Environmental Action

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The mission of the Environmental Action Network of Village Church is to be a bold witness by advocating environmental justice for all creation. We are committed to making Village Church more environmentally aware and sustainable as an institution by reducing its environmental impact and by practicing, modeling and teaching faithful and responsible stewardship of God's Creation.  Our call is to promote earth-keeping within and beyond the walls of our church.  Our hope is to raise people’s awareness and to stir their conscience so that they might incorporate creation care into their daily living.

Throughout the year, EAN oversees the ongoing recycling efforts of the church and offers environmental education opportunities through Village U, Sunday school classes and displays.
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Under the leadership of EAN, Village Church has been certified for 12 consecutive years as an Earth Care Congregation. Earth Care Congregations is a program sponsored by PC(USA)'s Department of Environmental Ministries. Certification means our church is one of over 200 Presbyterian Churches nationally that have integrated environmental practices and thinking into its church life by completing projects and activities in the four fields of worship, education, facilities and outreach.  The purpose of this program is to inspire churches to care for God’s earth in a holistic way by incorporating earth care into their mission and ministry.

​Click here for a listing of Village Church Environmental Initiatives and Awards.

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Environmental care resources

Make a difference in Kansas City, educate yourself, and see what others are doing locally to support the environment! Check out our environmental care resources page.

Environmental care resources

Join us

​The Environmental Action Network welcomes your participation. Contact Jerry Rees or Rev. Dr. Rodger Nishioka for more information or to learn how you can get involved.

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Projects

Monarch waystation

Click here to read more about our monarch waystation project at 99th and Mission Rd.

Solar panels

Click here to read more about our solar panel project at the Child & Family Development Center at 99th St & Mission Rd.

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Resources

For Earth Day & beyond

Celebrate Earth Day and join the Environmental Action Network by doing any or all of 12 suggested actions. You can also watch our video series, "Creation Care as a Matter of Faith."

12 action steps

For Lent & beyond

For those who observe the season of Lent and care about creation, the Environmental Action Network suggests reading the 2023 Tread Lightly for Lent daily calendar that provides daily reflections and actions during Lent.

• 2023 Tread Lightly for Lent Daily Calendar
• Take the Lenten Meal Pledge 
• Vegetarian Recipes for Lent from Becky Bliss
• Other Vegetarian Recipes for Lent 

Earth care references

• Rev. Dr. Ruth Rosell presentation “The Urgency of the Climate Crisis: Responding as People of Faith” (Jan. 17, 2022). Dr. Rosell is director of the Buttry Center for Peace & Nonviolence at Central Baptist Seminary. View accompanying slideshow presentation here.
• Rev. Dr. Bob Meneilly sermon "Restoring God's Creation" (Village Church, April 22, 1990) audio;​ sermon transcript
• Rev. Dr. Bob Meneilly sermon "Restoring God’s Creation” (Village Church, Jan. 27, 1991)
• Rev. Dr. Bob Meneilly sermon "Saving God's Good Earth" (Village Church, June 14, 1992) audio; sermon transcript
• ​Rev. Tom Are sermon Earth Day 2021 (Village Church Earth Sunday Gathering Service, April 25, 2021)
• Rev. Dr. Bill Brown Lectures Just Creation: Shalom for our Common Home (Village Church, April 9 and 10, 2021 on Zoom)
• Rev. Hallie Hottle Earth Day Gathering Service (Village Church, April 19, 2020)
• Rev. Tom Are sermon The Earth is the Lord’s (a Word about Climate Change (Village Church, Feb. 10, 2019)
• Rev. Tom Are sermon Meeting the World at My Dinner Table (Village Church, Nov. 24, 2013)
• Pastor Adam Hamilton sermon What Would Jesus Say About Climate Change? (Church of the Resurrection, Jan. 26, 2020)
• Dr. Katherine Hayhoe: Christianity and Climate Crisis and Global Weirding with Katherine Hayhoe
• Rev. Tom Are sermon Dry Land from the Waters (Oct. 24, 2021)
• Rev. Zach Walker sermon Aliens and Tenants (Oct. 31, 2021)
• Rev. Dr. Rodger Nishioka sermon You Pick What You Plant (Oct. 31, 2021)
• Rev. Hallie Hottle sermon To Dwell Among (Oct. 31, 2021)

Faith-based environmental websites

• Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition of Greater KC
• Earthkeepers of Heartland Presbytery
• Presbyterians for Earth Care
• PC(USA) Environmental Ministries
• Kansas Interfaith Action
• Interfaith Power & Light
• Project Drawdown
  • ​Drawdown Climate Solutions 101
• ​Greenfaith
• Creation Justice Ministries
• Eco-Justice Ministries
• Water: Sacred and Profaned is a beautiful and inspiring 27-minute video with amazing images, music, and poetry about the sacredness of water.  It features six men and women who share their experiences and insights about water.
• The daily average CO2 concentration at Mauna Loa in Hawaii
  "The last time CO2 was this high, modern humans did not exist.  The time lag between CO2 emission and their pollution and warming effect is around 50 years, and whatever changes we observe now are only the tip of the iceberg.”  — Owen Mulhern

PC(USA) Overture 08-06: The Earth is the Lord’s

In June 2018, in response to the accelerating environmental crisis threatening God’s People and God’s Creation, PC(USA)'s 223rd General Assembly (2018) unanimously approved Overture 08-06 entitled The Earth is the Lord’s—Not Ours to Ruin: Priorities for a New Moral Era.  With this Overture, the national leadership was calling upon the whole church to raise its prophetic voice on the urgent issue of climate change and to participate in healing the earth, our home and God’s gift for the future of all life.  More specifically, it calls for the clergy to accept the mantle of moral leadership and to speak from the pulpits what must be done.  CLICK HERE to read this Overture. 
 
Energized by this overture, the Environmental Action Network decided to promote this Overture, making it its major initiative and focus for the foreseeable future.  EAN called upon Village Church to join the national church in its call to prayer and action to initiate a new moral era.

Read more

Jerry Rees
Email
913-568-4250