Parishes from across the Stepney Area came together online on 23rd September to Helen Stephen from A Rocha inspiring us to pursue Eco-Church. Some resources from the evening are:
Area/ Diocesan Support
- Our new Stepney Area Lead for all things related to Eco Church and Caring for God’s Creation is
Revd John MacKenzie at St Lukes, West Holloway.
Please do get in touch with him if helpful! - Our Diocesan Environment Officer (DEO) is Brian Cuthbertson: brian.cuthbertson@london.anglican.org and is a great source of expert information on all of this- buildings, energy, boilers, offsetting, which other churches have tried what etc.
- The Compassionate Communities team are also around and very happy to support if you need anything- Compassionate.communities@london.anglican.org
Organization & Initiatives
- Climate Sunday- any church can hold a “Climate Sunday” in the run up to COP26, many are using Harvest Festival as theirs. If you register that you are holding one it would be great to count the number of churches taking this seriously. There are brilliant resources available on their website: https://www.climatesunday.org/
- A Diocesan Prayer Resource for your Climate Sunday, or any Sunday running up to COP26, +Rob, Bishop of Edmonton(who is the ALMA link Bishop for the Diocese) has recorded some prayers to download and use: https://vimeo.com/599482831
- Young Christian Climate Network– www.yccn.org
- Faith for the Climate coalition (run by Giles Goddards at St Johns Waterloo)- https://www.faithfortheclimate.org.uk/
- Church of England Environment Team, run by Catherine Ross run great webinars on many aspects for churches. A great resource. Webinars here:
- St James Piccadilly are very happy to show people round and talk about their journey – everything from solar panels, cleaning products, using their gardens, heating and lighting, and more. They are great about what is and isnt’ realistic! Deborah Colvin leads on this and details of how to get in touch are here; https://www.sjp.org.uk/ecochurch.html
Reading & Resources:
- Katharine Heyhoe’s new book Saving Us – A Climate Scientists Case for Hope and Healing
- Research from TearFund and YouthScape “Burning Down the House” (How the church could lose young people over Climate Action):
To be kept in the loop about this work, we have a termly “Caring for God’s Creation” newsletter about all things going on in the Diocese of London. Blogs, ideas for EcoChurch, events and organisations that can support your church. Please sign up here. The Latest edition can be found here: https://mailchi.mp/london/welcome-to-the-creation-care-termly-news-13445867
