Eco Champions!
Looking after the world, in all the different forms that takes, is a core part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. God made the world – He created everything in it and he thinks it is ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). He is involved in his creation, sustains it and cares for everything in it. As a church, we want to love what God loves and take care of it for his sake.
God brought us together as a community but also gave us the special task of looking after everything in the world. This is not an optional extra for a few keen environmentalists, but a fundamental part of what it means to be human.
It is a sad truth that the many problems our world and its inhabitants face are caused by human activity. Our acts as a human race have ecological consequences and so we have a responsibility to act and work to improve the world.
We know that God has a purpose for all of our lives, but he also has a purpose for the world he has given us to live in. So let’s play our part – both individually and as a church!
Taking steps for St John’s, we have registered with A Rocha UK’s Eco Church award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth. Joining the Eco Church community, we have the opportunity to acknowledge the positive things that St John’s is already doing to care for the world and also identify areas that we can work to improve on.
We are excited to announce that following a recent application St John's has received a Bronze Eco Church award from A Rocha. This is great news, but of course it's only a starting point and we will continue to work at improving the way we do things until we can achieve silver and one day (hopefully) gold!
Over the coming months, our small team of Eco Champions will be sharing some great ways that we can all work to be more environmentally friendly both as individuals and as a church. If you have any personal suggestions, we would love to hear from you – email us on ecochurch@stjohnsharborne.org!
Eco Champions
P.S Have a look at our new Bronze award button at the bottom of our website. You can click on this to find out more about A Rocha’s eco awards.