Last updated 9th December 2024

Creation Care and the Environment

Christians have a particular responsibility in environmental matters as we believe that God is the Author, Redeemer and Sustainer of all creation.

The Diocesan Environmental Policy 

A Vision of Creation has been approved by the Diocesan Synod and provides the frame within which we work together here to fulfil the Fifth Mark of Mission – To strive to safeguard the integrity of Creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth, an integral part of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom. 

We are seeking to show how the parishes of Blackburn diocese are demonstrating their commitment to Creation Care by becoming Environmental Champions.  Please tell us if you have some environmental achievement you wish to share - in your worship, in sustainable care of your church building, in sensitive management of your churchyard, in working with your local school or community - sending an image and 500 words of text.

We work ecumenically across the region and with our neighbouring dioceses.  For example, our Loaves and Fishes Project brought together Christian communities and schools around Morecambe Bay in meals celebrating local seafood and homemade bread.

You can find environmental news and links in Parish Update - the ebulletin sent every two weeks to parishes on a Wednesday. 

The Diocesan Environmental Officer is the Revd Canon Professor John Rodwell.  John has worked as a priest and ecologist together for over 40 years and coordinates diocesan environmental initiatives in a part-time, voluntary capacity. John reports monthly to the Diocesan Advisory Committee on which he is a consultant non-voting member and he represents the diocese within the environment programme of the Church of England.     

Progress with Carbon Net Zero Action Plan

At the first meeting of the new Diocesan Synod triennium on Saturday 19 October, Dave Champness, the nationally funded part-time Net Zero Senior Project Manager, provided an update on the main actions completed from our net zero plan agreed by Diocesan Synod in October 2023. The update included an introduction from the Rt Rev Dr Joe Kennedy, Bishop of Burnley, who has recently become chair of the Diocesan Net Zero Steering Group.
‘Caring for the beautiful world which God has made is a key part of the mission of the Church. So it is hugely encouraging to see the work being done across the Diocese to look after creation. I want today to draw particular attention to the work of so many people to reduce the carbon being emitted as a result of our activities across the Diocese. As we look to the future, I am committed to encouraging the churches, schools, and individual people who together make up the Diocese to engage ambitiously with the Church of England’s target of reaching carbon net zero by the year 2030."
Highlights from the past twelve months included:

• Eco-Diocese bronze status achieved in spring 2024
• National church funding secured for:
  • A full-time Regional Net Zero Fundraising Officer to be based in Blackburn supporting all the north-west Dioceses
  • Energy audits and a £3k grant towards carbon reduction actions at sixteen churches that were some of the highest 600 carbon emitting churches in England in 2022
  • Energy decarbonisation plans for 35 of the highest emitting churches in the Diocese, the Cathedral, Whalley Abbey and Clayton House to be completed by mid-2025
  • £58k of ‘quick-win' eco-grants to be distributed to parishes by end 2025
  • Two church buildings (Christ Church, Thornton and St John the Baptist, Broughton) selected as carbon reduction demonstrator projects
  • Retrofit actions on two clergy houses selected for carbon reduction demonstrator projects
• A 69% return rate for actual 2023 energy footprint data from churches/halls
• Clayton House and Whalley Abbey switched to green energy tariffs

Eco Church

EcoChurch launched in 2016, the Eco Church survey has guided churches to work through practical ways to care for creation, with over 7,500 churches registering with the Eco Church programme and over 3,500 churches achieving an award.

In our Diocese, seventy-three churches have already registered, ten of which have achieved a silver and 18 of which a bronze award (along with Bishop’s House, the Cathedral and the Clayton House offices).

The EcoChurch survey has recently been changed to better reflect the concerns and hopes for the future state of our planet, ensuring that churches are being encouraged and rewarded for taking the most impactful actions.  Details about the five categories of the survey can be accessed from the Arocha website by clicking on the following links:

• Worship and teaching overview
• Buildings and Energy overview
• Land and nature overview
• Community and global engagement overview
• Lifestyle overview

A transition phase will allow churches to finish their work on the previous version of the survey (all surveys started before 8th October 2024). Churches will have until the end of January 2025 to apply for an award using the previous survey.

