Thanks to High Street Baptist Church, Tring who are a gold awarded Eco Church, for sharing their prayers over Great Big Green Week.
Churches Counted on Nature
Churchyards provide thousands of acres of green oases in communities across the country. Last month’s Churches Count on Nature (CCoN), in which A Rocha UK was a key partner, was a fantastic opportunity to help people understand their local environment and explore the contribution that churches can make to monitoring and conserving wildlife. Between 3 and 11 June, over 400 CCoN events took place across England and Wales, with churches hosting activities to record the mammals, birds, wildflowers, insects, and fungi in their outdoor spaces. Many also used CCoN as an opportunity to reach out to their community and extended their activities to include photography competitions, history talks and picnics. You can see some great photos of a variety of events here. Llanidan Church in Brynsiencyn on Anglesey started their event with a service that focused on the environment and caring for their churchyard. After an opportunity to browse a selection of relevant books and leaflets over a cuppa, they got counting! Over 30 people took part, and the lists were compiled not only in Welsh and English but French too, as there was a Breton gentleman taking part! Almost 80 species of wildflowers were identified, as well as insects …
Montgomery Church’s Eco Group find a creative way to think about food miles at their monthly ‘bring and share’ lunch
St Nicholas Church in Montgomery, Wales, who achieved their bronze award in 2022, thought of a creative way to share their Eco Church ethos at their ‘bring and share’ lunch. Montgomery Church hosts a casual ‘bring and share’ lunch on the fourth Sunday of each month. It’s open to everyone and is normally well-attended. The Eco Church group saw this captive audience as a great opportunity to widen the message about eco issues. They decided to challenge the congregation to think about ‘food miles’, encouraging them to make low food-mile items to share. ‘Food miles’ refers to how far the ingredients of a meal have travelled to get to your plate. So it’s about making the best of what’s around locally whenever possible, rather than using items flown from across the globe. One of the young members created a beautiful poster, and the competition to bring along the dish with the lowest food miles was on! There were savoury recipes using homegrown herbs, local eggs and local vegetables. The puddings didn’t fair quite as well as the sugar, made with British sugar beet, all grown close to the factory, came all the way from Bury St. Edmunds. But, the only …
“God in the beauty of Nature” from the Bryn a Mor Mission Area, St Asaph Diocese
Image: Llanasa churchyard. Photo credit Gregor Lachlann Waddel. “…So I will build my altar in the fields. And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be, And sweet fragrance that the wildflowers yields Shall be the incense I will yield to thee…” (To Nature, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, c 1820) Part of the Bryn a Mor Mission Area is set in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Therefore, in amongst all this beauty, it is important that we as a church continue to conserve, preserve and look after God’s creation. Conservation has always been at the forefront of many of our churches. Some of our Church family has strong links and membership with the local conservation society in and around Llanasa. Together we take care of the plants and wildlife around our village and in our churchyards. We spend time in the churchyard and the village weeding and planting bee-friendly plants, cleaning and picking up litter. Under the stewardship of the Llanasa Conservation society, we have worked with the probation service in the care and upkeep of the cemetery, which has involved a programme of encouraging natural wildlife, semi-wild fauna, and flora. This special relationship is ongoing, and we hope …
Act for Nature Dates in 2023
A Rocha UK are hosting several ‘Act for Nature’ days on our reserves and in collaboration with Partners in Action and Eco Churches. Join us for practical conservation activities for individuals and churches which are relevant to both small and larger patches of land. Come along to learn and share your own experiences of campaigning for nature – and to ‘speak up’ together though a simple action. And each event will be a great opportunity to meet and share a fun day with other A Rocha UK supporters in the region, as well as A Rocha UK staff and volunteers. The remaining events for this year include: – Wolf Fields, West London on Saturday 16 September. Find out more and register to attend here. – Nettle Hill, Warwickshire on Saturday 14 October. Find out more and register to attend here.
