God's Green America

Hurricane Katrina’s destruction may have flooded the pews and destroyed many a home in New Orleans and the suffering for many is still an every day reality

For the combined congregations of First United and Grace United Methodist churches, now known as First Grace United Methodist Church,  the songs of praise are filling the city as black and white are preaching the gospel of green.

Pastor Shawn Anglim says it best:

“seek the welfare of the city…for in its peace you will find your own.”  Jeremiah 29.7

First United Methodist Church and Grace United Methodist Church have joined together believing that we can do more and be more of a witness to the gospel as one congregation than we could as two separate bodies.  We are an urban church in the heart of this beloved city with a congregation representative of the wondrous complexity and diversity of urban life in New Orleans. 

      We are the remnant left from aftermath of Katrina and a failed levy system.  We have embraced this moment in our shared histories to see our selves as “new beings” called to witness to a new way of being in our city; of not just living next to each other but living with each other and for each other. 

The complexity of our life together is experienced in our urban style of worship, community involvement and the manner in which we use our church grounds and facility.

So the members of First Grace underwent training to identify wasteful uses of energy and how to make their church and their community a greener, healthier place. The members even visited other congregations in the city to do energy assessments. What they found was on average the houses of worship were wasting more than $2,000.00 a piece in inefficient lighting, heating and cooling.

First Grace is now looking into how they might be able to incorporate Solar onto the roof of their facility. God's Green America is honored help this fearless congregation to design a strategy for Green...for wellness that will spread throughout the city of New Orleans.