ECO CHURCH
One of our responsibilities, both as a church and as individuals, is to care for God’s creation and in 2022 the PCC agreed as part of doing this to sign up to Eco Church.
Eco Church is a scheme run by Christian charity A Rocha UK that enables and encourages churches to care for God’s creation through their worship, buildings, land, community engagement, and individual lifestyles.
Depending on how well they do this, churches can be considered for an Eco Church Award at either Bronze, Silver, or Gold level.
In November 2023 we were granted a Bronze Award. We will now take the next step and begin to work towards the Silver Award.
Some of the things that we were have done towards gaining the Bronze Award include:
- Use Fairtrade products at our monthly coffee mornings
- Include prayers for creation and the environment more frequently in services
- Focus on the local farming community at Harvest
- Leave areas of the churchyard for wild flowers and plants to grow – the cowslips are thriving (see below for photos)
- Use recycled paper for printing where possible and avoid some use of paper and ink by projecting the service on the screen
It’s not all about getting an award though! Eco Church can be a way for us all, both the church family and the wider village community, to think about how the choices we make, and the activities we take part in, can help to care for God’s creation now and into the future.
If you would like to find out more about the Eco Church scheme click on the link: https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/
Wild flowers in the churchyard – Spring and Summer 2023