Creation Care Ministry Events

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A burning bush caught Moses’ attention—a burning earth caught our attention! God reminded Moses that he was standing on “holy ground.” Like Moses, we are standing on holy ground. God called an unlikely Moses into action—God calls unlikely us into action now. Like Moses, we have God’s assurance “I will be with you,” when we answer God’s call.

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God created us in God’s image and dedicated us to keep watch over, to guard, to protect, and to have charge of planet earth, God’s good creation. We re-imagine our discipleship journey to do that! Serve God and participate in these annual and on-going creation-respecting events, activities, and practices

 

Feb 8 and 11 (Sun and Wed)—11th Annual Residential Light Bulb Recycling Drive, 9:15-9:40 a.m. and 9:30-11:30 a.m./SUMC Portico on east side of building

• Accept Christmas lights and all other kinds of residential light bulbs/tubes; we deliver them to Computer Recycling Center and Lowe's in Springfield.

 

Apr 18 (Sat)—13th Annual Earth Day Electronics and Appliances Recycling Drive, 8:30-11:30 a.m./SUMC Parking Lot

• Collect all kinds of electronics, appliances, rechargeable battery packs, small batteries, cords, CDs/DVDs, printer cartridges, and pristine EPS foam packaging blocks and coolers. Meredith Recycling, Montrose, Mo., picks up most items; we deliver some items to Computer Recycling Center in Springfield and EPS foam to Altor Solutions in El Dorado Springs. NO light bulbs, please!

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Jul 31 (Fri)—13th Annual SAMA Back-to-School Fair Set-up Recycling, 9:30 a.m.-noon/Middle School Cafeteria

• Collect school supply packaging waste for recycling.

 

Aug 1 (Sat)—13th Annual SAMA Back-to-School Fair Recycling, 9-11 a.m./Middle School Cafeteria

• Collect school supply packaging waste and plastic water bottles for recycling, deliver recyclables to city recycling center and wherever else they need to go.

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Sep 24-26 (Thu-Sat)—9th Annual Black Walnut Festival Recycling and Free Drinking Water, times vary/Stockton City Park

• Set out 20 recycling units, monitor units, collect and sort plastic and aluminum beverage bottles, clean and store 20 units.

• Provide festival-goers FREE chilled, filtered water: cup or reusable water bottle refills.

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​Ongoing—Maintain “green” church and church kitchen practices

• SUMC, Proud to be “Styrofoam Free!”

• With a goal of serving zero-waste SUMC meals, prioritize serving eat-in meals using reusable plates, bowls, glasses, cups, and silverware, including annual Easter breakfast, Stockton R-1 Schools Appreciation breakfast, and free community Thanksgiving Day dinner

• Serve carry-out meals in Eco-friendly disposable, compostable clamshells made from renewable wheat straw fiber or sugarcane bagasse, sans PFAS Vender:  https://greenpaperproducts.com/

• Wash and reuse Sunday morning fellowship coffee cups and water glasses

• Collect and compost food waste, including coffee and tea grounds

 

Ongoing—Reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to help achieve The United Methodist Church commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

• Turn lights off when not in use

• Purchase Energy Star rated appliances

• Replace light bulbs with LEDs; plan to upgrade all Sanctuary lights to LED in 2026

• Reduce air leaks by monitoring and replacing door sweeps and astragals, as needed

• Set electric thermostats to 68⁰F in winter, allow adjustments during meetings, automatically revert to 68⁰F two hours later

• Reduce purchasing and using plastic products

• Distribute FREE high-quality, reusable, organic cotton shopping bags in our community

 

Ongoing—Collect and recycle or reuse

• • Clean, untorn single-use plastic bags | re-use for Tiger Tasters and Christmas Baskets

  • SUMC-generated paper, paper board, and corrugated cardboard | deliver to city recycling center

  • SUMC-generated plastic packaging and aluminum pans | deliver to city recycling center

  • Bi-annual United Women in Faith rummage sales repurpose, reuse, and recycle wide range of tools, household and personal items at give-away prices.

  • Clean, capped-pill bottles (all sizes) | deliver to Cramer Veterinary in Stockton

  • Bread wire twist-ties | deliver to Computer Recycling Center in Springfield

  • Printer ink/toner cartridges (all sizes) | deliver to Staples or Computer Recycling Center

  • Aluminum cans | deliver to Scott’s Recycling, Fair Play

  • Christmas lights (collect December-January) | deliver to Computer Recycling Center

  • SUMC-generated burned out light bulbs | deliver to Computer Recycling Center

  • Crayons, markers, highlighters, pens, and pencils | deliver to Staples Office Supply

 

Ongoing—Facilitate recycling beverage bottles and cans by loaning our portable recycling units for community events. Call the church office, (417) 276-4717.

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Learn more about Creation Care Ministry. Read our 2023 Creation Care Ministry Annual Report.

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We welcome new creation care ideas, projects, and events that help us change our way of being in the world. We welcome all who feel called to adopt creation-respecting lifestyle choices that set right our relationships with each other, with God, and with the earth.

 

​Creation Care Ministry Leader: Cheryl Y. Marcum, commissioned United Methodist EarthKeeper | renew.creation@gmail.com | (417) 955-2885 (m)