Eco Church
Eco Church prayer
This prayer was written for us by Martin King, who sadly died in 2023. We include it here in his memory, and with grateful thanks.
Lord we pray for rain, but not too much. Gather sunbows to warm our hearts; every morning help us to understand this rich earth through your eyes. Amen
Why Eco Church?
“I used to think that the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of good science could address these problems. I was wrong.
The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation.
And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”
Gus Speth, a former chair of the UN Development Group, founder and president of the World Resources Institute, and professor of law.
Following our vision statement, we hold that “This is God’s world, and we are His people”. We hold that God loves the world, and that we have a scriptural mandate to care for and nurture it as responsible stewards of creation. We seek to witness, in our community and beyond, that the redemptive act of Christ is the key to the cultural and spiritual transformation needed to deal with the selfishness, greed and apathy at the root of our “top environmental problems”. We assert that Christ is the hope of the world, and that through Him the church, working with the inspiration of science, may and should address the multiple environmental tragedies of our times.
Our response
The environmental charity A Rocha organises the Eco Church community of churches:
“Eco Church is a learning community of churches of all shapes and sizes. It provides a framework to support your church and its leadership to take practical action on caring for God’s earth. It includes a toolkit of resources, an online award survey, a quarterly email update, online events, prayer forums and occasional conferences.”
Saint Augustine’s Scaynes Hill joined Eco Church in 2019, and gained the Silver Award in 2022. We are proud of this achievement, for which we had to demonstrate sufficient competence in:
- Worship and teaching
- Management of Church buildings
- Management of Church land
- Community and global engagement
- Lifestyle
We are currently engaged in the much more rigorous process of applying for a Gold award.
Recycling and Re-using at St Augustine’s Church
St Augustine’s is an environmentally friendly church and encourages recycling and re-using.
The church is open every day between 9 am and 5 pm.
Although milk cartons can now be put in the recycling bin with the tops on you can still
leave clean milk bottle tops in the box in the church porch. These are collected and sent
away in aid of charity. Please see details on the box.
St Augustine’s now has an account with Think – Inks, a company that recycles empty inkjet
printer cartridges and these can be placed in the labelled box on top of the cupboard in the
porch.
If you would like to pass on magazines that you have finished reading there is a “Magazine
Share” magazine rack under the long cupboard at the back of the church. Feel free to pick
up any magazine that interests you and return it to the box for someone else to borrow.
The church has an “Eco Table” in the church annexe where you can find pre-loved items of
all kinds for a small donation. The proceeds of the “Eco Table” are given to charities which
St Augustine’s supports. The annexe is open for the Anchor Coffee Shop on Tuesday
mornings. Why not enjoy a cup of coffee and a piece of cake while you are browsing?
Gallery
Pictures in the gallery give some idea of the activities we have engaged in as Eco Church.