It would be great to see more churches engaging with the awards and you can register your church with Ecochurch here: Log in | EcoChurch. If you would like support in completing the survey for your church, please contact Dave.Champness@Blackburn.Anglican.Org

2025 Environment Days and Key Events

Quiet Day at Whalley Abbey: Saturday 11th January 2025

Even deep in our urban parishes, we depend on the fertility of God’s earth and the skill and devotion of farmers who till the land. What do the Scriptures say about God’s gift of the land and how we should best use it, maintaining the fertility on which we depend and making it a place of welcome for creatures other than ourselves?

A Quiet Day at Whalley Abbey on Saturday 11 January 2025, the day before Plough Sunday, will provide time for reflection and prayer drawing on a rich biblical heritage, devotional writings and your own experience.  Led by our Diocesan Environment Officer, Rev Canon Professor John Rodwell, we will explore together why and how we should celebrate God’s gift of land; how He reveals himself in particular places where we might make our home with him; and how we might renew a covenant with land, both on our own particular plots and in the wider landscape where other taskmasters turn land into a commodity.

Wherever you live in the Diocese, in a town or in the countryside, this is a chance to think about the future of the land we share, the furrow we plough, the seeds we can sow to make a better future for God’s earth.  You can book on https://www.whalleyabbey.org/events.

Creation Care ALM Modules: January 2025

Nine lay leaders from across the Diocese completed the pilot Creation Care/Environmental Stewardship Authorised Lay Minister (ALM) elective in spring 2024.

The ALM training programme is designed to nurture and equip people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives who bring a variety of gifts to the body of Christ. Our aim is to train people to minister and lead in their local context, who have a firm foundation of faith in Christ, expressed in daily life, and who are skilled in their specific areas of calling and gifting. This will be achieved through a core module, designed to nurture a pattern of life which expresses love for God and neighbour, along with elective modules which equip people with practical skills in specific ministry areas.

You can find out more about the content of the Creation Care ALM elective here. If you would like to have an informal conversation about ALM training please email laytraining@blackburn.anglican.org in the first instance.

Key environment dates for 2025 can be downloaded here.

Prayers and Support for our farmers

Parishes, whatever their setting, are encouraged to think about those who produce our food. Farmers and growers face a difficult challenge, following the war in Ukraine, which has caused animal feed prices to soar, along with fuel costs; continuing Brexit uncertainty and this summer's weather causing crop failure. Please consider  praying regularly for those who, literally, feed us. 

To learn more about current challenges to farmers and how you can help,  the Christian charity, Farming Community Network is here: https://fcn.org.uk/about-fcn/

Prof. John Whitton, NW Regional Net Carbon Zero Fundraising Officer in the Diocese of Blackburn has written about the challenges facing rural communities.  You can read the article here.

The Arthur Rank Centre has produced a rural isolation and loneliness toolkit.  Details can be found here.

Creator God

We praise you that you crown the year with good things and provide for our needs, working in partnership with farmers and growers. We thank you for all who work on the land. 

As we reflect upon the challenges facing all of us at this time, we especially pray for those whom we rely upon for the food that we eat. 

Bless their endeavours, give them strength in times of weakness and knowledge of your presence in their daily labours. 

