Carpooling – Coming Soon to Your Church?
Sharing the driving responsibilities by participating in a carpool can reduce stress, build stronger relationships with carpool friends, reduce commuting costs, and help traffic flow more smoothly by reducing the number of cars on the road. Carpooling can also be an everyday act of faith, in modifying your lifestyle to better care for God’s creation. The logistics are often challenging however – where can you leave your car when it’s not your turn to drive? Does it take more time to pick everyone up at home than it’s worth?
Identifying a central meeting point for carpoolers can simplify the logistics. Does your congregation have a large parking lot that sits mostly empty during weekdays? If so, you have just identified a potentially perfect carpool meeting point! Of course, you will need to get the blessing from your church council and pastor. Wouldn’t it be great if your little patch of asphalt could be put to good use, build stronger connections between church members, AND better care for God’s creation?
It may be a good idea to identify specific areas of the parking lot for carpoolers, and make sure the church office has contact information so they can reach carpoolers if needed.
If you decide to pursue this idea, I’d be interested in feedback on how it went. My husband has been carpooling for several years – he and a co-worker take turns driving every other week – and it has worked well. I’m sure they each appreciate a week off from the driving when they can read, check emails, or even catch a little extra sleep! We are saving money on commuting costs as his car is used about 50% less than it used to be. That’s been particularly nice as Chicago gas prices have stayed about $3/gallon or more.
Are you ready to give it a try? Now would be a perfect time to connect with co-workers from church to see if your schedules can be aligned. Let’s try practicing our faith in a non-conventional way – carpooling!
Erin Cummisford
