In 2018 Bethlehem’s Admin. Board cared about how we were relating to God’s creation and signed the Green Church Covenant. Since then we earned the first Green Church Award and Sustaining Green Church Award every year at Annual Conference. Our Green Team keeps creation care in front of not only our church leadership, but the whole congregation through monthly COM meetings and our church’s weekly e-newsletter. In recent years, we have changed out all fluorescent tube light fixtures to LED, changed thermostats in most used parts of the church to occupancy-sensing thermostats, and added solar capacity to cover our total average electricity usage. Now we are working on planting a native pollinator garden at the site of the solar arrays. We will continue our mission, reaching all members of the church and changing hearts toward better stewardship of God’s beautiful creation.
Ann Marie Smith
Chair, Green Team at Bethlehem UMC, Moneta, VA