Fitzroy Caring for Creation Group, Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, Belfast, led a workshop on ‘How to Become an Eco-Congregation’ at Eco-Congregation Ireland’s inaugural conference.
The group sent this summary:
Philip Orr spoke about the genesis of the group in the early days and he majored on the distinctive Christian theologies that encourage us to be environmentally aware. He noted the varied interests that group members had from natural history to recycling and spoke about the way that the Jewish and Christian scriptures see redemption as no merely personal thing but rather as a blessing for the whole earth
Unni Ross spoke about how Fitzroy Caring for Creation group is a small group of people who share a passion for our creation and a concern for its well-being. We started as a group early in 2009 and, after submitting the environmental audit, were successful in becoming the first Presbyterian Church in Ireland to gain an Eco-Congregation Ireland award in October 2011. We have a core group of about 6-8 with links to others who have an interest. This core group meets monthly to monitor progress in current projects and to start work/research on any future projects. It could be described as the motor which drives activity.
Our group is based on co-operative values without an individual leader. Having various skills and talents, we co-operate and complement each other. We try to meet each month and tend to arrange our meetings via emails. Our minister and Clerk of Session are also included in any relevant emails, as are members of the congregation that have registered an interest in the group but because of other commitments are unable to attend our meetings.
Sandra Rutherford spoke about our relationships with other groups and churches – how we visited St Molua’s in East Belfast (the first church on the island of Ireland to get an Eco-Congregation award) and other establishments at the start to see what they had done and get ideas for how we could start into becoming more environmentally-friendly. She also mentioned how we are keen to network with other churches and groups to promote an eco-congregation approach. We decided not to be solely a group that focused inwardly on Fitzroy but that we would go out and visit other churches in Belfast that we knew had similar interests as well as individuals e.g. Naomi Palmer, Waste Management, Belfast City Council. We also sought to address the wider Presbyterian community in south Belfast through meeting with the South Belfast presbytery.
Kerry Nicholson spoke about some practical changes made at Fitzroy:
Cleaning – We have changed all our cleaning products to eco cleaning products in church, such as Ecover hand soap, Ecover toilet cleaner and Ecover cream cleaner. Our toilet rolls are Inversoft toilet rolls who state they plant 3 trees for every tree cut down.
Energy-Saving – We have changed all of the light bulbs in the main church to energy saving bulbs. Most of the bulbs in the halls are energy saving with just the odd bulb in toilets still to be upgraded.
Recycling – We started weekly recycling of paper, plastic and tins in our church and church halls. 3 bags are now available beside the main bin for people to recycle the council-recycled products instead of throwing them away.
Environmental Message – We have a notice area in the corridor of church to promote our message and any new initiatives etc. We have also led a Harvest Service on Caring for Creation themes, along with other environmental slots in services throughout the year.
Reduce – We have tried to reduce the size of our Order of Service printouts each week. The front page is not just a presentation page now but also contains the start of the order of the service. The words of each hymn/song are now not printed in every order of service. There are now just a few copies of the words printed for people who struggle to read the words from the screen at the front of the church. We have reduced the quantity of paper used by 50%, although there are some larger print versions for those with visual impairments.
Fairtrade – We have maintained our Fairtrade status, encouraging the use of Fairtrade tea and coffee throughout the church. We use ceramic mugs and cups after church on Sundays and use biodegradable paper cups at other meetings.
Steven McColl was not able to be present in the end but has sent some sentences of what he would like to have said:
My earliest influences regarding environmental issues was a book entitled Ring of Bright Water about an Otter called Tarka. This was followed by Silent Spring by Rachel Carson which many describe as the book that kick started the environmental movement. I am a biologist by training and currently work in wastewater treatment with NI Water. My earliest Christian environmental influence was a book by Francis Schaeffer entitled Pollution and the Death of Man.
I believe the Fitzroy Caring for Creation Group are not the prayer wing of Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth or any other organisation but seek to be faithful to what we think is the true biblical mandate re caring for creation, something that we feel has been lost to a greater or lesser extent in Protestantism, and we seek to draw attention to this both inside the local church and to the community at large.
Fitzroy Presbyterian Church won an Eco-Congregation Ireland award in October 2011 (pictured above). To find out more, see https://www.ecocongregationireland.com/archives/2276.
Rev John Butterfield from Eco-Congregation Scotland (ECS) also spoke at the workshop. In Scotland ECS has a different structure and has been in operation for over twice as long and has thus had an opportunity to become more widely known and involve a greater number of churches. 100 churches or congregations have now received ECS awards!
Rev Butterfield said: “Churches are all different. The important thing is to get started on a journey. A few churches have really gone for being eco-churches in a big way and have installed solar panels on the roof, ground or air source heat pumps.
Other churches have less money to invest so have concentrated on starting low cost initiatives in their localities. For example, in Helensburgh the churches organised a litter clean-up of the beach.
“The awards system allows churches to choose which area to work on and is flexible enough to recognise that a church with 20 regulars may be able to do much less than a church with 200 regular attenders.
“There are still many hundreds of churches across Scotland who have not yet joined up or done anything for God’s world so ECS is not resting on its achievements but is always on the lookout to get the message across to new congregations.”