The Diocese of Guildford currently has the highest number of Gold Eco Churches in the UK. The prestigious credential awarded by the Christian environmental charity, A Rocha UK, has been bestowed on five of the Diocese’s churches. It is an award scheme designed to motivate and resource churches to care for God’s Earth in their everyday work and witness. In total, 66% of churches in the Diocese of Guildford have signed up to the Eco Church scheme, with 105 churches receiving some kind of award.
Just ahead of Earth Day, a number of the Diocese’s Gold Eco Churches were celebrated at a special event hosted at All Saints’ Church, Guildford. The event was an opportunity for churches to share inspiration of how they got their award, how they are putting creation care at the heart of their ministry, and engaging their congregation and wider community in caring for the environment.
Attending the event were representatives including clergy and eco teams from All Saints’ Guildford, St Nicolas’ Great Bookham, Holy Trinity Guildford and All Saints’ Ockham. All gave presentations sharing their work in front of each other and to both Bishop Paul and Bishop Andrew.
The celebration largely took place in All Saints’ orchard, which has restored and developed natural habitats for local plant and wildlife. The orchard comprises approximately 150 hedge saplings and ten fruit trees.
Speaking at the event, both Bishop Paul and Bishop Andrew noted that they were always reminded of the urgency of the climate crisis and its impact when speaking with other Bishops in the Global South. Bishop Paul commended the work of the Eco Churches and invited them to a future event where they can support some of the Silver Eco Churches as they progress in their environmental journey.
The Gold Eco Churches, which represented parishes in urban, suburban, village and rural areas, spoke about their various actions to reduce waste, encourage biodiversity, switch to green electricity, as well as not serving meat at church events.
10-year-old Lucy who is part of All Saints’ Ockham, spoke about how she ‘took a stand’ in encouraging her church to stop using disposal cups when offering hospitality, and is encouraging members to make other small changes in their daily lives such as not running the tap while brushing their teeth to save on water.
The eco team at St Nicolas’ in Great Bookham shared how their eco journey began over 20 years ago with a drive to embed Fairtrade catering supplies and to support the community with recycling.
Hugh, part of the eco team at Holy Trinity, Guildford said that his church incorporates creation care into their church’s DNA; whether it’s in their newsletters, intercessions, sermons or their Sunday School lessons. Noting that Guildford is one of the wealthiest areas in the UK, Hugh said: “The wealthier you are, the higher your carbon footprint - so the greener you must be. Do not expect the poor to do the same.”
Throughout the presentations a common thread was how caring for the environment was a missional objective, and how as Christians they are custodians of God’s planet and must protect and sustain it for future generations.
Following this event, St Mary’s, Ewell received its gold award, with the eco team being established back in 2018 following a Lent course about creation care. Helen from their eco team said: “Using a diocesan grant to install LED lighting in our church building helped us reach the benchmark for gold. As well as embedding environmental messaging in our worship, we have taken steps to make our building more energy efficient, and by planting a meadow strip in our churchyard, with support from Ewell Castle School and the Surrey Wildlife Trust, we are encouraging greater biodiversity too.”
For more information on environment and net zero support visit the website.