The mission of the Sustainable Living Ministry is to build awareness in the congregation about caring for creation, to foster sustainable lifestyles, to build a connection between spiritual action and environmental conscience, and to motivate environmental stewardship action in the broader community.
Mission 4/1 Earth a Great Success!
Our congregation-wide ecological project, Mission 4/1 Earth, was a resounding success this spring! We joined with UCC churches across the nation to spend 50 days rolling up our sleeves and opening our minds to connect with the earth. Together we hosted a community-wide sustainability celebration, cleaned up Lake Conestoga, planted trees, recycled over 15,000 pounds of electronics, gardened, picked up litter on Highway 77, watched films, hosted a panel discussion, reduced our energy and water usage, and worked on being better stewards of the earth in innumerable ways in our personal lives.
The climate crisis presents sobering and alarming information for our future, but by coming together in creative and inspirational ways as a community, we were all given hope for how we can respond to the challenges at hand. There is no doubt that First-Plymouth will continue to take the lead in this effort!
| What We Did: | ||
| Earth Care Time Goal: 7,000 hours |
Trees Planted Goal: 100 trees |
Letters Written Goal: 1,000 letters |
| Final Total: 9,215 hours | Final Total: 593 Trees | Final Total: 1,057 Letters |
Events for 2013-2014
Farmer’s Market Sunday, August 25th, Main Courtyard
Stop by your local farmers’ tables on your way home from worship to pick up some fresh, local produce. Plus, share what you’ve grown with your church friends as well.
Greening Our Congregation
This year we’ll be starting on a comprehensive process to green our building and operations from the ground up. Stay tuned for announcements about how you can participate in this interesting and rewarding effort.
Creation Care Events in April
Join us four Wednesday evenings in April at 7pm for special programming about environmental sustainability.
Landscape & Gardening Committee Activities
Gardening Days at First-Plymouth
All will be from 8:00 - 10:30am. Bring tools and water. All are welcome. Contact Sue Guild at sguild@inebraska.com.
Summer/Fall 2013 Gardening Days: Friday, August 2nd; Saturday, September 7th, Friday, October 4th.
2014 Gardening Days: Saturday, April 5th; Friday, May 2nd; Saturday, June 7th, Saturday, July 5th, Friday, August 1st; Saturday, Sept. 6th; Friday, Oct. 3rd.
Rain Garden (Coordinated by Judy Dougherty)
Volunteers tend to the rain garden in the columbarium March through November. New volunteers are always welcome. Contact Judy Dougherty at jdougherty@neb.rr.com.
Dish Disciples
Help wash dishes on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, reducing our reliance on disposable products. Contact Nancy Shelley, nshelley@brookspanlaw.com or Carole Curry, ccurry10@windstream.net.
Preaching Dates for Rev. Kim Morrow, Minister of Sustainability: August 11th at 9am and 10:30am; September 15th at 9am, December 15th at 9am.
For more information, contact Pastor Kim Morrow at kim@firstplymouth.org or at 402-476-7565, x243.
Watch Rev. Kim's Mission 4/1 Earth kick-off sermon, "For One Earth," in which she describes how practicing attention and affection for the land are key to saving our ecosystem."