jdeane4

So I was checking out some local churches here in town recently. This past weekend, I found a really cool church that is environmentally pro-active. The church is based around community unity and action. They feel that as Christians, we should have a pro-active stance on protecting our environment not only for the sake of a clean, natural surrounding, but for the health of ourselves and others. So I met with the pastor today and she and I discussed my car free lifestyle. She thought that sounded so awesome. I even convinced her to try it a little. She says she has a little, but it was somewhat tiresome. I told her to make a habit of riding and she would soon get used to it. She agreed to give it a shot. She also asked me if I would assist the church in raising some new environmental issues and initiatives. So I thought this would make a cool post and wanted to share a little faith based action in the car free world. BTW, at the end of each service, they bring up a discussion on the environment and ways to be less of an impact negatively.

biffstephens

That is way cool....some nice bike racks at church and the freedom to sit at a service in bike shorts would be cool....

deputyjones

O man, that is great. All the churches around here are summarily concerned with boobs on tv and preventing businesses from getting liquor licenses.

jdeane4

The church is actually holding an Earth Day event in April. The sunday closest to Earth Day, the church is interested in a car free day to church. I will probably show up in spandex cycling gear You will hear me clanking down the aisle with my clipless shoes too. Actually, I may decide to walk that day, depending on weather. It is a pretty walk to the church.

kjohnnytarr

That's so rad! You're lucky to find a group of people anywhere who can take such a level-headed and positive view of the world and their role on it.

wahoonc

We did it for years biked and walked to church. In fact growing up I can only recall one house we lived in where we couldn't walk to church. I think my parents probably planned it that way.

I agree you have found a church with a different point of view and I think that is great.

Aaron

likeakidagain

https://www.earthministry.org/carfree.htm

A Carless sunday!

Sir Lunch-a-lot

This is something that, as a Christian, I have been thinking more and more about. Partially in our consumeristic attitudes and actions (like the fact that a huge majority of our products are so cheap because the wrongly exploit the poor in other countries. We had an excellent speaker in Chapel on Monday talking about shopping responsibly as worshipers. I should post a general summary of what he said sometime, whenever I get that pamphlet shindig), the fact that we are supposed to be stewards of the earth and subdue it, NOT exploit it, and so fourth. And even looking at the life of Jesus and what he taught, it certainly does not support the "health and wealth" theology that some of the more liberal churches are teaching (ie, we have the right to be wealthy and healthy, even though that is not at all what the Bible teaches) and lifestyles that many of us are pursuing.

More and more I have been realising that the simpler, less consuming lifestyles that this section of the forum promotes are a lot more Biblical than what many of us ARE currently living.

deputyjones

I totally agree with that and that is a major reason my wife and I have begun to be more "green" by using disposable diapers, cyclocommuting and trying to live as car free as possible, buying a small house in the city rather than being a part of the urban sprawl problem, etc.

I would like my kids to grow up realizing that American style consumption and commercialization are wrong.

Wogster

It really depends on where the church is located, and how well it services the area around it's geographical location. For example, many large suburban churches have large congregations, where the average attendee has driven 75km to get there. I know of one church that is just off a freeway, and while the church is large, the parking lot is much, much larger. I know of an innercity church, where parking consists of maybe three or four spots for staff. There is no public parking on the property, but it is right on a subway line, and there is a station a short distance away.

The church we attend right now, holds about 1500 people, there are less then 50 parking spots, on the property, but it is an innercity church as well, I am planning on plotting a bike route to get there, as it's probably less then 10km of not too difficult riding.

For the suburban church, it's going to be very difficult to go car-free, in fact it would be hard to go car-lite. For the inner-city church it's very easy, as many of them are practically there now.

Sir Lunch-a-lot

I don't like mega churches... they're too big for me...

Wogster

This isn't really a megachurch, it's a community church, just bigger because there are many more people in the immediate vicinity. Within 5km there would be over 100,000 people living, within the 12km we travel it's probably close to 250,000 people, so even community churches need to on a larger scale. The typical Megachurch, is like a Walmart, it depends on getting people from a much larger area, and most of those people have travelled 50km or more, they are interested in only in Sunday morning. What I always found funny with megachurches is that a megachurch with 3000 people in it, it's actually much harder to find volunteers for a project, then a church with 30 people in it.

I plotted out a route there on gmaps-pedometer, and it was a little over 12km door to door, which is well within biking distance, now if I could only get my significant other to start biking.....