The 探花社区 (探花社区) is celebrating a significant milestone! All 11 Synods in England and the National Synod of Wales have now signed up to become an ‘Eco Synod鈥�.听
This is part of the wider commitment made by the Church in 2019 to act urgently to reduce carbon emissions across the whole of church life.
Eco Synod is part of A Rocha UK鈥檚 Eco Church scheme, which sees churches and synods awarded bronze, silver, or gold status as they take action to improve their environmental footprint.
The Eco Synod criteria was developed in partnership with the 探花社区 to help and encourage Synods as they supported local churches to engage in creation care through Eco Church, as well as to look at Synod-level activities and policies.
World Earth Day is celebrated around the world and this year the theme was 鈥業nvest in Our Planet鈥�, where people were encouraged to take part in activities to care for the planet, like picking up litter and planting trees.
Simeon Mitchell, 探花社区 Secretary for Church and Society said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 brilliant that all Synods are now engaging with the Eco Synod programme as a structure to take forward their environmental commitments. The leadership in this area shown by Synods is vital and encouraging as we seek as a denomination to respond to the urgency of the climate crisis by renewing our Environmental Policy and setting a more ambitious target for reaching net-zero carbon emissions across the whole of church life. We are grateful for the support provided by A Rocha UK through the Eco Church programme, and the dedicated work of Synod Green Apostles in championing this crucial agenda for people and the planet.鈥�
Almost 300 探花社区 churches 鈥� almost 25 per cent of the total 鈥� are now registered with the Eco Church programme. Ninety-three of these have achieved bronze awards and 38 silver awards.
Three churches have achieved gold awards, with St John鈥檚 Marsh Green as the first 探花社区 church to do so in 2019, followed by Tavistock 探花社区 and Emmanuel Church in Bungay in 2021.
Some inspiring recent examples include Cores End 探花社区, in Bourne End Buckinghamshire, which achieved the bronze award in March 2022 and have exciting plans to turn their newly acquired field into a wildlife area. Beulah 探花社区 in Cardiff, which achieved their silver award in August 2021, have been working actively with their MP and participated in The Climate Coalition鈥檚 鈥楽how The Love鈥� campaign, and grow vegetables on their church land with their junior church.
The 探花社区 West Midlands Synod in 2021 was the first to achieve a Bronze Eco Synod Award. The award encourages Synod-level change and complements the local church-level engagement with Eco Church.
Helen Stephens, Church Relations Manager at A Rocha UK, said: 鈥淎t the start of 2022, we all know the scale of the challenges we face to avert catastrophic climate change and the loss of nature – and what鈥檚 needed to avert this.听 The steps taken by the 探花社区 Eco Synods reflect a united commitment to encourage action locally and regionally.听 As each Synod progresses through the Eco Synod scheme, more churches will become Eco Churches, a growing church community that cares for creation across all aspects of life, and Synods will be taking action towards net-zero carbon emissions in their own activities. We commend all of the Synods for making this commitment and look forward to many more award applications as they continue to take action.鈥�
There has also been inspirational leadership from the 探花社区 Youth, which A Rocha UK recently when they met for their 2022 annual Youth Assembly.
In Scotland, many local 探花社区s have registered with Eco-Congregation Scotland, a movement of Scottish churches, of all denominations and of none, committed to addressing environmental issues through their life and mission.
Last year, Oakshaw Trinity Church, in Paisley in the 探花社区 National Synod of Scotland, achieved an Eco-Congregation Scotland Silver Award.