“The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it; the world, and those who live in it.”
Psalm 24:1
Get Involved
DIY Rainwater Harvesting Workshop
Our Creation Care Ministry is hosting a DIY Rainwater Harvesting Workshop, taught by Tarrant County Master Gardeners. This workshop is in-person and includes a class about rainwater harvesting basics and a demonstration on how to build a barrel. After the class portion, you will get to build your own rain barrel to take home.
Learn about:
• How much water your roof will produce in a year
• Where to put your rain barrel to capture the most water
• How to install a barrel • How to hook up and use your new water source
• How to build your own 50 gallon rain barrel with just a few supplies from the hardware store.
Registration is required for attendance and includes the cost of the barrel and materials. More than one person from your household can come to the workshop with the purchase of one barrel/ticket, but only one barrel/ticket per household please. These rain barrels are discounted from $70 to $45 and are approximately 35 inches tall by 14 inches in diameter.
Register Here
Recycle Batteries Project
The church practices Earth stewardship by recycling batteries used throughout the building for events and worship services. Volunteers are needed to pick up the batteries once a month from the reception desk, and then delivery them to the Old Hemphill Road Drop-Off station. Click below to sign up to serve.
Sign Up Here
Would you like to join us?
The Creation Care Ministry meets the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6pm via Zoom (subject to change). E-mail Sandra Soria to receive a Zoom link and be kept directly informed of all our upcoming Creation Care events.
To live out our call we will:
Practice good stewardship of resources in daily living;
Increase understanding of the issues through study, dialogue and prayer;
Advocate locally, nationally, and globally, for the good of the whole;
Encourage equitable sharing of global resources; and
Challenge ourselves and others to “use only what we need.”
History of Creation Care Ministry Involved
The Creation Care Ministry (formerly Caring for God’s Creation) has been prayerfully leading University Christian Church in its stewardship of God’s good earth for over 15 years. Replacing the Styrofoam cups used in the church building was one of their early projects. The cups, sporting the ministry’s former name, are now used at all coffee fellowships and volunteers have committed to washing them every Sunday morning after they are used.
Our Creation Care Ministry informs and encourages church policies for recycling and sustainable, efficient energy use: placement of recycling containers throughout the building; use of energy efficient lighting; green cleaning products; use of china instead of disposables at church events; use of programmable thermostats; and purchasing 10% of electricity by wind power. Their most recent efforts are focused on reducing our carbon footprint as a faith community and working toward a Green Chalice Certification through our denominational Green Chalice Ministry. In the March of 2023 we received an energy audit of our facility by the North Texas Associations of Energy Engineers as part of these efforts.
To solve a muddy run-off problem at the corner of the Cantey/Rogers street UCC parking lot, a Xeriscape garden was created and now contains a variety of Texas-acclimated plants which do not require supplemental watering.
Every year, our Creation Care Ministry encourages participation in Earth Stewardship Sunday, which has included a worship theme focused on God’s good earth and after worship events such as meals with local produce, a butterfly release, dedication of the peace pole and providing interactive activities to help inform the congregation of ways to make a difference.
Green Chalice Congregation
Because of the thoughtful and diligent work of our Creation Care Ministry, UCC is part of Green Chalice, a ministry of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) whose mission is to connect Christian faith, spiritual practice and creation consciousness in order to demonstrate the fullness of God’s peace.
Resources
Buy Nothing
“A Gift Economy’s real wealth is the people involved and the web of connections that form to support them.” Also an app where you can find things locally as well as nationally that people are giving away. Click here to learn more.
Too Good to Go: End Food Waste
“Each year, 40% all edible food in the US is thrown away. At Too Good To Go we want to put an end to food waste by creating a world where food produced is food consumed.” Learn more here.
Plastic Score
PlasticScore is a crowdsourced zero waste rating for restaurants. They fund the recovery of plastic waste for every sustainability review, and use the data to help restaurants improve. Learn more here.
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