What is the Green Chalice program?

The purpose of the Green Chalice Program is to encourage and assist local congregations/DOC Offices and Assemblies who wish to live out their faith by caring for creation. This program is designed to recognize congregations for being good stewards of God’s creation. It also aims to empower congregations/assemblies with ideas and resources to enable them to walk gently on the earth.


The program has two tiers. The first level is to become a Green Chalice Congregation/Assembly. The second level is to become a CERTIFIED Green Chalice Congregation or Assembly. We have completed the Certification which means we made three changes in our congregation to make it more sustainable, we have an active Creation Care team in our congregation to discuss ways to do better, and we adopted the Green Chalice Covenant: 


As children of God and followers of Christ Jesus, we covenant to:


Worship God with all creation and pray for the healing of the earth.

Study the climate crisis and engage others in climate solutions.

Repent and forgive for the harm we have inflicted on the earth that sustains life.

Advocate for ecojustice public policies and witness by living sustainable lifestyles.

Rest in God’s good creation and invite others to delight in nature.


What does that look like here? 


Ridglea is committed to sustainable, dignity giving, and relational action in the world. This includes having refillable, energy efficient water fountains, hosting two gardens, using trees to be memorials recognizing those who we love that have passed, having motion sensor lights, an efficient A/C system, recycling, using compostable disposable goods, and more. We began the process by having an eco-audit of our facility to give us ideas of best practices to reduce our impact. In the future, we still are visioning what else we can do, perhaps even one day getting solar panels. 


Why does this matter to us? 

Regularly throughout our service you will hear us discuss what it means to care for the Earth which God has created and we are blessed to inhabit. As it is a gift, we must be good stewards of that and take care of it so that those who come after us will have this gift to enjoy. We also know that all of God's creatures matter, so caring for the Earth and all of its inhabitants is a spiritual practice which honors God. For as we hear in Genesis 1:31:  "God saw everything that they had made, and indeed, it was very good".