EcoChurch

Caring for God’s Creation

Human induced climate change and the deepening global ecological crisis will fundamentally affect the lives of all of us and is already having a devastating effect in many developing countries.

As Christians, we believe that God calls us to care for creation, to help those in most need. The Church of England has recognized the climate emergency and has called all parts of the Church to become net zero carbon by 2030.

We are so fortunate to have a beautiful church in a National Trust park and to support us have enrolled with the ‘Eco Church’ programme, which will bring the care of God’s creation to the heart of our Community. We now have an active team who meet regularly to take forward this agenda.

Eco Church is an award scheme for churches in the UK organized by a charity called ‘A Rocha UK’. It provides a framework and a toolkit of resources to support the Church to take practical action on caring for God’s earth. It also provides an action programme to support the improvement of biodiversity, address climate change and make a real difference to nature restoration.

The three awards available are Bronze, Silver and Gold and at St Michael’s we are at Silver. Our Church building, as a listed ancient church, provides challenges in some areas. However, the resources cover five categories: worship, teaching, buildings, land, community and global engagement.

The overall aims of our Eco Church group are:

To reduce the carbon footprint of our Church building and protect it for the future
To understand the habitats and wildlife in our churchyard
To understand the habitats and wildlife in our churchyard
To increase the number of people engaging in nature and encourage their understanding of climate change.
To ensure at our services and events, we minimize waste and actively engage with recycling schemes

So what progress have we made so far?

We now have LED lights in the Church replacing all the old lighting.

We have stopped using disposable cups, and review every event in the light of our Eco Church goals.

We use Fairtrade products wherever possible.

We are aiming to purchase ‘green’ cleaning products where possible.

With an increasing awareness of the environmental crisis, our worship and teaching are frequently focused on the environment and God’s creation.

Our next step is working on the use of our Church grounds to become more active in the environmental management of this space and encourage wildlife.

We installed swift boxes in the Bell Tower when the repair work took place last year and now have a number of nest boxes in the trees in the Churchyard.
We plan to develop some areas where we can manage the grass to create wild flower areas. We are also looking at where we can build a ‘Bee hotel’.
We have recently had a second ‘Nature Quest’ with a trail around the churchyard to explore the Fauna and Flora and encourage participation in the project.

Every day, churchyards are visited by many people, whether or not they come to Church services. Since the start of the Pandemic they have become extra important as a place for relaxation, contemplation, prayer, or to connect with friends. This is particularly important in our own churchyard, where we have many National Trust visitors to the Church. Our plans include creating in our churchyard a dedicated restful area for people and wildlife.

‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’ said Jesus in Mark: 6:31.

The Quiet Garden Movement nurtures access to outdoor space for prayer and reflection and we are currently looking at which part of the churchyard would best suit this.

If you are interested in joining our group, or have suggestions to offer, please contact:

Julia Grant

Churchwarden

01494 565746

Mike Hill

Environmental Advocate for Wycombe Deanery

nature@hughendenparishchurch.org.uk