Green the Church–Take the Pledge

I pledge to help lead my church in its efforts to become a force for sustainability. I pledge to work toward more sustainability in my life and to encourage my neighbors and fellow congregants to become active stewards of our earth.

Green The Church

OUR PURPOSE

Green The Church (GTC) is an initiative designed to tap into the power and purpose of the African American church community, and to explore and expand the role of churches as centers for environmental and economic resilience. Developed in partnership with Carroll Ministries and Pastor Ambrose Carroll (a Green For All Fellow), GTC works to empower church leadership and lay people to develop practical solutions to economic and environmental issues in the Black community.

OUR THREE PILLARS

Build Power for Change: Our ability to create health and prosperity at the community level is tied to state, local, and federal policy decisions. Green The Church supports member churches in identifying how they can flex their shared political and people power to transform how our government acts on climate change, supports the green economy, and invests in resilient communities. By connecting Black churches to the climate fight, we’ll increase the power and potential of the national climate movement.

Promote Sustainable Practices: Green The Church works with church leadership to make church buildings and operations more sustainable. From energy audits to healthy food programs, we work with congregants and leaders to literally green the church from the bottom up. These measures are good for the environment, good for the bottom line, and good for the health and wellbeing of church members.

Amplify Green Theology: Green The Church emphasizes the message that Christians have a duty to protect God’s creation. We work with church leaders to develop and share resources for theological environmental teachings. We also work to lift up the many voices of church members across the country who are already doing powerful work to care for our Earth and increase prosperity in our communities.

Green The Church launch a Success!

On Thursday March 12th, some of the most influential African American church leaders in the country joined forces with the U.S. Green Building Council and Green For All to launch Green The Church. You can listen to this inspiring tele-conference right here.

Listen to the recording below.

The press teleconference featured a number of prominent clergy leaders and Green For All partners including:

Van Jones, Green For All Founder
Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll, Green the Church co-Founder
Kimberly Lewis, Senior VP of Community Advancement, U.S. Green Building Council
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, III, Senior Pastor at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ
Bishop J.W. Macklin, Glad Tidings Church of God in Christ, Hayward, CA
Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor at Third Baptist Church of San Francisco

(The first meeting of San Francisco clergy for Green The Church.)

Green The Church Summit-Inspiration and Action!

Read about Green The Church on the Madame Noire blog!

Download the Green the Church Summit Flyer

Green The Church held our first major gathering during the Fall of 2014. The first ever Green The church Summit was held on November 11^th & 12^th at St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland, CA. The Summit gathered some of the nations most prominent clergy leaders like Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, Chairman of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and Rev. Dr. Tyson. Lord Gray, a religious scholar and environmental activist.

The Summit kicked off with a praise and worship service that attuned people’s hearts and minds with vibrant song and urged their spirits to commit to becoming a part of Green The Church. Rev. Richardson culminated the evening by reemphasizing that amidst many things, churches primary roles are to make a difference in their communities, helping out wherever they are needed and by whatever means necessary.

Summit This call to action then carried us into the morning of Wednesday, November 12^th, where we held a Clergy Leaders Breakfast with expert panelists who shared resources and support to help church leaders take action in a real way. The morning session featured solar companies, energy efficiency experts, food justice activists and more.

(Left: Co Founder Rev. Ambrose Carrol joins Rev. TL Grey and Rev. Franklyn Richardson for the Summit.)

Rev. Gray concluded the breakfast by drawing a parallel between the environmental crises in the Bible with that of our present day, and a clear message that the voices of our church and it's leaders are needed now more than ever.

ClimateChristian The Summit was powerful and purposeful gathering, one that we will replicate with Green The Church members all over. The next Summit? Chicago-2015!

(Left: Summit participants show their support.)