Eco Page

ECO-CONGREGATION SCHEME

St Nicolas has joined a scheme called “Eco-Congregation: the Churches’ Environmental Programme”. This established project is run by Churches Together, and aims to help churches from a wide variety of denominations take steps to care for God’s creation. Environmental issues are woven into the church’s spiritual life and practical mission through the use of the Eco-Congregation modules which cover a wide variety of issues from worship resources to youth and community outreach programmes to housegroup study packs.

Our first task is to undertake an audit of our current practices through the completion of a questionnaire. After this we will have identified areas we want to change and improve, and can work through some of the modules supplied. Finally, we can go on to apply for the Eco-Congregation Award.

Congregations participating in the Eco-congregation scheme report that it has boosted church life and mission, contributed to community building and stimulated church life ... as well being very enjoyable!

All these activities link well into Guildford Diocese’s ambitions to become a Fair Trade Diocese.

We have started our journey towards becoming an eco-congregation by being a collection point for used Christmas cards which are then recycled by the Woodland Trust as part of their “Tree for All” scheme. This project ran during January 2005, but we will continue to collect and recycle other items such as used stamps, old mobile phones and printer cartridges throughout the year. There will probably be other projects too - these will be featured in regular articles in the parish magazine and on the website.

For more information see http://www.ecocongregation.org or contact Margaret Hibbert at margaret@hibberts.co.uk.

January 2007