PTCA Presbyterian Churches are Certified as a PC(USA) Earth Care Congregation

Ten churches in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities area were certified as an Earth Care Congregations by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Presbyterian Hunger Program through February 2027. The Earth Care Congregation certification is designed to recognize churches that take seriously God’s charge to “till and keep” the garden, that is our shared common home.

These ten churches include:

Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis; Cherokee Park United Church, St. Paul; Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis; Garden Community Church (formerly Roseville New Life), Falcon Heights; House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul; Macalester Plymouth United Church, St. Paul; Oak Grove Presbyterian Church, Bloomington; Presbyterian Church of the Apostles, Burnsville; St. Luke Presbyterian Church, Minnetonka; Valley Community Presbyterian Church, Golden Valley

Since 2010, this PC(USA) program certifies and celebrates environmental ministry across 4 major areas of a congregation’s life: worship, education, facilities, and outreach in the community. This program currently has 4.5% of all PC(USA) congregations and continues to grow each year.

Earth Care Congregations exist as important examples for congregations across the country. One of the goals of this program is to inspire churches to care for God’s earth in a holistic way, through integrating earth care into all aspects of their church life. By the time a church has recertified for several years, the earth care ethic becomes ingrained in a congregation’s culture, spreads to the surrounding community, and impacts the personal lives of individual church members.

Obtaining this status speaks to the serious commitment that these ten church have made to care for God’s earth.

"These 10 churches are just a few of the 373 congregations in 42 states that chose to dedicate themselves to intentional care of God’s earth this year. This denominational program for churches has lasted longer and been more successful than some other models we’ve seen and the individual churches that deserve all the credit for the success of the program. Our Earth Care Congregations are vital parts of their communities and inspirational witnesses to caring for God’s creation and we are so grateful for their presence in the world,” says Jessica Maudlin, Associate for Sustainable Living and Earth Care Concerns for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).