Introduction to Eco Church

I’m Gemma, one of the Eco Church leads in the Fosse Group working with St Mary’s and St Wifrid’s. Did you know we have Eco Churches in the Fosse Group? Do you know what it means? Well hopefully after reading this you will! I’m going to take you through what it is, our journey especially at St Mary’s and some hints and tips of how our local community can help us to be greener too. 

What is Eco Church? 

Eco Church is an award scheme run by A Rocha, a Christian environmental charity. Their aim is to provide practical support for churches to help care for God’s earth and try and reverse the climate crisis. They have set three award levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold with objectives set over five categories; Worship and Teaching, Land, Buildings, Lifestyle, and Community & Global Engagement. 

St Mary’s Story

At St Mary’s our Eco Church journey started in 2021 and with some small changes on top of the work we were already doing we quickly earned our Bronze award. From here the scheme was rolled out across the other churches and St Peter’s and St Wilfrid’s soon followed. 

We are currently trying to achieve the silver standard but this is where things get a little more tricky. Understandably not all green actions can be included in the award scheme as this would be a never ending list and therefore certain behaviours and changes are the focus of the award. Unfortunately with grade I listed buildings and limited finances we are a little limited on how much we can change. During the recent renovation works on St Mary’s we tried to incorporate greener approaches to building and heating, but unfortunately this was sometimes at odds with the needs relating to the history of the church. 

However, incorporating some of the improvements following the renovation and ongoing small changes we are nearly at our silver award! For example we have switched to renewable energy tariffs, added electric heaters to the renovated area of the church (reducing dependence on the boiler) and twinned both our toilets in the ‘Toilet twinning’ scheme. We calculate our carbon footprint each year and have offset our carbon (this involves making a donation to charities that support carbon positive actions e.g. planting trees). We have also committed to reducing our footprint next year. 

We have some exciting activities in the near future including Fairtrade Fortnight in September and we continue to pray for environmental causes and those affected throughout the year (St Mary’s is also a Fairtrade place of Worship and we use fair-trade tea, coffee, sugar and other produce as much as possible). 

How can our communities help support Eco Church?

There are lots of ways our communities and congregations can support us. From little things like trying to walk to Church if you can or car sharing, or using our green spaces for contemplation. Bigger actions including looking at your own carbon footprint (you can do this here) and offsetting your carbon footprint. There may be other things you are already doing which help support a greener earth. For example buying LOAF produce (locally grown, organic, animal friendly or fair-trade), reducing food waste by buying only what you need or composting the waste you have. You can even consider where you invest your money if you are fortunate enough to be able to do this. 

I hope this has explained Eco Church a little better for you and if you would like to join our Eco Church journey you can contact us. We will continue to share about our Eco Church journey and watch this space for our silver award!  

Eco Church Prayer (courtesy of Christian Aid)

Liberating God,
standing on a mountainside,
you spoke words of challenge and freedom. 

With the attention of the gathered then we listen to you now
beckoning us to recognise real treasure. To untangle our hearts from the slavery of desire 

from having more, yet never enough. 

Help us to value the things of Earth with the perspective of heaven.
To stand with you on the mountainside and see the wealth of creation
the worth of all people
and to invest in a flourishing future
to the glory of God, 

Amen.