Eco-Congregation offer resources to churches
Eco-Congregation is an ecumenical programme helping churches make the link between environmental issues and Christian faith, and respond in practical action in the church, in the lives of individuals, and in the local and global community. You can download a leaflet outlining the what the can offer in the Environment section of the downloads page of this website.
Environment Sunday resources
Action for Environment Sunday - a paper with ideas for churches, produced by Peterborough Diocese Environment Group.
St Benedict's Northampton offer these resources for Environment Sunday. Click on the list and follow the links on the Downloads page:
Environment Sunday PowerPoint presentation POWERPOINT document
Environment Sunday dialogue
Environment Sunday leaflet
Shrinking the Footprint - new church energy audit
A simple energy audit is available to help churches to see how they could make savings on their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint. You can download it by clicking on the link on our Downloads page.
Shrinking the Footprint
All parish churches are being invited to carry out an audit of current energy usage so that a benchmark can be established. Once the size of the current ‘carbon footprint’ of the church has been assessed, the campaign will roll out initiatives to shrink that footprint.
In the Diocese of Peterborough we are inviting all churches to participate by making a link to www.shrinkingthefootprint.cofe.anglican.org and completing the audit for energy use in 2005. This exercise is an essential first step on the path to "The 40% Church". Unless we know where we are starting from we cannot plan how best to reduce our impact on the environment or monitor how much difference our actions are making.
The exercise will be repeated again in the spring of 2008, when we will record the energy used in the previous year. A report will be made to the General Synod in July 2008.
New Energy for the Church!
There is good news for churches in the form of grants towards wind, solar and water power - churches are eligible to apply for grants from the Department of Trade and Industry’s new low carbon buildings programme. There are also grants for wind turbines, bio-energy boiler systems, combined heat-and-power systems, and fuel cells. If churches generate more power than they use, they could earn money by feeding their surplus into the National Grid.
Green sources of energy were one of a number of matters discussed at the new Peterborough Diocesan Environment Group which met for the first time in April 2006. Organised by Peter Brotherton, the Diocesan Environment Officer and David Wiseman, Social Responsibility Officer, it indicates that the Church is waking up to concerns about carbon emissions and sustainable energy sources.
The group is hoping to build on the interest in the “Green and Pleasant” conference that was supported by the Conservation Foundation and held in the diocese last autumn. The matter has also been discussed at Diocesan Synod in response to General Synod’s report, Sharing God’s Planet.
By highlighting what churches can do to make a difference, and raising awareness about our care for God’s world, we hope to help Christians to take account of our impact on the environment. |
