Eco Church launched at St Paul’s Cathedral
A Rocha UK’s Eco Church award scheme has been welcomed by former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, as part of a ‘tectonic shift’ in Christian culture.
Launching Eco Church in London on 26 January, Dr Williams said environmental concerns need to ‘embed more deeply’ into the Church’s mindset. ‘But progress has been made,’ he told his audience of three hundred, ‘you here tonight are a part of that.’
A free service, Eco Church consists of a state-of-the-art online survey and suite of resources enabling fellowships to become more environmentally-friendly, from creed to coffee, invocation to insulation and worship to wildlife.
A Rocha UK’s Churches And Theology Director, Dr Ruth Valerio, explained, ‘We want it to be as commonplace for churches to care for God’s earth as it is for churches to engage in community action and social outreach. Only churches in England and Wales can gain an award through Eco-church, but the Eco Survey and accompanying resources are freely available for anyone to look at and use, and we are currently thinking through how we might be able to help others who want to take Eco Church into their national contexts.’