Within our faith communities we all help out; that’s the ‘community’ in faith community. Some people take care of the building — often the most thankless job, because if they do a good job, no one notices anything. These dedicated people care about the building, but unfortunately don’t always understand how their building works, which is completely normal. In highschool, we were not taught how to maintain our homes let alone maintain and operate large, oftentimes massive places of worship. For example, the huge decorative ceiling grilles in many places of worship are, from my experience, 95% of the time open to the attic. One church I worked with had four 8-foot diameter ceiling vents and the congregation couldn’t worship in the space in the summer because the heat coming off the roof drove them out! How would people know this? They wouldn’t, since we don’t have anything comparable in our homes. So to the building maintenance teams reading this, don’t be hard on yourselves.
How then, can you make a difference? Start with the free guides available on our website. The DIY Faith Building Energy Audit Guidebook and the Energy Star Action Workbook for Congregations are amazing resources you can download, read, learn, and from there, take action. You can also utilize our professional knowledge with virtual and in person (when safe for all) Green Audits that look at energy, air quality, food, water, waste, maintenance, rental agreements, heritage and much more.
The more you learn about your building, the more you can save energy, minimize maintenance costs, and maximize the usage of your amazing faith community building.
UCC’s Faithful Footprints: Helping congregations get to net-zero
For the United Church of Canada (UCC), faith buildings are its largest, overarching carbon contributor and its biggest fixed expenses. By correcting heating, cooling and lighting gaps in buildings, congregations can reduce their carbon emissions and cut costs.
With UCC’s commitment to reducing its greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions 80% by 2050, the Faithful Footprints Program offers grants, tools and inspiration to this end. As of April 2021, over 200 UCC congregations, camps, and buildings across the country have participated in the program. Your participation in this program is putting our faith into action and helping UCC reach its target.
Stephen Collette is the Building Manager for Faith & the Common Good and can be reached at 705-652-5159 EDT,
scollette@faithcommongood.org
Faith & the Common Good is the delivery partner for UCCs Faithful Footprints program.