Registration open for Churches Count on Nature – June 3 to 11, 2023
Churches across all denominations in England and Wales can now register to participate in Churches Count on Nature, an annual scheme where people visit churchyards and record the plant and animal species they encounter. Read the full article and find out how to register your event on our A Rocha UK noticeboard here.
Eco Church goes on tour in North Wales
Delyth Higgins, our Eco Church Officer for Wales, shares about her recent visit to North Wales. Delyth hosted several sessions, bringing together local churches and chapels at various stages of their Eco Church journeys, sharing stories and providing an opportunity to connect and encourage one another. It was encouraging to see the turnout and response to the recent Eco Church sessions in North Wales. Following an invite to speak to the Bangor Diocese Clergy’s Grwp Cadfan meeting in Nant Gwrtheyrn, two additional ecumenical sessions were arranged – one in Porthmadog and one in Bangor. The sessions were a blend of information-giving about A Rocha UK’s work and, more specifically, about the purpose and workings of the Eco Church programme and hearing directly from churches already involved. Several churches from the area shared their stories and experiences about how they reached a bronze award. They gave examples of how they started, what they achieved first, and how they progressed. They also included tips, such as ensuring you have support from a small group of enthusiastic individuals rather than trying to do it all alone. Also, acknowledge small steps taken and progress made, and involve people in aspects of the scheme according …
A pop-up cafe, revamping the village phone box, and more from silver-awarded Llanpumsaint Church, Carmarthen
Llanpumsaint Church achieved a bronze award in March 2020, continuing on their Eco Church journey to achieve their silver award two years later in February 2022. They shared a few of their recent Eco Church activities with Delyth Higgins, our Eco Church Officer for Wales. Eco-themed Open Church Event Our small rural church in a village with a population of about 800 people partnered with other churches in our Local Ministry Area, Plant Dewi, our diocesan children’s charity, our local allotment association and the local bus company (who provided free transport), to host an eco-themed open church event. The event attracted over 60 people and focused on the Biblical creation story in Genesis and our call to be good stewards of God’s Earth as an expression of love for God and our neighbour. There was a Godly play session on the creation story, we made recycled bird feeders, planted wildflowers and vegetables, made and shared local, organic, animal-friendly and fair-trade (LOAF) cawl together, established our bug hotel, had a fair-trade stall, and a host of other activities and games. A great day, all in all! Pop-up Cafe Llanpumsaint Church hosts a pop-up café every Tuesday from 11.30am – …
Hope Valley Faith and Climate Group – “Working together gives us a louder voice when we declare His love for His creation.”
We include representatives of almost all the churches in the Hope Valley in the Peak District. We realised that many Christians were involved in the Hope Valley Climate Action group and wanted to create an opportunity to share ideas and inspirations amongst ourselves. At our first meeting we decided to commit to every church on the valley becoming an Ecochurch. In two years we have gone from one to four bronze awards and 9 out of 11 churches registered. We meet roughly every three months in each other’s churches to share ideas on worship, building and land management and lifestyle. As a visible part of Hope Valley Climate Action we have an opportunity to demonstrate God’s concern for His creation within a secular group with over 800 supporters. Working together gives us a louder voice when we declare His love for His creation. We hope this can be a helpful model for others to follow. Written by David Hughes
St Peter’s Church, Alton – Eco Project with the local cubs group
St Peter’s Church, Alton, achieved their silver award in September 2021. They shared the following story with us: We’ve had some very good engagement with the local cubs, who have taken on an Eco Project for the land in our graveyard. They have created display boards of their ideas to improve the churchyard for wildlife and the public use of the space. There were some common themes running through their ideas: – Planting more flowers and fruit in the churchyard to attract insects, birds, other animals, and people – Providing more homes for the bugs and mini-beasts that the fruit and flowers attract in – Providing homes for larger animals like hedgehogs – Having a pond for frogs, newts, toads, and all the other interesting pond wildlife See the photos below for how they developed their ideas and the final display boards they produced, which are now on display in the church.