With research, planning and commitment, a single congregation can provide a faithful ecological witness and take steps to combat climate change, members of Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio told participants at the 2022 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly.
Jeni Cook Furr, a retired hospital chaplain; Ray Cook Furr, a retired minister, public relations practitioner and general contractor; Mike Massar, Woodland’s associate pastor; and Garrett Vickrey, the church’s senior pastor, led a workshop session titled “Getting Started on Eco-Stewardship in the Church.”
They described Woodland’s 18-month process of theological study, practical research and early steps toward implementing strategies and practices that help the church steward natural resources and go easier on creation.
“Our collective responsibility is to take care of God’s creation,” Jeni Cook Furr said. “Every church is going to do things differently because of what is going on around them. But all of us can be responsible stewards. Our faith demands we do it.”
Mike Massar speaks about the environmental work at Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio.
The environmental ministry, called Oikonomos for the Greek word for stewardship, was the brainchild of Massar, who hit upon the idea while thinking about what he could do for his young granddaughter. “We may be the first generation leaving the world worse than we received it,” he explained. “I came up with the idea of helping clean up her ‘backyard.’”
Vickrey agreed, and they started by leading the church to watch a documentary, “Life on Our Planet,” produced by David Attenborough for Netflix. “This was a really good starting point for us,” Vickrey said. “It presented a positive vision for what we can do and provided inspiration for going deeper.”
The Cook Furrs led a Bible study course that provided theological reflection not only on the need for action but also the Christian responsibility to God’s earth.
The church also developed a reading list to help members understand the complex scientific, theological, social and personal issues related to creation care and stewardship.
Vickrey particularly affirmed Ask the Beasts by Catholic theologian Elizabeth Johnson, which takes its name from a line in the book of Job, “Ask the beasts and have them teach you, and the birds of the sky, and have them tell you; or speak to the earth and have it teach you.”
“Our theology has been too anthropocentric,” he said. “It’s time to ‘ask the beasts,’ to put the cosmos at the center of our theology. We will begin, hopefully, to ask better questions for the flourishing of all creatures of the earth.”
After a virtual meeting about the topic, the congregation conducted an energy audit, which revealed how it was both succeeding and failing as a good steward of the environment.
“That helped our bean counters. You want to bring the Finance Committee on,” Massar said. “We’re saving lots of money because of that audit.”
The church also began to implement concrete steps to strengthen its eco-stewardship. They:
- Posted signs throughout the church, reminding people to turn off lights.
- Revitalized a vegetable garden, led by young adults and opened to participants in the church’s English-as-a-Second-Language program.
- Planted a butterfly garden, which attracts Monarch butterflies on their migration through the region.
- Planted pollinator gardens to encourage the health of bees and other insects.
- Amped up the church’s recycling program.
- Developed environmental policies, such as going paperless for many committees.
- Altered staff schedules to make best use of heating, cooling and lighting facilities.
- Planned to replace and upgrade machinery, such as air conditioning/heating units, to more efficient models when possible.
- Parlayed a feature of the COVID pandemic — virtual meetings — into an ongoing process for groups that can meet effectively via computer screens.
Woodland is moving toward refurbishing to be able to gather solar energy and to make recharging units available for electric vehicles, Ray Cook Furr said, noting the church also plans to build a water-retention system to collect rare-but-precious rainfall.
Woodland already has earned a Silver Star from the San Antonio Sustainability organization and is the first congregation to achieve that distinction.
Woodland already has earned a Silver Star from the San Antonio Sustainability organization and is the first congregation to achieve that distinction.
Beyond what it does on its church campus and in members’ homes, Woodland hopes to influence others.
“Educate your community,” Jenni Cook Furr urged. “We’re trying to influence not just our church members, but also others in the community and the country. Eventually, we want to change the world.”
An important aspect of change is calling on others to take action, Massar said. “One of the things you can do is advocacy. You need to be prophetic,” he stressed. “Contact your legislators (regarding energy and climate issues). They do read your letters.”
“Speak up for the voiceless,” Vickrey added. “Hopefully, we can raise our voices and make things happen. … We’re at the point where indecision or decision on this threatens the tree of life.”
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