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

Webinars

Previous Webinars

If you've missed previous webinars, it is possible to find all the recordings. Webinars have been sorted into a number of playlists, to help you find the one you want:

• the Net Zero Carbon playlist 
  • covers: action planning, a vision of a zero carbon church, forming your team, defining & measuring net zero, navigating the faculty system, solar panels, church heating (x several), EV car charging, quick wins, LED lighting, heat pumps, conservation pitfalls, the Wayfinders Project results, and more.
• the environmental fundraising playlist
  • covers: part 1 - opportunities, part 2 - how to start fundraising, and part 3 - next level fundraising.
• the Eco Church playlist
  • covers: topic 1 - getting started, topic 2 - gaining momentum and working towards an award, topic 3 - Eco Church and net zero carbon.
• the climate resilience playlist
  • how to make your church building more resilient, and how to use your church to protect your community 
• the Land and Nature playlist
  • covers a huge range, from practical churchyard management to Forest Church, via trees, bats, ecology, the crisis for nature, and more   
• the Net Zero Carbon Schools playlist
  • only one so far, with resources and examples to help your school become net zero carbon

Route Map to Net Zero

The Church of England Environment team have produced new tailored Net Zero Carbon action packs to help churches, schools, cathedrals, TEIs and dioceses.  Resources can be found on the following hyperlinks: Churches, Cathedrals, Dioceses (including homes and offices), Schools, and Theology Colleges (TEIs).  You can also find the full Routemap and each specific resource on the CofE website. Routemap Resources

The CofE have also collected together our case studies to inspire and show what is possible.

Useful resources for churches can be found here

Preaching for God's World

This newly refreshed website has preaching notes for sermons each Sunday, linking the lectionary readings to environmental themes.  Right now, there are sermon notes for every Sunday in the Season of Creation. Get your inspiration here.

Churches Count on Nature

Figures from a recent nature survey, conducted by local communities, revealed a rise in bumblebees, ladybirds and aphids in churchyards and burial grounds across England and Wales.

Volunteers took part in the Churches Count on Nature.  This was part of Love Your Burial Ground Week, it was held by the Church of England in collaboration with Caring for God's Acre, the Church in Wales and A Rocha UK. 

Read all about the findings here.  Feeling inspired? Put next year's dates in your diary now: 7-15 June 2025.

Environmental Champions

Rufford, St Mary

Rufford St Mary's are taking seriously the challenge to bring more natural richness to church lands, diversifying their churchyard and cemetery to provide a welcome for wild flowers, pollinating insects and birds, and creating a space for wonder and consolation among the memorials of those who have previously made their home in the parish.

A stretch of ground has been prepared by rotavating ready for the planting of wild flower plugs and seeds. Some areas of grass are being left unmown to let wild flowers grow up and bloom. Alongside, a mixed hedge will be planted - hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose bringing shelter and blossom and fruit, joyful to the eye and nourishment for wildlife.

A bird box project will encourage robins, blue tits, great tits, and tree creepers to inhabit the churchyard, many boxes sponsored and monitored by Rufford CoE School and the Sunday School. Children and adults have also been busy filling cardboard tubes with twigs, sticks, leaves and moss ready for the assembling of a Bug Hotel in the church grounds, five-star of course! This small part of God’s Kingdom is helping nature prosper and capturing carbon. The parish is grateful for the input of staff at The National Trust, Rufford Old Hall in their project.

Christ Church Lancaster

Christ Church, Lancaster has a long tradition of reaching out to the community, especially the homeless and refugees in the city. Built in 1856 to serve the nearby boy's grammar school and workhouse, it is now parish church to a significant urban population.  Despite significant maintenance and repair costs, we seek to be good stewards of our buildings, grounds, community and natural environment.

Christ Church's Eco group was established in 2016.  It set out a programme of activities in line with A Rocha's ‘Caring for Creation’ which led to the bronze EcoChurch award. A year later after improving our church garden for wildlife with bug boxes, bird feeders and bee-friendly flowers, installing a bike rack, carrying out an energy assessment of the church and changing to a renewable energy supplier, we achieved our silver award. Our group has eight members, including our Sunday School leader who ensures that environmental issues are well represented and our church school governor. Another member has been working with the school’s enthusiastic Eco Group, made up of two Eco Warriors from each class, improving publicity and introducing recycling boxes.

