 160,000-square-foot addition’s impact on its surroundings.

Other green-friendly design ideas include: automatic utility shutdown systems, heavy insulation, a surfeit of tinted glass and landscaping with native plants to reduce water usage. Paving will yield to grass for much of the parking needs.

For Pastor Hunter, the directive toward a more eco-friendly church stems more from creation care, than facilities budgeting.

"It was the first order we got when we got down here," Hunter says. "God said to Adam, ‘I’m giving you this garden to develop and to protect.’ There’s a direct mandate (to) protect the garden that we’ve been given."

For Mike Buster, executive pastor of Prestonwood, environmentally friendly practices are about eliminating waste. He told the Dallas News that the mega-church’s new green designs came from Jesus’ teaching the disciples not to be wasteful after his miraculous feeding of the 5,000, in John 6—an apt passage on which to model a 26,000-member church.

"There are biblical principles that teach us to be good stewards of all that God has given us," Buster told the News.

Robinson offers simple suggestions for churches to go "green" on his Web site: CreationCareForPastors.com. He hopes more church leaders will get involved with the environment—saving both money and the earth.

"This is everybody’s problem," he says. "If anybody should be concerned, it should be Christians."