Cherokee Presbytery Congregations Certified as Earth Care Congregations

Congratulations to two churches in Cherokee Presbytery- Heritage Presbyterian Church (Acworth, GA) and Kirkwood Presbyterian Church (Kennesaw, GA) - who were both certified as an Earth Care Congregation 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.

Since 2010, this PC(USA) program certifies and celebrates environmental ministry across four 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.

To become certified as Earth Care Congregations, churches take the “Earth Care Pledge” and complete activities in the fields of worship, education, facilities and outreach. For more information, see this page of the PCUSA website.