Initially we identified actions that the congregation could easily engage with including plastic reduction, recycling, sale of books for the benefit of WaterAid and twinning of church toilets to raise funds for toilets for a community in Uganda.  Activities have also included a church bike ride, the sale of fair trade goods, a clothes swop rail, a swop box for unwanted Christmas presents, collection of postage stamps for RNIB and collection of plastic in church until the council extended its service.  The Beavers Group is now collecting crisp packets and the Scouts, bottle tops for recycling.  Gardening days have involved other individuals from the congregation.

Monthly themes are researched and shared with the congregation on our church Eco board and by actions on the pew sheet. Themes have included green cleaning, upcycling, carbon footprint reduction, deforestation, unsustainable production of palm oil and soya, green transport and climate change. In addition to sermons and prayers, engagement with the congregation has included a traffic light survey in church identifying the take up of green lifestyles, a green resolutions fayre to identify participants’ successes and difficulties, and a Carbon Footprint presentation led by an A Rocha assessor to which other churches were invited. Achievable actions were identified from The Drawdown Report covering topics of Food, Transport, Energy reduction and Home. On Creation Sunday in 2019, a relevant sermon was delivered and copies of one of Greta Thunberg’s speeches circulated. This February the group gave a presentation in church which opened with the Extinction Rebellion prayer. A list of the group’s activities was circulated and a banner displayed.

During Covid restrictions the group has continued to meet on Zoom, following  A Rocha’s wildlife Christian initiative and encouraging support for Christian Aid’s climate justice campaign, a green economic recovery, a healthy harvest, and nature conservation organisations.

You can hear Joyce in conversation with John using this link.

Contact:   joycelynch1946@gmail.com       

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Tatham Fells

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Tatham Fells, is part of the united benefice of East Lonsdale in Tunstall Deanery.  Its people are Being Witnesses in Creation by developing their role as responsible stewards. 

In 2014 our boiler needed replacing and on the advice of the Diocesan heating advisor we invested in a biomass boiler to benefit from the government’s Renewable Heating Incentive scheme.  In doing so we are using a renewable resource and supporting a local supplier.  Before the installation our church was heated only on Sundays; the rest of the week it was cold and damp with algae growing on the south side of the tower and in the windows.  Now it is maintained at a minimum temperature of 14 degrees, the damp has disappeared and the whole fabric benefits as a result.  

In autumn 2018 our PCC decided to enhance the local wildlife.  We joined the Caring for God’s Acre movement and began to involve members of the community and local schoolchildren.  We quickly and cheaply installed home-made compost bins and insect and bird boxes. With advice from the Bowland Wildflower Meadow Officer we deferred cutting grass in the old part of the churchyard until the end of the summer.  As a result a considerable number of plant species have flourished, including two types of orchid.  Within the first six months birds occupied boxes placed on the church, the adjacent village hall and nearby trees.  Owl boxes were placed in a neighbouring wood and children made bird boxes for the local school.  As yet swifts have not taken up the offer of nesting in boxes specially made for them despite the lure from recordings of swift calls. A wood pile serves as a hedgehog hotel and ladybirds hibernate in the church tower.   Information about Caring for God’s Acre is displayed in church encouraging everyone to record sightings of flowers, insects, animals and birds.  We arranged a talk for the community on bees and had one planned on bats until Covid 19 intervened.   Each year a service celebrates caring for God’s creation.

Our church has good links with the local voluntary controlled church school, resulting in staff and pupils being keen to be involved in the joint work.  Several church members are on the governing board and have ensured that a section on collaboration with the church and recognition of our joint environmental responsibility is written into the school improvement plan.

Tatham Fells church is situated in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty so we start with an advantage on environmental matters but not one which we take for granted.  We hope that some of the work can be adapted in other church situations.  We have sought to respond to the challenge of stewardship of creation in offering our hymn of praise for the beauty of God’s earth and skies.

Contact: John Wilson:  j.r.wilson@cantab.net   

Environmental Champions are witnesses to the generosity of God in his Creation; to our responsibility for our common home; through our meeting human needs from Creation.

For more information contact Canon Professor John Rodwell, Diocesan Environmental Officer: johnrodwell@tiscali.co.uk