Why should a church be 'green'? For Geanne van den Beukel and Desirée van Arkel, there is no doubt. "God asks us to take good care of creation, but it also has to do with justice. Read Micah 6, for example." At home, they have both been working on sustainability for years. They also had some ideas for the church. These resonated and now the congregation of Ermelo A Green Church with its own sustainability working group.
Little things
"We just started doing little things, for which you don't need permission from anyone. For example, I bought cups for the kids' club myself, so we no longer had to use disposable ones. We looked up some like-minded people and went to the church council with some ideas. Only when we wanted to join the Green Church and had to make a policy plan for it, we became an official working group."
Numerous sustainable initiatives have grown over the years. Pastries with coffee are no longer served on disposable plates, but on a colourful collection of saucers from the thrift shop. "It costs almost nothing and it looks so cosy!"
The children of the community were given out seeds to grow courgettes. These were then donated to the Food Bank. Church members were challenged to make a conscious choice whether to come to church by car or by bike. And a litter challenge was held: who can manage to leave as little residual waste as possible?
With and for the neighbourhood
Sustainability also turns out to be a great opportunity to do something for people who are less fortunate. The toy exchange has become a household name in the area. People from the neighbourhood also like to use the sewing café. This is similar to a repair café, but for needle and thread jobs. Anyone with a mending or adjusting job may drop by. "For example, a Syrian gentleman comes regularly, who is a bit lonely. His own neighbours don't look at him. For him, that cup of coffee might be more important than fixing that loose hem."
The food cupboard, put up to prevent food waste, is also popular. Neighbours regularly drop by to stock up or take something from it. And then it turns out that charity can sometimes be found in little things: "Of course there are also biscuits or bags of sweets in there. Surely someone who is in a tight spot can have a treat once in a while?"
"Believing is also doing. You can show it in small steps and you make people curious about your motivations. Whether it really does anything with people outside the church, we don't know. The fact that you as a church are putting up the doors is already doing a lot. You're doing good. People come who would otherwise never come to church, but we ourselves come into contact with people we would otherwise never talk to."
Awareness
"It's an awareness process, where you take small steps and keep learning. You read something about clothing production, about waste, about food waste. You start thinking about that. It's really not like you have a Bible text ready for every choice, but you become more and more aware of your choices. It becomes a lifestyle."
One of Geanne and Desirée's conscious choices is to wear second-hand clothes. They joined a clothing exchange chain in Ermelo. Bags of clothes circulate in a group of about 100 women. And here, too, women from outside the church participate. "Every four to six weeks you get two bags. You take out what you like, put something back in it yourself and then you pass the bag on to the next address. It's so nice to see someone else come to church in dress that was mine!"
Without coercion
Partly due to high energy prices, a big wish of Geanne and Desirée came true: the church got solar panels. Eco-friendly cleaning products and fair trade coffee had already become normal. "We involve all kinds of clubs, associations and committees. If it's about money, for example, there may of course be other interests or opinions. You can talk about that. You can't impose it on others, but people are becoming more aware of it."
"As a Christian, you are fine to speak out about what is happening in society, but we are not activist. In the church, you meet very different people. Not everyone makes the same choices and some have just never really thought about it before. Then doing says a lot more than a lot of words. It doesn't help to reprimand people, although you can question each other in a respectful way. You have to avoid polarisation."
Just start
"Being affiliated to the Green Church gives you a nice stick. After all, you are supposed to take steps every year. You can be held accountable for that. But of course you can also be sustainable as a church without that membership. Just go and do it! Don't make it too big, start as practical as possible and let it grow."
Reading tip: Faith and a lot of solar panels by Kees Posthumus. Geanne was interviewed for a chapter of this book.
