June and July 2025 Newsletter

Program Highlights

Faithful Footprints participants host events to share what’s possible with retrofits

Earlier this spring, Faithful Footprints’ Atlantic Regional Support staff, Shreetee Appadu, hit the road for a six-stop tour across the Maritimes. The Roadshow included events hosted by participating churches: Carmen United Church (Cape Breton, NS), Sackville (Sackville, NB), Hillcrest United Church (Montague, PE), Spring Park (Charlottetown, PE), and Cent (Lunenburg, NS), and Grace United Church (Dartmouth, NS) 

At each stop, the churches shared their retrofit journeys, highlighting how they used the Faithful Footprints grant and encouraging others to follow in their footsteps. They spoke about the environmental impact of their upgrades, as well as the social and economic benefits they’ve experienced. Many attendees left the events inspired and reassured that these projects are not only possible, but worth pursuing.

Green champions panel showcases faith-driven climate leadership of the United Church of Canada

Earlier this year, Faithful Footprints staff, Aleyxa Gates Julien spoke on a panel Green Champions: Faith in Action for a Sustainable Future at the second Faiths 4 Climate Conversations interfaith event, hosted by EnviroMu and Faith & the Common (FCG), Faithful Footprints program delivery partner. Gates Julien shared how The United Church of Canada is advancing sustainable practices and collective climate action through its building retrofit program. FCG has published a blog recapping the event and highlighting key insights and discussions that took place.

Project Inspiration

Hope United Church upgrades from 1926 steam boiler to energy-efficient heat pumps

Hope United Church (Alvinston, ON) has been mindful to reduce its energy use, from lowering heat when its building is not in use to encouraging remote work and small group gatherings in homes. Still, aging infrastructure, particularly the church’s 1926 steam boiler made efficiency difficult. With support from Faithful Footprints, the church replaced its gas system with an electric heat pump featuring five independent heating zones.

St. James & St. John United Church progresses toward full heat pump adoption across all its buildings

In response to rising fuel costs and the environmental impact of fossil fuels, St. James & St. John United Church (Miramichi, New Brunswick) has been transitioning to mini-split heat pump systems as the primary source of heating across all its buildings. As part of this commitment, mini-splits were first installed in the main church building, allowing the congregation to fully eliminate its reliance on oil for heating. The Church Centre, used most frequently by both the congregation and the wider community, was identified as the next priority. With support from Faithful Footprints funding, the church moved ahead with upgrading this important community space.

Carstairs Bancroft United Church upgrades its historic building for a more efficient future

Carstairs Bancroft United Church (Carstairs, AB) is celebrating 120 years of ministry and marking the milestone with building upgrades. With support from a Faithful Footprints grant, the congregation is upgrading its aging building with solar panels and energy efficiency improvements to reduce its environmental impact and operating costs.

Central United Church tackles rising energy costs with energy retrofit 

With heating costs climbing, it became clear that the current energy use at Central United Church (Lunenburg, NS) was unsustainable. Like many older buildings from that era, their 140-year-old church was poorly insulated and inefficient. In 2023, a group of concerned congregants formed a Green Team to address these issues. After completing an energy assessment back in 2018, they found the confidence and the financial support to get started thanks to a grant from the Faithful Footprints program. Their story was recently featured in the South Shore Bulletin, helping to inspire others to begin their own retrofit journey.

Ebenezer United rebuilds from the ground up with energy efficiency in mind

In November 2021, a devastating fire destroyed Ebenezer United Church’s 135-year-old building in Midland, ON. Faced with the challenge of starting over, the congregation embraced the opportunity to build not just a new church, but a better, more energy-efficient one. From the very beginning, they were determined to make the new space as efficient as possible, making strategic decisions to enhance the thermal performance of the building envelope.

Stay tuned for their story.

Sanctuary fire sparks building renewal in Kamloops United Church

A year after a devastating electrical fire destroyed its sanctuary, Kamloops United Church (Kamloops, BC) is rebuilding its sacred space. In the aftermath of the fire, the congregation came together and amalgamated with two other churches and is now leasing worship and office space from the organization that owns one of the former churches’ buildings. With strong community support and a renewed vision for ministry, the congregation has found temporary worship space and began sanctuary renovations earlier this spring.

Repurposing Canada’s religious buildings

As congregations shrink and maintenance costs increase, churches across Canada are at risk. Nearly one-third of the country’s 27,000 faith-built spaces could close within the next decade. These sacred places, often doubling as vital community hubs, face uncertainty. But some, like Brechin United Church (Nanaimo, BC) are demonstrating what’s possible. A new report Sacred Spaces, Civic Value: Making the Case for the Future of Faith-Built Assets by Canadian Urban Institute, calls for urgent collaboration to preserve these spaces, not just as places of worship, but as critical infrastructure for community care, affordable housing, and social services. The report outlines practical solutions for reinvestment, shared governance, and adaptive reuse that could transform these buildings into affordable housing, educational centers, and mixed-use spaces that serve the broader public.