Eco Church
St Chads’ Loving God’s Creation
At St Chads we love Gods world and an important expression of our worship is our care for creation. We are committed to making a difference as part of wider church mission to steward creation well.
We support the wider Church of England Environment Programme which sets out that responding to the climate crisis is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God's creation and achieve a just world.
Climate change hits hardest the poorest countries and poorest people of the world. Meantime, the widespread destruction of the natural world is a crisis for creation.
We want to address this thoughtfully, prayerfully and practically as set out below.
What are we doing to make a difference?
- We are working towards our silver eco-church award.
- Supporting mission partners like Tear Fund who are working with those living in areas most impacted by climate change.
- Adapting our church and community buildings so they are more energy efficient and fuelled by renewables, aiming to become net zero in line with the church’s wider mission. Find out more here.
- Increasing the amount we recycle and reuse, so we reduce the amount of waste that we send to landfill.
- Helping wildlife to thrive on our land and in the surrounding area - we have created wildflower meadow areas in our churchyard and want to do more.
- Our prayer, teaching and worship for all ages considers how we can actively care for God’s world.
- Encouraging everyone to think about the small and big things they could do make a real difference for the planet.
What can I do to make a difference?
- If you are wondering what you can do to help make a difference, here’s some ideas to get you started:
- Plan ways reduce your carbon footprint.
- Think about whether there are things you can do at home to be more energy efficient eg switching the lights off, using LED bulbs, using a renewable energy supplier or installing an air source heat pump in place of gas boiler.
- Think about ways to travel more sustainably like walking or cycling or travelling by bus, train or electric car.
- Help create shelter or food for wildlife in your garden or by joining a local volunteer group.
- Look into charities who work to care for creation.
- Learn about ethical products and services like banking, using resources like Ethical Consumer magazine.
- Re-use, recycle or upcycle as much as possible.