ThreeHouse Campus Ministry: Where Property Improvement Meets Creation Care

Located across the street from the University of Northern Iowa’s campus in Cedar Falls, ThreeHouse Collaborative Campus Ministries is a beloved space where students enjoy gathering and hosting events. “People have described our building and our whole vibe as welcoming and relaxing and very peaceful,” says Rev. David Glenn-Burns, director and campus minister at ThreeHouse. He’s been working in his role at ThreeHouse for over 30 years.

“One of our core values is radical hospitality,” says Glenn-Burns. “We try to find as many ways to show through our facilities, and our programming, and our people, and our hospitality, that we try to be very inclusive and caring.”

In the early 2000s, that same desire for hospitality led ThreeHouse to think about how they could make the building entrance more welcoming and inviting. Working with a landscape architect, they expanded the patio area and built terraces on the hill in front of it. For the surface of the patio, they installed permeable pavers, which are designed to absorb rainwater directly into the soil. This new expansion opened up two garden areas around the patio, so they planted native grasses and flowers to reduce the need to mow.

Enhancing their front entrance with eco-friendly materials and landscaping became a catalyst for other climate care initiatives. “And so began our project, or our tendency,” Glenn-Burns recalls, “to look at when we had an opportunity, what could we do to make a choice for the earth, for conservation.”

Glenn-Burns and others at ThreeHouse worked with the Black Hawk Soil and Water Conservation District office who encouraged them to put in bioretention cells—gardens that catch rainwater and prevent extra runoff. They discovered that they were eligible for several conservation grant programs, which helped pay for their projects.

Using the available grants, they’ve added more conservation elements to their property over time, including rain barrels, a dry creek that channels rainwater into the bioretention cell, and other landscape improvements. Now, they’ve become a zero-runoff property. None of the rainwater accumulated from their roof or grounds flow into the street or storm drains. Instead, it gets absorbed right back into the soil.

As someone who’s always had a heart for conservation, Glenn-Burns was proud of what ThreeHouse had accomplished. But in 2009, a derecho wind storm blew through Cedar Falls and ripped the roof right off of ThreeHouse’s building. “Tore it off, like you’re opening a can of nuts,” Glenn-Burns recounts. The house received so much wind and rain damage that they couldn’t use their building for a year and a half and were forced to find an alternative location.

Glenn-Burns and the ThreeHouse staff and board had to make a decision: start over by building something new, or repair and restore the old house. 

The ThreeHouse community felt strongly about using the crisis as an opportunity to restore the building, and to do it in an environmentally friendly way. So they held a fundraising campaign and worked with an architect to make their building more sustainable, using green materials wherever possible. They installed a light colored metal roof and insulated the walls and windows to make the building more energy efficient. 

ThreeHouse continues to demonstrate that, with every building repair or maintenance opportunity, there is a choice to do it in a way that cares for the earth. And they’ve consistently taken that choice whenever possible. When their parking lot needed repair, they turned it into an opportunity to add water runoff improvements and install permeable pavers. When they opened an intentional living community house next door, they used that moment to incorporate more water conservation projects into their landscaping.

“I wish that I could say that … we planned ahead and we worked very carefully,” admits Glenn-Burns. “It’s more that we, I feel like we’ve responded to opportunities.”

Taking advantage of every opportunity is what makes ThreeHouse’s approach unique. They demonstrate that you don’t need a lot of resources or have to be an expert in conservation to start a creation care project. Whenever property repairs or improvements need to happen, it’s a new chance to think about how those can be done in a way that increases the sustainability and environmental impact of the property.

As a result of everything he’s learned over time, Glenn-Burns hopes to use ThreeHouse as an example for what other organizations and churches can accomplish, even when they have little to no resources to work with. Every church or organization has to take care of building repairs, maintenance, and property and landscape upkeep. Why not view these routine tasks from a creation care lens and consider how they could be completed in a way that’s more sustainable and better for the environment? Instead of planning a separate project, climate care can be integrated alongside what already needs to get done.

“Don’t be afraid of curiosity,” Glenn-Burns advises for organizations and churches who want to start a climate care project. “Ask questions. Start it with: ‘I wonder if we could…’. Be open to opportunities.”