As we look back over 2024, we are humbled and grateful to God for all He has done this year across the Eco Church community. We want to say a huge thank you to all the churches taking action through Eco Church to care for creation. Join us in reflecting on some of the highlights we are celebrating this year: There are now 8,000 churches registered with the Eco Church programme – that’s nearly 20% of churches across England and Wales! We have seen a huge growth in churches deepening their engagement with creation care this year. Over half of the churches registered with Eco Church have now achieved an award – that’s over 4,100 Eco Church awards, all markers of churches taking practical action to care for creation. We also hit some new milestones in 2024 with 1000 churches achieving a silver award, and 50 churches reaching gold in the summer. Half a year on, we’re now celebrating 65 churches achieving a gold award, 1,300 Silver Eco Churches, as well as over 2,750 Bronze Eco Churches! We are so encouraged by the progress of many more churches continuing through the award levels, because of all that the awards represent in practice: churches going deeper on their Eco Church journeys, having even …
Support the Climate and Nature Bill
It’s vital that we stand up for nature and act on its behalf. With the Climate and Nature Bill now in Parliament and heading for its Second Reading on 24 January 2025, we must do all we can to ensure that our MPs support the Bill when it returns to the House of Commons. For the Bill to succeed, 102+ MPs need to support it. This is a golden opportunity;the Bill is the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that ensures a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the climate emergency and nature crisis. In brief, the Bill seeks to ensure that the UK meets its international commitments on climate and nature by 2030 by: Making sure the UK cuts emissions fairly and fully to stay within our share of the 1.5C carbon budget Making sure the UK not only halts but also reverses the destruction of nature by 2030 Involving UK citizens in deciding the fairest way forward. Add your support by writing to your MP asking them to back the campaign, or congratulating them if they already have – and encourage your church, friends, and family to write to their MP too. Find your MP and Check out Zero Hour and their campaign …
Easy reading and listening on Eco Church this Christmas
“Churches come to environmental care for different reasons: saving money, a social-justice stance, a heart for biodiversity. There isn’t one way to become an Eco Church.” We’ve had some exciting opportunities to share about Eco Church recently! Our Eco Diocese Officer, Polly, spoke to the Church Times about her work, living overseas, and who she’d choose to be locked in a church with! Read Polly’s full interview here. Meanwhile, Helen, our Church Relations Manager, chatted with John on the One Voice podcast, in partnership with Northampton Methodist Church and Northampton Methodist Church District. Tune in to hear more about A Rocha UK’s work with churches, as well as what drew Helen to environmental work and what churches can be doing to care for creation. Listen here.
Key information for churches working on the previous version of the Eco Church survey
The new Eco Church survey is now live, and we are operating a transition phase until the end of January 2025 to allow churches to finish off their work on the previous version of the survey. Any new survey started now will be the new version*, and this is our final update on the previous version of the survey. If you are still working on the previous version of the survey, you have until the end of January 2025 to submit your award application using this version. If you are not ready to submit your award application by this time, please open a new survey to continue recording your Eco Church progress. Don’t forget – although the questions may not be exactly the same, everything you may have been doing is making a difference in caring for God’s earth. Also, please be aware that you will still be able to access any of your previous surveys under the ‘archive’ section on the Eco Church platform – so no information is lost. Whatever stage you are at with completing the Eco Church survey, or submitting an application for an award, we are confident that the updated survey will give you plenty of ideas to keep on caring for God’s …
A community biodiversity initiative in partnership with Eco Church, St John’s Harleston
St John’s Church in the Norfolk town of Harleston is at the heart of an initiative encouraging nature recovery throughout the local community and its spaces. St John’s Church in Harleston is a bronze-awarded Eco Church in the Diocese of Norwich, which also holds a Bronze Eco Diocese award! The vicar at St John’s, the Revd Nigel Tufnell, has spearheaded the project since 2022. A short film about the community biodiversity initiative showcases the inspiring story of how a grassroots environmental programme in a market town can bring together a parish church, local school and the wider community. The initiative has given rise to what is now known as the “Harleston Model” of nature recovery. This approach has been officially adopted by their district council, with Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils also in the process of integrating it into their frameworks. Read on via the Diocese of Norwich’s website, and learn more from The Revd Nigel Tufnell about working with the local council and school. He shared: “Although this initiative may seem to have changed little on the surface, it has significantly altered the local community’s attitude toward nature recovery. It is now widely accepted that it is a …
