Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, Belfast, has become the first Presbyterian church in Ireland to win an Eco-Congregation Ireland (ECI) award.
The award 
presentation was made at the end of Fitzroy’s harvest festival on Sunday 16th October 2011 when the church was beautifully decorated, mostly with fruit and vegetables grown by members of the 
congregation in their gardens and allotments.
The award is in recognition of Fitzroy’s many
environmental endeavours, including recycling, using energy
-saving light bulbs and eco-friendly cleaning products, halving the amount of paper used, teaching children earthcare and holding regular Care for Creation services and nature walks.
These initiatives have been spearheaded by the congregation’s Caring for Creation Group, which consists of a dozen members of the congregation. Their first step several years ago was to complete ECI’s church check-list (see Resources, Section 1 –https://www.ecocongregationireland.com/modules), which helped identify areas where they could improve their eco-awareness and practice.
ECI chairperson, Sr Catherine Brennan, congratulated Fitzroy for making history. “Your church is well-known for its pioneering reconciliation work during the Troubles; your environmental work is a continuation of this,” she said. “You are now raising awareness of the importance of reconciliation with the earth – with God’s Creation (your other neighbours, the non-human ones) – all part of the great community of life in Belfast and further afield.
“You are living God’s love for the whole of Creation in the way you worship, manage energy and waste disposal, shop, plant, beautify and so on.”
Accepting the award, Fitzroy minister, Rev Steve Stockman, said: “This is not a gold medal which means we can put our feet up and retire; this inspires us to move forward.”
“It is easy to see when a human sins against a human; when we sin against the earth it is not so obvious. Just because we, as humans, are the most precious in God’s creation, does not mean we can go around destroying the rest of creation. We need to consider what our footprint is – not only at church, but also at home. What we are doing in our everyday choices affects the world we live in.”
The Caring for Creation Group plans to continue its environmental endeavours, including setting up a network of churches and groups to promote environmental initiatives across Belfast, including an annual Belfast Churches’ Green Fair.
Chairman, Kerry Nicholson, said the group’s aim was to purposely link God’s creation into “all that we do and be the reason that we do it”. “The area of ‘caring for creation’ is so wide and diverse that each of us has found our own niche where we can contribute our talents positively to God’s creation in the locality around Fitzroy,” he said.
“Small, simple things can make a big difference. Initially we fundraised for money to pay the local council to provide flowers in large pots for us, but as the group has developed we have commissioned the making of a large number of troughs and planters to place around the church grounds and this autumn we are going to plant up and maintain our own shrubs and flowers and have year-round displays of colour.
“We are making our own calendars, with creation images contributed by members of the church, to raise money to purchase soil and plants, and commission more containers for plants. Eventually we hope Fitzroy will be a riot of colour throughout the year.”
To find out more about Fitzroy’s eco achievements, see https://www.ecocongregationireland.com/archives/2276.
ECI invites churches that have been working consistently for two years or more on environmental initiatives to apply for an award. The first church in Ireland to receive an award was St Molua’s, Stormont, in 2004. Three other churches have received plaques since then – Clonakilty Methodist, Co Cork, Whitechurch Church of Ireland, Dublin, and Dundrum Methodist Church, Dublin. If you would like to apply, simply send an A4 page outlining your eco achievements to [email protected]. You may apply for an award for a particular parish or diocese/district.
congregation in their gardens and allotments.
-saving light bulbs and eco-friendly cleaning products, halving the amount of paper used, teaching children earthcare and holding regular Care for Creation services and nature walks.