4.10.24 St Peter's Church is very pleased to announce that they have been given a
Gold Eco Church Award by A Rocha UK.
Eco Church is a scheme for churches of all denominations in England and Wales. Churches can show that they care for creation as an integral part of loving their neighbours and following God.
The beauty of the A Rocha Eco Church surveys are that they help a congregation work through different areas of church life and look at how the decisions made and actions taken, effect the environment and their local community.
The survey looks at five areas, worship and teaching, buildings, land, engagement with the local community/global campaigns and the personal lifestyles of the congregation.
To find out more about Eco Church https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk
We are proud to say St Peter’s was given a Sil Eco Award in 2018
Here are some examples of what we have done in five areas of church life.
Worship
- Worship leaders are very aware that we are stewards of God’s world and taking care of and being aware of the beautiful world we inhabit is often mentioned in sermons.
- We pray regularly for environmental issues in church services.
- Bible study groups all followed the Lent Course on the environment God Creation and Us.
- Church members were involved with World Day of Prayer 2018 when the theme was ,All God’s Creation is very Good. One of our members spoke about all the initiatives and organisations in Belper that help us look after creation and live in a more sustainable way.
- The All Age Worship team led a service on eco awareness.
- Our young people had a visit from Kids Against Plastic.
The Church Building
1) The electricity and gas used by the church is generated by renewable resources.
2) Most of our light bulbs are LED and when bulbs need renewing they are replaced with LED bulbs.
3) The main part of the church building is only used and heated when there is a large congregation.
4) All our toilets are twinned, this is a way of raising funds to enable people in the poorest nations to have clean water and a proper toilet, and to learn about hygiene.
5) We have a recycling centre for the church and community to use.
The Churchyard
1) We have built raised beds to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs, free for the local community to pick.
2) We have allowed one area of the churchyard to be used for growing wild flowers.
3) We have erected bird boxes, hedgehog homes and a bug hotel.
4) A group of people not all church members meet regularly once a week to look after the churchyard.
Lifestyle
1) Our magazine regularly has articles to help people consider their lifestyle and how it is effecting the planet.
2) We had a community showing of the film Tomorrow, an award winning documentary that travels the world discovering people seeking solutions to the ecological crisis.
3) We also hosted a showing of the film A Plastic Ocean for the Belper community.
4) We organise monthly parish walks.
Community and Global Engagement.
1) Our church works closely with the local Transition group and as part of Churches Together in Belper has a presence at the local eco festival Belper Goes Green.
2) Members of our church have run workshops at Belper Goes Green.
3) We work with local groups to knit angels to be given away at 5) Christmas as a sign of hope and a gift of love.
4) We use fair-trade, tea, coffee and sugar for refreshments and have yearly fairtrade stalls for the congregation to buy gifts.
Kids Against Plastic visited our Young People's Group. https://www.kidsagainstplastic.co.uk/
Some of our young people helped Belper Town Council make a person out of plastic rubbish and then spoke to a journalist from Radio Derby about the problem of single use plastic.
Three raised beds constructed by the Community Payback Team for fruit and vegetable growing. The Community Garden was opened by the Mayor of Belper in June 2018.
Areas of the churchyard started being managed for wildlife with advice being given by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Miriam McDonald, https://www.holisticrestoration.co.uk/
We have regularly worked with Belper Town Council for Belper in Bloom and in a small way have helped the town achieve Gold Awards. We are part of Belper Open Gardens and an also regularly take part in Churches Count on Nature.
Our Community Garden group continues to manage areas of the churchyard for people and wildlife.
