The Eco Church Scheme

Several of our churches are using the Eco Church scheme to develop their environmental awareness and activities. The scheme was set up by A Rocha, which is a Christian environmental campaigning organisation, and they make the awards: bronze, silver and gold. The questionnaire which assesses the attainment level of the participating church covers a wide area of the church’s practice, from its worship and preaching, buildings and land use to its community and global engagement and fairtrade commitment. During the process of completing the questionnaire participants are linked with helpful information that enables development of that area of practice, thus providing an effective pathway for improvement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three of our churches have so far received awards: Chesterton and Kirtlington are bronze and Wendlebury has achieved the silver award. Our goal is for all the churches in the benefice to have at least a bronze award.

 

Becoming an Eco Church

There is no one standard way to becoming an Eco Church. In Wendlebury the team activity of rebuilding the dry-stone wall around the churchyard is one feature of its community engagement and nature-enhancing land use; in Kirtlington the local wildlife group, Kirtlington Wildlife and Conservation Society, works with the church in creating a wildlife area and in activities that involve young people in, for example, birdhouse making and providing shelter for insects.

 

 

Chesterton church has agreed to leave an area of the Church land unmown this year except for one cut in the late summer. This area is marked out with signs from “Caring for Gods Acre” website to explain to people why is not being cut. During this year they will record what plants appear with a view to making a wildflower meadow in the future. They also hope to involve the children in planting some insect friendly plants.

 

Each church therefore sets different goals: in Chesterton this may be to increase its use of fairtrade products and apply for a Fairtrade Place of Worship certification; in Kirtlington the main challenge is to find a way to change the high up light fittings so that they can use LED bulbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But for all our Eco Churches there is a desire to provide times of worship, prayer and teaching that focus on our care for God’s world and to increase our sense of individual responsibility to live in a way that celebrates and looks after it.

 

Wendlebury’s Journey

We are proud of the work done by the parishioners at all our churches, and in particular St Giles’ Church in Wendlebury.  This church has achieved the Eco Church Silver Award for their planning and executing of multiple sustainability initiatives.  These projects include creating outside areas to support and encourage bio-diversity, and a commitment to Fairtrade sourced and improved facilities inside.

Click the link below to learn more about St Giles’ initiatives – which includes an entertaining and informative Vlog starring the director of the project, Charles, and his dog, Rocket! 

https://mebdesign.co.uk/eco-church-st-giles-church-wendlebury/

And for more about Wendlebury’s exciting journey please enjoy this podcast below  –

https://mebdesign.co.uk/charles-darby-interview-at-cre-2024/