FEATURE
Church-centred initiates have included
wildflower planting, toilet twinning,
and an energy audit. Solar panels have
earned the church more than £5,000
through the Feed-in-Tariff and the
sale of the electricity they produce,
as well as saving one tonne of carbon
annually. The panels attracted press
coverage and a special service was
held to celebrate their installation.
Eco-Congregation Award recently,
with the assessors commenting that
the congregation ‘see creation care as
part of their faith response; it’s not just
an extra activity’. ‘This was what we
hoped for when we began,’ comment
Sue and Richard, ‘so well done to
everyone in our church!’
‘Sustaining interest and finding
new initiatives that we feel we can
support can be a challenge,’ say Sue
and Richard Cooper who, with their
minister, led the Eco-Congregation
process at the church. The 100-strong
congregation, however, have remained
hugely supportive throughout and
were thrilled to receive their second
If you’ve been inspired by reading
about how these three churches have
used Eco-Congregation to demonstrate
that the gospel is good news for
God’s earth, and would like to find
out how your church can register to
work towards an award, please email
[email protected], or
call A Rocha UK on 020 8574 5935.
AND YOUR CHURCH?
55
Eco-Congregation is managed in
England and Wales by A Rocha UK –
a Christian charity working for the
protection and restoration of the
natural world, both as a response to the
biblical mandate to care for the earth
and as a demonstration of the Christian
hope for God’s world (arocha.org.uk).
Nigel Hopper
Nigel Hopper is Churches and
Resources Manager at A Rocha UK.
An accredited Baptist minister,
Nigel has previously worked for
both the London Institute for
Contemporary Christianity (LICC)
and Scripture Union. He
recently completed an MSc
in ornithology and lives
with his wife and children
in Milton Keynes.
WE ARE ALL NOW MUCH MORE
ECO-FRIENDLY, AND HAVE
BECOME MORE AWARE OF OUR
RESPONSIBILITIES OF CARING
FOR GOD’S CREATION.
LWPT8462 - Preach Magazine - Issue 2 v2.indd 55
09/01/2015 14:36:22