‘One stop shop’ for finding resources to support you with the new survey
Accessing the new Eco Church survey You can access the new survey by logging into your account on the Eco Church platform, and starting a new survey. See our help guide section if you need support starting a new survey (please note this currently shows screenshots of the old survey – we will update this in due course!) View the new survey questions and overviews See PDFs of the new survey questions in both English and Welsh (complete set coming soon) and overviews for all five categories on our Eco Church survey summary page. If you’d like to see all of the survey questions for all five categories on one page, you’ll need to start a new survey on the Eco Church platform. Once you have started a new survey, Click ‘printer friendly version’ to view all the survey questions for all five categories in one go. You will need to select the appropriate pathway for your church first to see the buildings and land questions. See our help guide section for how to find the ‘printer-friendly’ view. New overviews for the five categories of the Eco Church survey: Worship and teaching overview Buildings and Energy overview Land and nature overview …
Wild Discoveries in Churchyards and Cemeteries
Wild Discoveries in Churchyards and Cemeteries From Hedgehogs to Hares, a rich and diverse array of species are thriving in our historic churchyards and cemeteries, a recent citizen science survey reveals. In June communities across the UK united to celebrate Churches Count on Nature, Love Your Burial Ground Week, and National Cemeteries Week, with more than 300 events highlighting the unique blend of history, nature, and community found within local churchyards and cemeteries. The Churches Count on Nature initiative, organised by Caring for God’s Acre and supported by A Rocha UK, the Church of England, and the Church in Wales, has generated an impressive collection of wildlife records that are still coming in. Read the full article on the A Rocha UK website here.
An Eco Church milestone – 50 churches hit gold!
In June 2024, A Rocha UK awarded the 50th Gold Eco Church and we are celebrating! Any church reaching a gold award is an impressive achievement and tells the story of hard work, prayer and committed action. As with all the award levels, they are markers to work towards, but the real goal is each and every action taken, prayer prayed, person influenced, and wildflower planted, because all of these are part of our worship and witness of a God who loves all of His creation. Read the full article on our A Rocha UK blog here.
Bees at St Mildred’s Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight
Photo caption: A newly formed very calm swarm cluster with their new Queen. It’s just like touching candy floss – they do not sting unless threatened! Bees are one of our Target-25 species at A Rocha UK. Target 25 is a project to help a range of declining species, taxonomic groups, and threatened habitats. Find our Target 25 resource page here, including our resource on bees. St Mildred’s Church in Whippingham on the Isle of Wight achieved their Silver Eco Church award in July 2024. Eco Coordinator and bee-keeper Ruth, shares the story of their church creating an *apiary whilst working towards their silver award: “When I joined St Mildred’s Church last year, I became part of the church committee as the Eco Coordinator. My partner and I have been registered beekeepers for over ten years and are passionate about the environment. I have always loved bees and realise the vital importance they have to our planet as pollinators. Creating our apiary has sprung from Eco Church and our love of bees. *An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where beehives of honey bees are kept. The church has an area of woodland, which four …
New Eco Church survey – goes live 8th October!
The new Eco Church survey goes live on the 8th of October 2024! Since Eco Church launched in 2016, the Eco Church survey has guided churches to work through practical ways to care for creation, with over 7,500 churches registering with the Eco Church programme and over 3,500 churches achieving an award. Working with churches in the Eco Church community, we are refreshing the survey to help your efforts make the most impact on the climate and nature. We hope the refreshed survey will continue to support your church and its leadership in taking practical action on caring for God’s earth when there has never been more cause to do so. What if our church is well on the way to applying for an award? That’s fantastic news. Keep going. The existing survey won’t disappear yet! If you are most of the way through a survey and can submit it before the end of January, please do. If you have already started the existing survey, you have until the end of January 2025 to complete the work on it and submit it for an award. If you are not so far through, hop on over to the new survey, as we know this …