Goals for the Green Sanctuary Program

The Green Sanctuary Program provides a path for congregational study and reflection and a call to individual and collective actions in response to environmental challenges.

The Green Sanctuary Program invites congregations to:

• Build awareness of the significance and complexity of environmental issues.
• Encourage personal lifestyle changes.
• Engage in community action on environmental issues.
• Strengthen the connection between spiritual practice and Earth consciousness.
• Work to heal environmental injustices.

To achieve these goals, the Green Sanctuary Program sets forth a comprehensive series of actions that integrate an Earth-oriented spirituality into congregational worship and communal gatherings. Congregation members are encouraged to learn how their personal lifestyle choices affect the environment and to explore what alternative what choices are available. Everyone in the congregation is encouraged to participate in activities that will make a difference locally and globally. The whole life of the congregation increasingly considers the environment much more intentionally.

The Green Sanctuary Program is a collective effort, not just a personal project for a few of the most committed environmentalists in a congregation. It is about all of us, according to our talents and capacities, coming together to create the Earth Community we have envisioned.

The Green Sanctuary Program encourages individual actions to reduce our impact on this planet, but primarily it is a program of congregational action. It is about working together to strengthen our ability to create environmental change.