Green Team Toolkit

Developing a Green Team
Steps to Success

By following these steps, your Green Team can create a lasting impact, helping your church live out its calling to care for God’s creation and serve the community with justice and compassion.

Also checkout this Resource Map

Green Team Tips

These 10 paragraphs can guide a new team quickly and smoothly from forming to performing. Start small; regard your pastor as a leader and ally, identify needs and opportunities; use your assets; use your connections, communicate, educate, advocate, practice what you preach, and reach out—all on one page (front and back) puts the team all on the same page.

Creating Your Green Team:
A Model for Action

This PowerPoint presentation examines the history of the environmental movement, issues facing environmentalism today, and the role of faith communities. It moves on to the practical steps for starting Green Team and suggests and gives guidance for task teams in five areas—measuring the footprint, education and awareness, communications, waste reduction and recycling, and interfaith networking.

EarthKeepers

Anyone interested in starting a Creation Justice Ministry or Green Team would benefit from the EarthKeepers training offered by Global Ministries.

Green Team Model Resolution and Possible Actions List

This document includes both the model resolution for forming Green Teams and a list of possible actions in the four areas cited in the resolution: Worship, Education, Practice, and Advocacy. The list has been compiled from many sources, especially from churches that are taking these actions. Use them to jumpstart the imagination and action of your team.

See also the Green Team Formation resolution that was passed at General Conference 2024 and 2025 model resolutions in support of General Conference action

Creation Justice Tips

This monthly service provides a mix of 10 tips suitable for individuals, families, and congregations that give practical and often easy changes to make on behalf of creation and justice in the areas of food waste, energy efficiency, trees, waterways, plastic, use of money and investments, recycling, fashion industry, holidays, advocacy, agriculture, and perspective. The Tips can be copied and pasted into worship bulletins, church newsletters, websites, email signatures, for example, or sent intact to family, friends, and church members. The service is free. Just sign up.

Training Resources from Annual Conferences

The Florida Annual Conference Creation Care Task Team offered this training for its churches on how to develop local church green team ministries.

The Virginia Annual Conference Creation Care team established this Green Church Initiative to encourage and recognize local congregations that take Creation Care actions.

The Mountain Sky Conference Creation Justice Task Force offered this presentation at Annual Conference on how to start a green team.

The West Ohio Conference Green Church Movement seeks to equip, empower, and encourage West Ohio congregations to care for God’s creation by making their properties and programs more environmentally friendly.

Curriculum to Help Launch Your Green Team

Loving People and Planet

Wake Up World

Minute for Mother Earth

The Week

Resources to establish Annual Conference Creation Justice/Green Teams

The UM Creation Justice Movement Annual Conference Organizing Team developed a series of webinars to support the development of teams at the Annual Conference Level. This group also drafted suggestions for meeting with your Bishop and Questions to ask Episcopal Candidates. More Annual Conference Resources are available here.

Training Resources from Interfaith Partners

Interfaith Power and Light Cool Congregations
Interfaith Power and Light offers the Cool Congregations Challenge, an annual national contest to recognize “Cool Congregations” that are becoming energy efficient and sustainable role models within their communities. There are no fees to enter. Application period opens November 1 each year. Deadline for entries, December 15.

Faith in Place Green Team Summit
Faith in Place, the Illinois Interfaith Power and Light affiliate, offers an annual Green Team Summit. Resources and recordings from the 2023 Green team Summit are available here.

MNIPL Climate Justice Congregations Handbook
Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light created a Climate Justice Congregation Handbook and certificate program. This yearlong process will help you and your community gain the focus, resources and support that can help galvanize your faith community into committed climate action.

Blessed Tomorrow One Home One Future Campaign
One Home One Future is a campaign that educates, activates, and supports clergy, congregants, youth, and all spiritual people in meaningful and just solutions locally, regionally, and nationally in ways that are accessible and positive.

Participate in the Self-paced Blessed Tomorrow Climate Ambassadors Training or host a Group Training.

One Home One Future offers several inspiring pathways to engage, to meet you where you are and help your congregation, including:

Green the Church
Green the Church works at the intersection of the Black Faith Community and Climate Justice. It promotes sustainable practices, amplifies green theology and builds power for change.

A New Addition to Our Green Team Resources!

You can now find vital climate assessments and reports by U.S. state and/or region in our State-by-State Repository, part of our growing library for Green Teams. This addition continues our effort to continue add to the resources we have available for green teams as they address creation care and environmental stewardship in their churches, districts and conferences.

To use the state-by-state library, link over to the repository, find your state, and open the folder to access the materials within. Currently the state folders include:

5th National Climate Assessment regional report (with links to the full report)
State Climate Summary from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 2022
Graph “Observed Projected Temperature Change” from the state climate summary
EPA Report “What Climate Change Means for [Your State], from 2016

Some states will have slightly different materials, but the basics listed are the same for each state.

If you have or know of other up-to date resources or materials that will be helpful to include in the state-by-state library, please let us know.