The Capellania Anglicana de Ibiza y Formentera, (also known as the English Speaking Church on Ibiza and Formentera) is a bronze-awarded church in the Diocese of Europe. Hear their story of how they connected with creation during Lent: Our Creation Care Group loved the suggestion from A-Rocha UK to use the season of Lent to encourage people to focus on God’s creation. With permission from A Rocha UK, we adapted their material to make it more applicable to life on Ibiza and created a sheet explaining the specific focus for each of the six weeks leading up to Easter. On the reverse of this sheet, we also provided suggestions on how to live a life with zero waste.     On the first week, as part of our Sunday service, we gave out seeds of local varieties of vegetables for people to plant at home. Over the remainder of Lent, we also organised a walk through the forest and along some almond groves where we heard about the endangering effect of climate change on those old trees; this was followed by a community picnic. Our Creation Care group also arranged litter picks and gave other suggestions as to how to …

St Margaret’s Church achieved their silver award in September 2022. Read more about their Eco Church journey here. “This will be the second year we have held a ‘Green’ Christmas Market. Last year it was hugely successful and raised a lot of interest, money and support from other organisations in our village. The principles of the event are: To bring Christmas joy to our community through the market To spread a green message into the heart of the Christmas season We manage this by all our stalls having an eco-ethos and being as plastic free as possible.” The main stalls are as follows: Homemade edibles – delicious cakes, jams, chutneys Natural decor – wreaths, poinsettias, potted bulbs,  and pinecones Re-gifting – anything nearly new or in good condition which would make a good present (no electrics or clothing) Handmade – crafts, knitting, willow weaving, woodwork, artwork Re-homing good quality toys (with kite mark) and children’s books This year we have invited OXFAM to have a free stall, and our local Citizens Advice Bureau will have a table and be available to talk through how to keep warm this winter with anyone who wishes to receive advice. We have a real …

All photos were taken in the autumn around the harvest festival by Becca Riley We had a wonderful harvest festival during October last year in our church. Our local farmer from the village kindly agreed to come to along church to address the congregation. We hosted a question-and-answer session with him during the service. He was able to describe and help those present to understand more about his farm – a mixed farm, growing crops and managing livestock. He talked about challenges faced by farmers, particularly the weather, and he shared things that help local farmers, for example, villagers being tolerant of tractors moving around the village. Non-perishable foods were gathered from our congregation and the wider community and donated to the local food bank. Thank you to Becca Riley, Eco Church Lead and member of church PCC at St Michael and All Angels Church, for writing this piece and providing photos. 

(Creationtide Display Board 1) Creationtide is celebrated at Christ Church West Wimbledon with an annual display of pictures and artefacts in the church. Members of the congregation contribute photographs, paintings and other artworks and objects they have found or made relating to Creation. These are displayed with Bible verses about Creation Care on boards hung around the church. The backgrounds on the display boards were painted by the Sunday morning children’s groups. Everyone is invited to contribute and a wide range of people join in. (Creationtide Display Board 1 Most years, we also have an art installation, inviting further contribution and commentary on environmental themes as we think about these during Creationtide. Last year we had a water-themed installation, and the congregation were invited to write a prayer and make an origami prayer boat in support of the Young Christian Climate Network ‘Rise To The Moment’ campaign and Relay to COP26. This year we have a Prayer Tree – everyone is invited to write a prayer on a paper leaf celebrating creation or about the environment, climate change, biodiversity, pollution or whatever is on their heart and then to hang the leaf on the tree. Prayer Boat Installation for ‘Rise …

In September 2021, the Shropshire and Marches Methodist Circuit held its first Care for Creation Day Away on a farm in the south of the circuit. As this was a first, we weren’t sure how many people would attend, so we were delighted to have 60+ from all over our large Circuit. We were blessed with good weather, meeting in the garden due to Covid restrictions at the time. The garden lent itself to three groups meeting in the different ‘rooms’. The three speakers moved from group to group, speaking on Forest Church, Eco Church and the farm’s sustainability plans. Forest Church is active in the northern part of the Circuit, and our speaker explained that it follows the Celtic Year. We looked at trees, seeds and hedges (each group choosing one of these) and contemplated and shared what we had found. We also received an introduction to Eco Church and were shown examples of the questionnaire. We explored questions like how to reduce our carbon footprint, where to make changes and how to encourage the congregation to get involved. Father and son Gwatkin (John and David) told us about the development of their farm from being tenants to owner-occupied, …