{"id":48537,"date":"2022-08-03T11:16:53","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T16:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/?p=48537"},"modified":"2022-08-03T11:16:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T16:16:56","slug":"small-but-significant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/","title":{"rendered":"Small but Significant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>by Lydia Yang, serving with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice222-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-48538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice222-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice222-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice222-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice222-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice222-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Recently I was invited to join the staff of the PROK Women\u2019s Association Department of Education and their students on a trip to Cheongju city to visit two churches actively responding to climate change. Both churches are recognized by the Christian Environmental Movement Coalition for their commitment to creating green churches and doing their part as churches for the environment. Climate justice is not only a practice they have adopted. It is also ingrained in their vision and mission. From small changes within the church to the larger community, these churches are working to bring a new perspective to where nature and the earth are interlaced with faith and spirituality.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The churches are actively working to become more eco-friendly while providing the space and opportunity for the neighborhood and community around them to participate. A simple transition from disposable cups to reusable (washable) cups has decreased the amount of trash produced. In recognizing that the church also creates a lot of paper waste, from weekly bulletins, sermons, announcements, and newsletters, the churches have worked to find alternative and more eco-friendly options. The alternatives have included asking the question of which printed materials are a necessity or simply an easy way to continue how things have always been, and then looking into more environmentally friendly and sustainable paper options such as paper made from sugar cane. One of the churches we visited also built a small rooftop garden to provide young children the opportunity to learn about plants and how fruits and vegetables grow.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice223-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-48539\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice223-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice223-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice223-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice223-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice223-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Both churches have also reached out to their wider community to address climate change. At one of the churches we visited, every Thursday morning after early morning prayer, church members and the senior pastor gather to walk around the neighborhood to pick up trash. What began as a small project for the church has grown to help foster a better relationship between the church and the surrounding community. My favorite part when visiting the churches was visiting the zero-waste shop each church had opened and was operating. Making changes to become green and zero-waste is not always accessible and can often be expensive. To encourage and help individuals and families make small but significant changes to become greener, both churches opened zero-waste shops that sell a variety of sustainable, eco-friendly personal care products and household goods. Through these zero-waste shops, the churches hope to continue to bring awareness and help take the step against climate change with their surrounding communities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The climate crisis is not a standalone issue that can be ignored. The climate crisis impacts the entire world, our everyday lives, and the future. The church is in a unique position to bring about change and awareness. As people of faith and with love for God and all creation, the church should be an example in showing that when people take on small actions to become more eco-friendly, communities gather and form to bring about more significant change to our world. Although it may start small, from an individual, a church, or a community, this is where the work for climate justice begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/people\/lydia-yang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lydia Yang<\/a> serves with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK).<\/em>\u00a0<em>Her appointment is made possible by gifts to the Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church\u2019s Wider Mission, WOC, and your special gifts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/donate.globalministries.org\/pages\/donation-page-for-missionary-support?donateTarget=Lydia%20Yang\">Make a gift that supports the work of Lydia Yang<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lydia Yang, serving with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) Recently I was invited to join the staff of the PROK Women\u2019s Association Department of Education and their students on a trip to Cheongju city to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20221,"featured_media":48540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[],"topic":[20409,20244,20322],"region":[20019,20050],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Small but Significant - Global Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small but Significant - Global Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Lydia Yang, serving with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) Recently I was invited to join the staff of the PROK Women\u2019s Association Department of Education and their students on a trip to Cheongju city to &hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-03T16:16:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-03T16:16:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Korea-Lydia-Yang-Climate-Justice22-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Global Ministries\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Global Ministries\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/\",\"name\":\"Small but Significant - Global Ministries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-03T16:16:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-03T16:16:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fd55f1d77b4604c30516841d557532c5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/small-but-significant\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Small but Significant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/\",\"name\":\"Global Ministries\",\"description\":\"Global Ministries is a common missional witness of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. 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