Congratulations to Dundrum Methodist Church, Dublin, on becoming the second Methodist church to receive an Eco-Congregation Ireland (ECI) award!
Members of the church have been working on environmental awareness for many years. The church’s eco committee, which was formed in 2004, built on the long-established ethos of living simply, including recycling of newspapers, cans, clothes and other recyclables, becoming a Fairtrade church and input into Christian Aid.
The committee has also encouraged the ‘greening’ of many other aspects of church life, including Bible study, worship, property management and contact with the local community and neighbouring churches.
On presenting the award, ECI 
chairperson, Sr Catherine Brennan SSL, described the committee’s achievements as “truly inspirational”. “With the adoption by your church of an environmental policy, the whole church ethos has environmental protection at its core,” she said. “The eco group is a beacon for all churches and the local community.”
She described as “particularly noteworthy” the inter-church dimension of the work: “Dundrum Methodist initiated the Three Rock Churches’ Environment Group [an ecumenical group of seven churches working together on environmental initiatives]. There is no Protestant or Catholic water, climate or biodiversity community. This eco group is truly preaching ‘the good news to the whole of Creation’.
“The values you, the church members, express and highlight are the deep, sometimes even unconscious, concerns all people have in this area – a hunger for deeper meaning in life, for peace, for the God quest; indeed, a hunger to live in right relationship with self, others, God and the whole community of life.”
Rev Jeremy Nicoll was “delighted” for “the hard-working team of people in our church who over time raised the profile of the environment – in a gentle, challenging way – to where it is today.”
“I think we rightly consider ecological matters to be an essential part of what it means to be a steward of what God has entrusted to us,” he said. “Not that we’re ‘there’ yet – we need to keep being challenged. I believe the church should be leading in modelling care for the environment to society around us, not (as is too often the case) the other way around.”
“I would encourage every Christian to ask how their faith impacts on every aspect of society and their lives. I would encourage churches to see that this world is God’s and that we have always been stewards – good or bad – of it. I think the Eco-Congregation programme is excellent for guiding people on that journey.”
The eco committee drafted an environmental policy (which went on to be accepted by the Church Council) and introduced the ECI resources to the church as well as offering support and encouragement, including taking Sunday School, Youth Club and Christian Endeavour sessions. It also provided further recycling facilities, displayed information on the Eco-Congregation notice-board, prepared announcement sheets and delivered soap-box impromptu talks.
Other initiatives undertaken by the church have included signing up to Airtricity (to support renewable energy), placing water hippos in the toilet cisterns (to save water) and holding litter picks and a Car-Free Sunday. Regular car-boot sales and recession-buster events have encouraged recycling of clothes and other unwanted goods and have raised environmental awareness within the community.
Several services with a Creation theme have been held and prayers for climate justice are often incorporated into worship. The preaching of Rev Nicoll and lay preachers reflects a strong sense of the Biblical imperatives regarding the environment.
Let’s hope that other churches throughout Ireland are also beavering away on environmental matters! To date, four churches have been awarded Eco-Congregation Ireland awards, including Clonakilty Methodist in 2008.
Who knows? Your church may be nearer to receiving an award than you think! For further information about Eco-Congregation Ireland and how to apply for an award, see www.ecocongregationireland.com. We would love to hear from you!