Peachtree Road United Methodist Church Named Ministry of the Year at the GIPPYs

Our final winner at the Fifth Annual GIPPY Awards was Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, who took home the Ministry of the Year Award for overall excellence in promoting Creation Care.

The Ministry of the Year Award is given to the congregation that has shown creativity and determination in embracing caring for creation throughout their community. From energy efficiency, to education and worship, the Ministry of the Year works to incorporate caring for creation into every aspect of congregational life. This year’s Ministry of the Year is Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.

The entire Peachtree Road congregation has worked to become sustainable in all areas of congregational life, from procurement, to waste management, to education and worship, and everything in between. In all of these areas, they are working to be more conscious stewards of creation.

This past year Peachtree Road built organic garden beds and planted organic vegetables to donate to the UMC Children’s Home. They taught Sunday school classes to all age groups on the theology behind the practice of caring for the earth.

They also began a comprehensive recycling program throughout the campus, including their Preschool which is a separate entity. They began purchasing recycled paper for bulletins, office use, and also replaced Styrofoam cups with environmentally responsible products. They began to serve as a drop off point for CSA Dillwood Farms, encouraging members to support this local, non-chemical farming effort and increasing awareness about the issue of food as it is related to sustainability.

Peachtree Road also embraced energy efficiency by incorporating a building schedule optimization. They coordinate scheduling of meetings and classes with consideration to minimize over conditioning and lighting of unused space. For example, they have implemented a plan that concentrates scheduled meetings into collocated rooms to prevent lighting and conditioning of a whole building for a meeting in one classroom. They have also installed zone HVAC in the office to minimize conditioning the whole building.

Peachtree Road UMC strives to be a flagship in all areas and has eagerly and overwhelmingly embraced the green initiative. Peachtree Road created its Creation Care Ministry in response to the growing awareness of how our behavior can negatively impact the earth. They have spread this message by greening their campus, by their actions and through educational opportunities to their members, neighbors, and those who use their facility.

Congratulations to Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, winner of this year’s Ministry of the Year Award.

We're already looking forward to the Sixth Annual GIPPY Awards. Be sure to take notes and pictures about everything you're doing this year so we can celebrate your work together at the GIPPY's in February 2012. We'll see you there!