Eco Church
Here at Christ Church we aim to support the Anglican Church’s position on environmental care:
‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth’
We are aware of the importance and the urgency of doing more to protect our planet, and the part that we all must play in conserving the integrity of God’s good creation. We are also called to love our neighbour which means we should be committed to climate justice. It is the poorest who suffer most. Love means taking action to set things right. It is holy work to be involved with safeguarding creation.
How do we respond together as a church community?
Christ Church is signed up to the Eco Church Award Scheme
We were thrilled to receive our Bronze award in August 2021 and are now working towards our silver Eco Church award. We have a small Eco Church team which would be delighted if you would like to be involved. The scheme covers five key areas of church life:
- Worship and teaching
- Management of church buildings
- Management of church land
- Community and global engagement
- Lifestyle
We hold Climate/Eco Church Services
We hold a number of Climate/Eco Church Sunday services each year and regularly pray about climate and biodiversity issues.
See our recent services:
ECO Church Sunday 14th May 2023
ECO Church Sunday 12th June 2022
ECO Church Sunday 19th June 2022
Creation Care Sunday – Part 1 2021
Creation Care Sunday – Part 2 2021
We hold Eco Art Workshop and Exhibition 2023
We open our church for wider community to come and take part in painting activities related to the environment and, look at what others have made. Here’s the link for the Eco Art Workshop and Exhibition 2023.
How can I help as an individual?
Express your concern
Our world has an urgent rubbish problem, but Christians around the world are uniting to take action. Why not take part in Tearfund’s Rubbish Campaign This is a Rubbish Campaign – Tearfund
Talk to your friends and family about your concerns regarding climate change.
Inform yourself
There are many resources available to help us learn more and inspire us to take action. You don’t need to start from scratch.
Websites
Church of England Environment Team
Young Christians Climate Network
A Rocha UK – Caring for God’s Earth
Wild Christian – Ideas for families and communities from A Rocha
Tearfund – Environment and climate
Tearfund Reboot Campaign (as featured in our recent Climate Sunday services)
Christian Aid – Climate justice, every moment matters
Fairtrade Foundation (Christ Church is a Fairtrade Church)
Guide to Going Green at Home – A great guide to being green at home
Videos
Prof Katharine Hayhoe’s three sessions at the A Rocha International gathering in July 2021 covered talking climate change with Christians, finding hope and dealing with disagreement. If you can, do make time to watch these engaging, and challenging talks.
Try Tearfund’s great series of short videos on Christianity and Climate Change.
Podcasts
There are many inspiring podcasts including A Rocha International’s podcast and Global Optimism.
Books
Try L is for Lifestyle by Ruth Valerio or The Future we Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac.
Pray
Our prayers are likely to include lament, repentance, praise and calls for wisdom for ourselves and government leaders across the globe. We may also want to pray that others who are in a position to help tackle the environmental crisis – including international organisations, corporations, scientists and technologists – will also recognise their responsibilities and succeed in developing measures to avert the current crisis.
Act
By making more sustainable choices in our own lives, each one of us also has the opportunity to demonstrate our love for our global neighbours and for God’s creation. Our actions and choices make a difference – and influence those around us to take action too.
Hopefully the above resources will provide lots of ideas of ways to make positive lifestyle changes and to reduce our ‘carbon footprint’ – these may be related to our transport, our diet (introducing more plant-based meals into our diet is one of the best ways to cut our carbon footprint), our shopping choices, our energy provider, involvement in local action (see below), the way we clean things, how we garden, or perhaps who we bank with.
Local groups and events
We are not alone – why not join in a local or national event for inspiration and community.
Local groups include Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Beeston Wildlife Group, Feed Me Fully Loaded, Nottingham Climate Assembly, Nottingham Energy Partnership, Notts Cloth Nappies, Extinction Rebellion Nottingham and Incredible Edible Beeston.
Talk to someone
It is good to talk together. Do contact us with your suggestions, questions or if you would like to join our local Eco Church team.
The Green Champion at Christ Church Chilwell is Esther Pawley and she can be contacted at [email protected].
