​Over the past few months some of our churches have signed up to the A Rocha UK Eco Church award scheme.

A Rocha is a non-profit making charitable organisation that works for the protection and restoration of the natural world, and is committed to helping Christians and churches to care for the environment. The award scheme is offered to churches in England and Wales, who wish to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s environment, with bronze, silver and gold level awards to work towards and achieve.

William Temple Church was the first church in the Team to be awarded a bronze level award. St Luke’s, St Martin’s with St Francis, and St Michael & All Angels have all registered and are working towards their own awards.

There are lots of things that we can do in church to limit our impact on the plant. For example, sign-up for renewable tariffs for gas and electricity, recycle paper and use recycled paper, only switch on lights when they are need and switch them off again when they are no longer needed, have a water meter installed and be careful to turn off taps. There is more that we can all be doing to become a greener church. There is also a lot that we can do at home to live greener lives.

We are hoping that, in time, all of our churches will register with the A Rocha UK Eco Church award scheme. You can register to join the Eco Church Community and support our Eco Church journey. From the A Rocha website homepage you can sign up / log in. Once you’ve signed up as an individual you can then register your church or, if your church is already registered, join your church team.

In future weeks and months, more details of Eco Church related initiatives will be appearing in our churches, on our Facebook pages and on this website.

Watch this space