Shirley Parish receives the Silver Eco Church Award

Eco Church is A Rocha UKs award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth.

Shirley Parish has recently been awarded the Silver Award. Read on to hear about their story.

Shirley Parish is made up of 3 churches: St Johns in Tidbury Green, St James in Shirley and Christ the King.

The Eco Church initiative is an ecumenical scheme helping churches link environmental issues and their Christian faith and respond in practical action in the church, people’s lives, and the local and global community. It has awards at three levels, bronze, silver, and gold, and considers how the environment is addressed within worship and teaching, buildings and land, community and global engagement, and lifestyle

Kate Day and Kate Crocker share the story of the Parish.

We completed the Eco Church audit and achieved the Bronze level award in 2020. Since then our dedicated Eco group has been leading the way in making further improvements, and we are delighted that all three of our churches have now achieved Silver status.

We’re now taking a short breath to consolidate the progress we have made, and then on to gold!

Here’s what we are currently doing:

Worship and teaching

Issues relating to the environment are included in the prayers at all three churches most weeks, and in our sermons/talks most months. Once a year our Sunday morning worship at St James is a dedicated Eco service led by our Eco group, who always manage to challenge us in gentle but important ways.

Our Messy Church uses recycled stuff for our activities wherever possible, and always goes Eco in February. In 2023 we are going one step further with a series of creation-related sessions from January to March, where our activities include planting summer bulbs, making a planter, and crafting a massive Bug B’nB for the St James churchyard. We often do outdoor, creation-related things in August. Our celebrations always finish with Lovely Jubbly – click on the link to see why!

Once a quarter we have Forest Church in the grounds of St John’s Church, Tidbury Green. It’s held outdoors, whatever the weather, and we use what we see and hear around us to help us to worship God, and raise our awareness of the richness of Creation. It’s open to everyone – you can find out more here.

The Eco group also contribute an article to our Parish magazine each month, covering topics such as Fair Trade, caring for hedgehogs, and eating for a healthy planet!

Buildings

We have recently upgraded the insulation, heating and lighting in Church House (our church hall), considerably reducing our carbon footprint as well as making the building more welcoming and comfortable.

You can read more about what was done here.

We are immensely grateful to Veolia (though the Landfill Communities Trust scheme), the Lottery Community Fund, and The Friends of St James, whose grants made this work possible.

We use a green energy tariff for St James’ Church and Church House, and for St John’s Church, and use eco-friendly cleaning products and recycled paper products.

We are currently investigating alternative heating options for St James Church.

Land

Our  plan for the eco-management of St James’ Churchyard here, which includes a ‘no-mow’ area during the summer months, is beginning to bear fruit with bird feeders, insect hotels, bee-friendly flowers, compost bins, wild flowers and new trees.

Our immensely dedicated Wednesday morning Churchyard Working group work incredibly hard to look after the churchyard without recourse to pesticides. If you fancy getting stuck in, they are always open to new members!

The garden at St John’s, Tidbury Green is also managed to encourage wild-life, and we have some industrial sized bird feeders to keep up with demand!

The church of Christ the King meets in rented premises,  so does not have responsibility for buildings or grounds.

Community and Global concerns

We are a Fair Trade parish, and all beverages served at church events are from Fair Trade suppliers.

See here for a short video about how choosing FairTrade coffee can make a difference to the lives of those who grow it.

Our Lent 2020 appeal raised funds for Toilet Twinning.

We have now raised enough money to twin all the toilets in our buildings.

In 2022 we held our first FairTrade Big Brew, and ran a Green Fair as part of our Harvest celebrations. We recycle books, clothing and other goods, support environmental charities and lobby our MP.

Lifestyle

Carbon footprint

…..is a measure of how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere as a result of our actions and choices. Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to the increase in average global temperature.

You can calculate your carbon footprint here.

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Food and drink

“Healthy food for a healthy planet.” Reducing our consumption of meat and dairy products helps to reduce our carbon footprint.

Use your LOAF where ever possible, buying food which is

• Locally sourced (reduces use of fossil fuels / transport costs)
• Organically grown (reduces use of fertilisers and pesticides)
• Animal friendly (raised according to healthy farming practices)
• Fairtrade(offering producers a fair price for their produce)

Achieving this award was possible with the support from the Deanery and the many people in the parish who are working so hard and so prayerfully to make our community more sustainable.

Kate Day and Kate Crocker

For more information on the Eco Church Award 

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