Why do we care?

We are a congregation of birdwatchers, gardeners, and knitting enthusiasts. Our church loves creation! It is hard to know the names of migrating birds, to watch a plant grow from seed, or mend your own clothes, and not notice how destructive and wasteful our relationships to animals, plants, and stuff can be. From our first call to tend and serve creation in Genesis to the last vision of a restored world in Revelation, scripture (not to mention our own experience) reminds us to love creation.

How do we care?

We have an established Green Team in relationship with the religious environmental non-profit Faith in Place. We host sew-ins during the Spring and Fall to make reusable bags for use at Farmer’s markets and Christmas gifts wrapping, we have held bird watching small groups during Spring migration, and we often center creation in our scriptures and worship series. We support Organizing for Plastic Alternatives on beach cleanups and we regularly collaborate with Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church’s Green Team for film screenings and other events. We also participate in political advocacy as Bethany Green Team members have advocated for environmental protections with house representative offices, state representatives, and alderpersons at meetings and lobby days in Chicago, Springfield, and DC.

In 2024, we completed $13,000 worth of LED upgrades in our church to reduce our annual electricity usage by $1,200. In 2025, we supported Faith in Place’s Air Aware: The People-Powered Search for Healthy Air which investigated how natural gas stoves and heaters degrade indoor air quality in over 100 homes across Chicago. As part of that work, Bethany’s Green team gave induction stove tops to 13 homes. We continue to work on our garden beds where kids grew garlic and where our native pollinators of aster, coneflower, milkweed, and goldenrod bring butterflies to our summer services on the lawn.

How do I get involved?

If you are interested in joining Bethany’s Green Team efforts, or if you have an environmental event you would like Bethany’s Green Team to partner with you on, please reach out to Rev. Xander at xander@bethanychicago.com.