Two churches in the Diocese of Guildford will receive grants and technical assistance towards Net Zero Carbon (NZC) projects as part of the nationwide Church of England ‘Demonstrator Churches’ project.
The project aims to equip, resource and support all parts of the Church to reduce carbon emissions from the energy used in its buildings, schools and work-related transport by 2030.
The two churches in the diocese receiving the grants are Holy Trinity Knaphill and Christ Church Epsom Common. Both grants are ‘Stage 1 grants’, which will enable both churches to work through possible solutions to reaching NZC, taking into account the specific design of the buildings and their usage patterns.
Once they have fully developed proposals, they will be eligible to apply for Stage 2 grants from the same grant fund towards the cost of the capital works needed.
The Parish of Knaphill with Brookwood has two churches, Holy Trinity Knaphill and St Saviour’s Brookwood, neither of which are listed. In 2022 and 2023, the churches focused on Creation Care through their teaching and prayer. This included Creation Care Eco Tips in their Weekly News Bulletin and a Creation Care Church Weekend Away.
Their Creation Care Team updates its PCC at every meeting, which has approved the continued planning for their ‘Demonstrator project’ work, covering both churches and their church halls.
Both church halls and buildings are open during the week providing facilities and resources for the church and wider village communities. Each church hall also hosts a setting for Holy Trinity Preschool, which operates daily through the academic year.
All of this helps with the outworking of the Parish Vision: ‘Living the Full Life through Discovering it, Living it and Giving it away’.
The main building at Christ Church Epsom is listed (grade 2*). This Demonstrator project will enable the church to fulfil its long-term vision - ‘Christ Church as a Living Well, Christ Church living well’ - in which it seeks to be both a resource as a community hub and faithful disciples serving the local community.
They also have a small committed eco team which supports the PCC in their commitment to working towards NCZ. High on their list of things to address is the heating systems which prevent them from reaching the Eco Awards Gold standard.
As work progresses, the national network of Demonstrator Churches, representing many different types of communities and situations, will share what they have learned more widely with Dioceses and parishes so that all Church of England churches can learn from their experiences.
Abi Hiscock, Project and Grants Manager for the Church of England’s Net Zero Demonstrator Churches Project, says, “Ultimately, we want to demonstrate that with the right support and infrastructure, churches from diverse settings facing a variety of challenges can reach net zero by 2030.
“By the end of this project, we will have over 100 case studies spread across the country on what to do and when, and what not to do. Along the way, the supported churches are all required to act as champions to other churches in their dioceses or geographically near to them, or simply to other churches working from similar baselines to them, so that the learnings from these projects engage, influence and support this vision.”
Christ Church Epsom’s vicar, Revd Rosemary Donovan says, "I am extremely proud of all Christ Church's efforts to raise consciousness about climate change and our initiatives to be more eco-friendly, through personal and communal commitments. Being a national Demonstrator Church, we can not only progress our own church commitments but support others in Guildford Diocese by trail blazing."
It is hoped that by targeting some of the highest emitting churches across the UK the project will reduce carbon emissions by 6,615 tonnes by 2030.