Green Ministry

Our Green Ministry is about commitment to green living as we cherish creation and its abundance. 


We believe that God is green and we recognize that the earth is God's own and it is a gift to us who live on it. 


Our Green Ministry attempts and vision include:

  • Recycling and minimizing throwaways
  • Community garden
  • Energy Conservation with energy efficient lighting
  • Exploring geo-thermal heating options for the future
  • Raising awareness about environmental justice issues
  • Connecting the spiritual with the environmental
  • Becoming good stewards of our economic and environmental resources

Solar Renewable
Energy Project

“Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good . . ..”

 

The sun is the most profound gift of God’s creation. Being the source of every form of life, it has infused energy into every dimension of it. Humankind has incrementally grown in knowledge and skill over eons to make use of that energy the sun produces, including electrifying this free energy.

 

In the summer of 2019, the members and friends of St. John United Church of Christ made a bold choice to “Go Solar”. We committed to putting our faith into action. A 65 kW solar energy system is now in full operation and producing energy year-round, with the capacity to produce 100% or more of our electricity. It reduces our electricity costs by about $10,000 per year and will lower the church’s carbon footprint by more than 1000 tons over twenty years.

 

St. John became the first 100% self-generated solar powered faith community in Illinois, and the first 100% renewable electric powered business in Freeport and Stephenson County. This fulfills one important dimension of our commitment to be a Creation Justice Church. We hope to be a model and source of encouragement for others to “Go Solar”. 

Bottlecap Bench Project

The Mission and Outreach Leadership team is beginning a new Creation Justice mission, and they need your help. They are collecting plastic bottlecaps and lids that will be turned into Bottlecap Benches for our congregation and neighbors to enjoy!


With these caps and lids, our goal is to purchase eight 6-foot, rainbow benches with backs for use outside the church building. We are partnering with Green Tree Plastics and their ABC Promise Partnership to show others the value of recycling. To reach our goal, we need to collect 1,600 pounds of bottlecaps and lids. A list of acceptable caps and lids is included in the newsletter: https://s3.amazonaws.com/.../docu.../10-15-2020--TIDINGS.pdf


A gray tote labeled Bottlecap Benches is located in the Atrium entrance for your convenience. So far, we've collected 309 pounds of plastic caps and lids. That's enough for 1 and 1/2 benches!
Let’s see how many more we can collect by Earth Day!