The journey of an 'Eco-congregation' at the Church of St John and St Stephen
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Recycling
As recycling facilities in Reading have improved our micro-recycling at church has changed. I put this poster up a couple of weeks ago to summarise what we do now.
Christian Aid Sponsored Walk Saturday 18th May 2013 In beautiful countryside around Bix (between Henley and Nettlebed). Choose between 5, 10 or 15 mile walks. Sign up at www.christianaid.org.uk/walks and let Hugh know you're coming.
Us
Church of St John and St Stephen, Newtown, Reading. EcoCongregation
Solar Schools
Help put Solar Panels on New Town School Roof!
NOW HALF WAY TO THE £15,000 TARGET!
This is a wonderful opportunity to support local schools in a project that will help children get involved in tackling climate change AND help schools to spend their budgets on education instead of increasingly expensive fossil fuels. With help from 10:10 they have a website here. You can buy a small tile with your name on on the virtual roof for £5 or a block of tiles for £100 which can be linked to your own website.
I started this blog in November 2007 as a resource and a record of our church's journey towards becoming an eco-congregation. In May 2009 we were assessed for the award and passed.
I hope the church members will find the blog useful, but I hope it is also helpful to others with a concern for our environment. Please use any of the liturgy, green tips or ideas on it as you like. It would be lovely to hear back if you do. It would also be great to hear ideas and experiences from other churches.
The views expressed herein are my own and may not reflect those of all of the congregation.
The church of St John and St Stephen in Newtown, Reading is a thirty-year-old building attached to a school with minimal green space. The Sunday morning congregation (about 70 from an electoral roll of just over 100) includes a wide age range and has long been concerned with overseas development issues (we are a Fairtrade church who support Tearfund and Christian Aid and several mission organisations. A number of the congregation are or have been involved in development and/or overseas mission). This concern was the inspiration for the decision to try to become an Eco-congregation. We recently completed the refurbishment of our refectory which has helped with our ministry to our immediate neighbourhood, notably with an early morning fairtrade cafe for parents to drop in after dropping off their children. Some of them are among a new Thursday morning congregation.
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