Shalom Congregation, 1984
There is no one word to explain Shalom. It is a vision of God's promise to all creation and includes such concepts as hope, wholeness, peace, healing, justice, righteousness, salvation, freedom, oneness, prosperity and well being. In other words, Shalom affirms that God wills a future for all creation. God wants the best for the heavens, the earth, the water, the vegetation and all living creation including humankind.

Southside voted to become a Shalom Congregation in 1984.

Alverna Covenant, 1986-1987
The Alverna Covenant was written by the Task Force on Christian Lifestyle and Ecology of the Christian Church (DOC). The purpose is to encourage Christian stewardship to include a responsible approach to our environment.
When you sign the Alverna Covenant, you say you will:

• change your lifestyle to reduce your contribution to pollution,
• support recycling efforts,
• search for sustainable lifestyles,
• work for public policies which lead to a just and sustainable society,
• share these concerns with others and urge them to make this Covenant.

After holding several study groups, Southsiders signed this Covenant in 1986 or 1987.

Here at the church, whenever possible, we use materials that are environment-friendly. We avoid using paper plates, styrofoam, plastic cutlery and have bins available to recycle paper (in the secretary's office), plastic (in the furnace room), and aluminum cans (also in the furnace room).

In addition, in 2003, the E-Team began collecting aluminum cans (only) from members of the church to take to a recycling center as a small fund-raiser for the church. These cans should be rinsed out and bagged with only aluminum cans in order for us to get credit from the recycling center.

Most of us live in areas where recycling is made easy for us. We put our recycling bins out on the appointed day and the truck comes to pick it up. We put our yard debris out on regular trash days and it's taken to be recycled. But there are some questions we need to ask ourselves:

• What are we as individuals able to do to become better stewards of our resources?
• What are we doing as a congregation to become true caretakers of God's creation?
• How are human resources used to preserve the dignity of every person?