St Andrew's URC - Silver Award Eco Church
In 2011, St Andrews’ agreed at their church AGM to become an
Eco Church.
Eco churches are part of an ecumenical programme helping churches make the link between environmental issues and Christian Faith and putting this into practical action.
St Andrew's are registered with A Rocha UK as an Eco Congregation. A Rocha
is a Christian charity working to inspire and equip churches to protect and restore the natural world.
There is a small Eco Church team who meet regularly to review our existing environmental initiatives and plan new activities around 3 main areas of church life:
- spiritual: worship and teaching
- practical: things to do with buildings, land and church management
- mission: reaching out, both locally and globally
In 2019, we received the exciting news that our application
for an Eco Church Silver Award from A Rocha had been successful
Some of the Silver Award initiatives:
- Expanded recycling – glasses,batteries, teabags and cables.
- A Green Fair, bringing together a range of organisations with environmental interests.
- A prayer on climate change was
submitted to A Rocha UK and used in a service which had an environmental theme.
- Big church card at Christmas raising money for charity
- A Herb Garden at St Andrew's
- Repair and Regeneration every 1st Saturday.
In order to attain the Gold Award new initiatives will be needed.
We have a Psalm 23 Garden, based on the
well-known Psalm but also the Bible Society garden from the
Chelsea Flower Show 2021. The video can be found
here and the
plan for the garden can be found
here
All the gardens are now being better managed with the
emphasis on the the benefits for the environment. The Land
Management Plan can be found
here
Whilst not as formal as at St Andrew's the other churches practise economy
and recycling.