Staple Hill Methodist Church achieved the 'A Rocha Bronze Eco Church Award' in September 2024.
A group of likeminded people got together in 2022 to work towards our church being ‘greener’. We were even called the ‘Green Group’! Angela Shaw was the driving force behind this, together with Jane Hole and I. We started off generally chatting about environmental issues, whether they affected us directly or were more global. We conducted a survey of church members about our own personal ‘green ‘credentials. We then started to think about how the church was trying to be more environmentally friendly and what could be our first steps towards this. We started to ensure that the cleaning products in the church were environmentally friendly, and we researched the best ‘green’ toilets rolls! We also encouraged the use of biodegradable products. These were quite easy things to put in place and that was ticked off!
We were meeting quite regularly but, unfortunately, things came to a sudden halt when Angela became unwell and within months Angela passed away.
In 2024, we decided it was time to continue Angela’s mission. Jane and I reached out to Anne Beattie (worship and Sunday Club leader), Andy Tarling (our gardener) and Aboseh (our minister) and the group was re-established as the Eco Group. We wanted to achieve the A Rocha Bronze Award and set ourselves the target of achieve this by September 2024.
We realised that through our Worship and teaching, caring for our creation was certainly very intentional throughout the church year. For example, Harvest Festivals focussed on looking after our world - themes included Harvest Around the World and Our Daily Bread. Groups were encouraged to reflect this in their window displays.
During weekly Sunday Club sessions, the children are always encouraged to think and reflect on the world around them. How they can look after it. What can they do, however small has an impact. Think about their actions. Do they need to buy certain things? Is there a better choice? Fairly traded, made locally?
Our church weekly News Sheet and tri-annual News from the Pews magazine regularly includes eco tips, making the congregation aware of issues both locally and globally, and asking them to look at their own carbon footprint and including prayers for environmental issues.
We are intended to celebrate annually Environmental Day and this will coincide with our annual Flower Festival in May. We annually contribute to native tree planting as part of our memorial service in October.
Our outside area is quite small, but we are trying to make the best of what we have. Andy and his garden helpers have been introducing plants that encourage wildlife into the garden. Also bird boxes and bird feeders have been erected. We are intending on installing a small area of water and hope that we may have some creatures that will want to use it. We also want to plant a wildflower area.
Inside our church we have looked at how we can make improvements and we have installed LED lights, where possible. And all future projects will always bear in mind the environmental impact. We are in the process of applying for an eco-grant from the Circuit.
There are areas that we know we need to address. For example, we would like to ‘toilet twin.’ We also would like to reach to our local sister church and encourage them to become more environmentally friendly.
Within our cluster and area, we intend to invite an environmental speaker for example, in March, from WaterAid to coincide with their Annual Walk for Water.
Talking of walking, some members from our Cluster walked 5 miles along the dramway. This was an opportunity to appreciate our creation and at the same time we raised £700 for Turnaround Bristol.
We have supported SUHUCAM (Support Humanity Cameroon) with the restoration of landscapes, by supporting a tree planting project and empowering some women and vulnerable people in rural communities. We also financially supported the installation of the borehole project.
We have learnt that by little effort we can have a huge impact.
Philippa Powell
If you would like to find our more about becoming an Eco Church, please go to arocha.org/en/theology-churches/eco-church/.
To get involved with Eco-Church at Staple Hill Methodist Church, please get in contact with Philippa (church liason) on staplehillmethodist@hotmail.co.uk
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