Historic Churches 2023

34 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON H ISTOR I C CHURCHE S 30th ANNUAL ED ITION across England and Wales in January 2016 as a framework for churches to engage practically in caring for creation as an expression of their Christian faith. Churches register for the scheme online and then complete a survey covering five key aspects of church life: worship and teaching, which is foundational; the management of buildings and land (if we have those assets); community engagement at a local and global level; and lifestyle. It is deliberately holistic to ensure that congregations are embedding creation care into everything they do and to understand the depth of action required to help tackle both the climate and nature emergencies. Eco Church is an award scheme that encourages churches to progress from bronze through to silver and gold. The survey can be used as a planning tool to identify what has already been done and provide ideas, along with resources, for what to tackle next. Whilst awards help to measure and celebrate progress and maintain momentum, they are not the end goal; rather, Eco Church helps mobilise churches and Christians to care for the earth as part of their everyday work and witness. It has grown to a community of nearly 7,000 churches, over 3,000 of which have at least one award (all at different stages of action) but with an emphasis on learning together and increasingly supporting each other. There are so many creative ideas and approaches that it is definitely not a case of one size fits all. Rather, Eco Church is about grassroots initiatives defined by local context and needs but with collective national impact. There are 50,000 churches in the UK, in every village, town, and city neighbourhood. What huge potential to demonstrate God’s love for his creation and what people can do practically to serve and influence whole communities, to reduce our own carbon footprints and to care for the environment around us. This is most likely to come and be sustained by the attitude of our hearts, which is why Eco Church begins with worship and teaching. Worship and teaching is foundational and fundamental, not least because many of the environmental challenges that we face stem from the condition of our hearts. Worship and teaching help us to think about who we are and whose we are, and our rightful place as ‘a part of creation’ , not apart from and certainly not above it. Worcester Cathedral held Prayer in Nature in May for a session that included eco-spirituality teaching followed by a time of practice in the lovely private gardens by the old Guesten Hall. Praying outside is a way of helping us to realise that we are a part of Creation. Creation is not just an environment that we live in or inhabit, it is everything that God made including us and all the animals, we are all Earthlings. It is about encountering the outside with all our senses, as embodied beings, made of the same dust as all creatures, which is utterly material and yet utterly spiritual at the same time. Fundamentally, it is about restoring our sense of the Earth as a sacred place, inhabited by God. (http://bc-url.com/hc23s3 ) Our buildings provide some of the more measurable responses to an increasingly warming world. How can we reduce our carbon footprint through energy reduction and other measures as well as considering the impact of how we use other resources? We have to get off fossil fuels fast and the Church of England, along with the Methodist Church and other denominations, has set an ambitious goal of being net zero carbon by 2030. For any church or for any of us as individuals, switching to renewable energy can be an easy, quick win. Naturally, heritage and building conservation issues need to be taken into account, but many churches and communities are generating their own energy from solar panels and other renewable technologies and saving money in the long run, even in listed buildings, though we know this is not always consistent or easy. This section includes questions such as whether we’ve measured our Composting toilet at St Ceinwen’s Church, Llangeinwen, Anglesey, North Wales (Photo: Amanda Jones) Photovoltaic panels discreetly hidden behind the south-aisle parapets of two churches; left, St Denys’s in Sleaford, Lincolnshire (Photo: David J Prescott), and right, All Saints’ in Wing, Buckinghamshire (Photo: Martin Findlay)