Chicago’s Trinity UCC to replace traditional roof with green roof

Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago is making some upgrades to its facility, and doing so with the good of the earth in mind. Under the leadership of the Rev. Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity UCC, the church is working to raise funds to replace its current roof with a green roof, which will provide the church environmental and financial benefits, while preparing it for a sustainable future.

“We have a leader with a vision and the chutzpah to get it done,” said Ramona Westbook, Trinity UCC member and an architect who is helping with the project. “We talk about the people who have a mind to build. Well this is our wall, and this is our time, and this is our opportunity to be part of some amazing stewardship.”

Trinity UCC’s Raise the Roof campaign launched last fall and is seeking to collect $5 million in the next three to five years to complete the green roof project, as well as other infrastructure improvements such as replacing roofs on other properties, updating heating and cooling systems, modernizing the worship center, and repaving parking lots. The Raise the Roof campaign has already received $4.1 million in donations towards its goal from Trinity UCC members.

“This is a tremendous response from 1,026 members and households from Trinity United Church of Christ,” said the Rev. Mark A. Smith, Trinity UCC’s minister of stewardship. “The members are overly excited about the campaign, as has been exemplified through sharing their Raise the Roof testimonies during Trinity UCC’s regular worship services.”  

The Raise the Roof campaign website lists several benefits the green roof will provide the church and the surrounding community, such as providing insulation to the building, increasing the church’s green space, and absorbing and cleansing rainwater. The roof could also provide space for urban gardening and help mitigate the “heat island” effect that can cause higher temperatures in urban areas that have few trees and little green space. Green roofs are also known to have longer lifespans than traditional roofs and decrease the amount of energy a building needs to operate.

Preliminary stages of the project are already in the works. The project’s Feasibility Committee has provided reports detailing research and recommendations for moving towards energy efficiency and sustainability, and the church had a site assessment conducted by a sustainability services firm. On March 19, Trinity UCC had a lighting audit conducted, and on March 21, met with a project manager from the firm that will advise the planning and phasing of the project with LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification as an objective. At this time, a timeline to begin construction and to complete the roof has not been set.

“Taking advantage of the latest in green technologies as we reinvigorate our aging infrastructure is a wonderful way to match what we preach with what we practice,” Smith said on the Raise the Roof campaign website. “It is truly a blessing for me to be in a position to witness our church moving into this exciting area.”

Mission 4/1 Earth, the UCC’s 50-day earth care campaign that took place last spring, inspired an organizing theme around environmental issues that has really caught on at Trinity, said Rosalyn Priester, member of Trinity UCC’s Green Committee and member of the UCC’s Environmental Ministries Steering Committee. The church’s theme for 2014 is “Love God, Live Green, Liberate All,” which is meant to provide an overall framework for worship and become infused into the congregation’s language and theological understanding.

“The spiritual practices of this church draw on African spiritual traditions in which there is no separation between the sacred and the secular,” Priester said. “This means that church is not just about what happens within the walls of the church building, but is also tied directly to what happens in the larger community.”