Celebrating five years of Eco Church

Eco Church celebrated its fifth anniversary last week with an online service of more than 250 participants, representing some of the 1,400 churches involved in the ecumenical awards process. Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Salisbury and Church of England lead on the environment, warmly thanked all involved in Eco Church, particularly Andy Atkins and Helen Stephens of A Rocha UK, which administers the project, and Ruth Valerio, for her on-going support. He felt faith communities are strong at a local level and well placed to stimulate environmental work.

He noted that churches are waking up to the urgency of environmental crises and a range of responses are being made by faith communities, from campaigning on divestment from fossil fuels to Living Graveyard projects and educational initiatives. "The pace of that change is really remarkable" he said, and "it is absolutely clear that care of creation is central to Christian life." But more needs to be done by the churches, and he felt young people highlighted this in a recent Tearfund report. He quoted Pope Francis' words about the interconnectedness of issues and that we must behave as co-creators.

Reports were given by representatives of four different denominations. Karen Smith of Beacon Hill United Reformed Church in Surrey told of the church achieving its BRONZE Award last October. The community has developed a sensory garden, using recycled items as much as possible, and parishioners donated plants. Richard Baker of Bramhall Methodist Church in Cheshire reported that over 40 people participated in a Lent study and they are planning a Climate Emergency-themed flower festival which will use locally-sourced flowers. A partnership of 35 churches is involved in advocacy on climate change with the 'Make COP26 count' project. Polly Eaton of the High Street Baptist Church in Tring spoke about their work towards achieving a GOLD Award. "Eco-Church is part of our ethos now, and it comes into all things we are planning, such as a community Spring Festival" she said; "Creation is embedded in our everyday lives as Christians."

Joe, from Penedeyrn Mission Area and the St Asaph Youth Forum in Wales, produced an inspirational video highlighting the beauty in his local environment - the local mountain, a stream, butterflies and Foxgloves. "We are not stewarding as we should" he said, and "we should be motivated by love rather than fear".

Joe's film is at: https://dioceseofstasaph.org.uk/faith-in-action/eco-church/

Looking to the future, Andy Atkins aimed to have 15 percent of Churches involved within the next five years. He hoped for churches to deepen their engagement and work towards a low carbon economy. He called for more diversity, with a bigger range of churches and networks involved. Churches were urged to challenge the UK government's slashing of the aid budget. "We want that reversed very quickly," he said.

His hope was that more churches will work towards the Eco Church awards, which go alongside the Live Simply awards in the Catholic Church in England and Wales and Eco Congregation in Scotland and Ireland. "When this community speaks up together it can deliver" he said: "churches could be a driving force for a Just Transition to a low carbon economy."

The final prayer focused on eco-churches as "beacons of hope". Music came from Joel of Resound Worship. One popular song was ' Let all creation sing.' www.resoundworship.org/song/let_all_creation_sing

LINK

Eco Church - https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/