Going Green

A Boise, Idaho, church holds itself responsible for God’s earth.

by Heather Johnson

Jessie Nilo went to his art professor at Boise State University for help designing a brochure for his church’s new environmental ministry—a task he’d volunteered to do. “My prof seemed confused, and I had to repeat that it was for my church. Initially, he started laughing,” Nilo recalls. “Somehow, he had concluded that Christlike-ness was synonymous with ‘Forget the earth!’"

Many others seem to have the same idea in Boise, Idaho, where 3,000-member Vineyard Christian Fellowship is located.

“The environment is one of the great barriers between the Church and the unchurched in our area,” says Tri Robinson, Vineyard’s senior pastor. Hoping to break that barrier, his church has launched an ongoing environmental outreach called Let’s Tend the Garden (LTTG; letstendthegarden.org).

“First, it’s the right thing to do biblically. Second, it’s an opportunity for evangelism,” Robinson explains.

Nilo experienced the latter firsthand. Although his art professor has deep-seated issues with Christianity, he helped Nilo create the brochure and has engaged in spiritual dialog with him.

The outreach strives to be the driving force behind bettering the area’s environment. Robinson kicked off LTTG in the spring of 2005 with a message series on leaving the earth a better place. The church then embarked on a variety of initiatives, such as making environment-friendly grocery bags, complete with a LTTG logo, which members pass out in neighborhoods.

Vineyard also collects discarded cell phones and used print cartridges to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina victims, and helps local forest services clean and maintain trails and restore campgrounds. Moreover, the church volunteers its building as a recycling drop-off center staffed with Vineyard volunteers.  

Nilo and his wife Dom help with many of these initiatives, along with 500 to 600 of the church’s members who have participated in LTTG in some way.

“This ministry doesn’t come with some hidden agenda to lure potential ‘converts,’ ” says Dom Nilo. “It’s simply a deep appreciation for God’s gift that we all have the privilege of living in.”

The church’s outreach initiative has created an opportunity for the couple and other Vineyard members to build relationships with many area non-Christians who also consider the environment a priority.

Cleaning park trails one Saturday, the Nilos teamed up with a woman who’d just moved to Boise. After spending several hours with the couple and other Vineyard volunteers, the woman visited the church the next Sunday. Eventually, she asked her trail-cleaning crew to pray for her, as she considered rekindling her relationship with God. 

The LTTG initiatives impact by-standers, too. “Hikers and horseback riders passing by are astounded that we’re clearing trails for them; they just can’t believe it,” Dom says. “But it’s not the thank you’s from trail-users that keep me going back. It’s getting up close and personal with our Creator’s handiwork."

Hoping to help others get personal with God’s creation, Vineyard Christian Fellowship has produced 30- and 60-second commercials that other churches can use to promote environmental outreaches to their own communities.  

In addition to the hands-on environmental initiatives, Vineyard Christian Fellowship recently held four LTTG seminars on making a difference in the home, community, state and world; some 300 people attended each. LTTG’s Web site includes a blog for discussions on environmental issues, a calendar of upcoming events to involve the community, and recent news stories on LTTG—many articles have appeared in both secular and Christian magazines and newspapers nationwide. In the future, LTTG hopes to host a national conference in Boise on environmental stewardship for churches. 

Robinson says it’s hard to gauge LTTG’s impact, but he knows that in his 25 years in ministry, nothing has attracted the unchurched like this initiative.

“People ask why our church is doing this,” he relates. “We say because it’s biblical. And that totally messes with them. It opens so many doors and conversations."

-Outreach magazine, "Front Line," May/June 2006

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