About Eco-congregation

Eco-congregation is an ecumenical environmental project for churches in Britain and Ireland. It provides free resources, support and an Award scheme to help churches to consider environmental issues in the context of their Christian life and mission and to take positive action. Eco-congregation was originally developed by the environmental charity ENCAMS on behalf of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI). It is now overseen by CTBI (Environmental Issues Network) and delivered by A Rocha UK. For more information see Appendix 4.

Introduction

Humans leave a mark on the environment - a footprint where we have walked and an impression as a consequence of our activities.

Actions from switching on a light to littering the street, turning on a tap to travelling by car all leave some form of impression on the environment. This is our environmental footprint.

Churches, like all organisations, leave an environmental footprint. Some parts of the footprint have a positive impact on the environment, e.g. beautiful architecture and work in the community. Other parts of the footprint may be less beneficial.

An Eco-Congregation group has formed at the United Church in order to begin to assess our environmental impact. We have carried out an environmental check up to identify our church's current environmental good practice and help us to think about future priorities.

The results you find in this report are based on questionnaires carried out with members of the church community by individuals from the eco-congregation group, and what you have told us through asking you to 'Have your say!'. You may have done this by contributing comments to the eco-congregation display which was up in the Church hall in June. You may have had your say in Junior church sessions, or in the June Church meeting. Other ideas have been passed on through conversations. The questionnaires came from the Eco-Congregation website (see Appendix 4).

The information collected is organised into seven categories to ensure that links between the environment and all areas of church life were considered.

Download the full report here .