Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship Dedicates Accessibility Ramp (January 2025)
Providing Access with a Barrier Free Grant.
A Schoolhouse for Simple Living (September 2024)
Taftsville Chapel, a Mennonite congregation in Woodstock, Vt., has over a decade of experience in creation care. They meet in a renovated historic schoolhouse. They have solar panels. Member Heather Wolfe is co-author of Sustainable Kitchen (Herald Press) and leads wild church (outdoor) worship. But they want to do more.
MC USA’s Climate Justice Ministry announces Generation Z Energy and Spirit Challenge recipients (July 2024)
MC USA’s Climate Justice Ministry has selected two recipients and one honoree for the Generation Z Energy and Spirit Challenge. The award winners are Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, Taftsville, Vermont and The Freeman Project, Freeman, South Dakota. Hillcrest Academy, Kalona, Iowa, has received an honorable mention.
Claiming Your Call in a Climate-Changed World (June 2024)
Two Mennonite congregations in New England were part of the 12 congregations who participated by sending a team of four.
Planting an Outdoor Sanctuary (MennoniteMen, May 2022)
On May 7th, Green Up Day Vermont, members of Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship in Taftsville, Vermont turned out for a tree planting project on church grounds, transforming lawn into an edible forest garden.
TCMF is recognized as a “Cool Congregation” at the 40% or higher reduction in greenhouse gases (Interfaith Power and Light, Spring 2022)
Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, a tiny church with only 55 members, has reduced the emissions from their worship facility by 40% or above, saving 15.5 tons of carbon emissions and nearly $2,000 per year in energy costs.
Taftsville Chapel Turns Lawn into Forest Garden (MCCN, May 2022)
Participants at Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, Taftsville, VT, spent May 7 getting their hands dirty transforming their half acre of mowed lawn into an edible forest garden.
Taftsville got a whole lot greener Vermont Standard, May 2022)
In honor of Green Up Day, the congregation […] got together to plant trees and berry bushes. They partnered with 350Vermont and their “Rewild Vermont” initiative in order to establish a better habitat for animals (and human visitors!)
Taftsville Chapel is a ‘certified wildlife habitat’ (Sustainable Woodstock, April 2022)
On March 25, Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship was officially recognized as a Cool Congregation through Interfaith Power and Light.
Anabaptists around the world care for creation (Mennonite World Conference, March 2022)
Stories from around the world teach how we respond as faith communities to the challenges of climate change.
Church Gone Wild (Mosaic Mennonite, June 10th 2021)
Our conference newsletter features our Wild Church experience as their lead story.
Healing the Earth: Food Choices (MCCN, May 2020)
Heather Wolfe was a panelist responding to “If you could inspire your congregation to focus on a simple response to the environmental crisis of your choice in the coming year, what would that response be?”
Jesus Never Said You Should Use LED Light Bulbs (Mosaic Mennonite May 2020)
Mennonite Congregation is Simply Taking Care of Earth (The Vermont Standard, April 30, 2020)
Taftsville Chapel: A Sustainable Model for Creation Care (The Mennonite, April 21, 2020)
Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship—a small, geographically dispersed congregation in rural Vermont—has strengthened its ties with each other and the broader community through spiritual practices that help care for all of creation.
Nurturing a Culture of Creation Care (MCCN, January 2020)
This webinar recording from January 9, 2020, is for pastors, creation care liaisons and others who want to glean inspiration for their own contexts. Heather Wolfe, MCCN liaison at Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, shares a step-by-step story of how and why her church has been active in this area. This includes a powerpoint showing activities chronologically.
Vermont Congregation Receives MCCN’s first Art and Jocele Meyer Award (MCCN, December 10th, 2019)
Mennonite Creation Care Network (MCCN) has selected Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, Taftsville, Vt., as the recipient of its first annual Art and Jocele Meyer Award and a $500 donation. The award recognizes both exemplary creation care at the congregational level and the liaison’s role in communicating with the broader network.
Solar Grant Recipients Now Generating Power (MCCN blog, May 17, 2017)
On May 4th our solar installation was complete and we began generating renewal energy!
Our Journey into Creation Care (The Mennonite, pg. 18, April 2017 edition)
The April edition of The Mennonite was dedicated to creation care. We answered a call for submissions and had our article about our yearlong journey into intentional commitment as a congregation to creation care accepted.
Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship Receives Solar Grant (Franconia Conference, Dec 7, 2016)
VT, NM churches get Creation Care funds for solar power (Anabaptist World, Dec 6, 2016)
MCCN’s Net Zero Fund Finds Takers (MCCN, Nov 21, 2016)
It was announced that our grant request was fully funded by the Pam DeYoung Net Zero Energy Fund! This funding allowed us to move forward with installation of solar panels on our chapel roof.
Taftsville Chapel Plans to Go Solar (The Vermont Standard, Taftsville correspondent weekly column, October 20, 2017)
The correspondent for Taftsville (a hamlet of Woodstock), submitted this article to the local weekly paper summarizing the community meeting we held at the church where we presented our proposal for a solar project to our neighbors.
Plant Water Grow Media Project (Franconia Conference Assembly 2016)
Taftsville Chapel was one of three congregations highlighted at the annual meeting for the work we are doing in regards to creation care. The Franconia Conference office says, “We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback, and people were definitely blessed to hear your stories!”
Green Patchwork Congregations New Members (MCCN, Sept 19, 2016)
In August of 2016 our church council, with the support of the congregation, affirmed our congregation joining MCCN’s Green Patchwork and designating an official creation care liaison.