Ss Ninian and Triduana RC Church, Edinburgh received their Bronze award earlier this year. The assessors noted that the parish is active in making the link between faith, justice and creation. They were also impressed by their garden transformation, restoring their garden to an eco-garden, incorporating a sitting area for social/quiet space, a meadow area, and a pond area. Their church garden revamp included:
New benches installed from repurposed pews
5 swift boxes added
A pond created from a repurposed old school sink
Water butt installed from a repurposed grey bin
Bug hotel created from a repurposed old shopping trolley
Winter home for frogs and bulbs added by local school children
Leaf mould pile created
Plants added from cuttings from parishioners gardens
At the start of September, St Serf’s Episcopal Church, Burntisland were presented with their Bronze Eco-Congregation Award at a special morning service. The award was presented to Geoff Smith, eco-group convener, by Fintan Hurley, an Eco-Congregation Trustee. Congratulations to the eco group and the wider congregation for all their hard work.
The congregation opened up their celebration to the community and MP Melanie Ward, along with local councillors, Lesley Backhouse, Kathleen Leslie and Julie MacDougall joined representatives of environment groups to celebrate this achievement.
Over the past year, St Serf’s fellowship has enthusiastically taken up various activities including tackling some “Lifestyle Challenges” during Lent, supporting Christian Aid, purchasing Fairtrade products, and creating a bee and butterfly friendly garden.
Reverend Carol Latimer said, “We are very keen to put the stewardship of Creation at the heart of our church life. Membership of Eco-Congregation Scotland has helped us to direct our efforts even more effectively, and their Award Scheme is a great incentive to find further ways to put into action the Scottish Episcopal Church’s drive to achieve Net Zero by 2030.”
Congratulations to everyone at St Ninian’s RC Church, Dundee who were recently presented with their Eco-Congregation Silver Award. Well done for all your hard work and dedication, a lot of which took part during the pandemic. The assessors were particularly impressed with their work on the church grounds (providing space for beauty, wildlife, food growing and spiritual enrichment); their study materials and their use of solar PV to reduce their carbon emissions. Since applying for the award they have gone on to add heat pumps with funding from Local Energy Scotland. You can read more about their heat pumps here. The award was presented to Margret MacPhail and the team by Canon Kevin Golden.
Kinross Parish Church have been awarded their Silver Eco-Congregation Scotland Award in recognition of all their work and commitment to care for creation. Achieving a Silver Award shows a commitment to address environmental concerns as part of their faith, as can be seen in their spiritual living, practical living and global living.
Litter picking in the community.
The congregation is active in the community promoting several environmental initiatives such as regular litter picks. The litter pickers work closely Perth & Kinross Council. There is a very successful scheme for collecting blister packs which is used by people throughout Kinross and the surrounding area. (This has been so successful that a larger bin is now needed!) None of the congregation’s initiatives stand alone. An example of this would be the produce from the allotment at the Church Centre which is then cooked and used in outreach activities.
It was notable for this congregation the spiritual and practical approaches to being an Eco Congregation intertwine with neither being a dominant partner. Care for creation forms an important part of worship and is a topic for Bible studies too. The congregation made use of their weekly Transform Trade as part of their Spiritual life. They have addressed issues of energy use in their buildings and are encouraging the wider community to make use of the premises.
harvesting foodTree Planting
Kinross Parish Church is involved with a number of community groups including the Kinross-Shire Climate Café, Kinross Estate, Kinross Rotary, Kinross Youth Enterprise (KYTHE), and Kinross Community Council. From these links they have been involved in planting trees with the Queen’s Green Canopy project, litter picking and growing produce in starter plots and raised beds with the Milnathort and Kinross Allotment Association.
The congregation has active links to Malawi and also a close relationship with Mission Aviation Fellowship. Transform Trade forms an important part of the lives of this congregation, and the assessors found that the ethos of Fair Trade was well understood by all at Kinross Parish Church.
The Eco-Congregation Scotland award assessors commended the work of Kinross Parish Church in the following areas:
The effectiveness of their programme of eco related activities.
The way in which their environmental activities are interlinked.
The great work done by the eco team and team leader, Jim Smith, was commended. The support given by the Kirk Session and the wider congregation were noted to be important in the success of this work. The support from the Minister, Rev Alan Reid and the Transform Trade Coordinator was also praised.
Congratulations to all at Kinross Parish Church for a well deserved Eco Congregation Scotland Silver Award.
Dundee’s golden Gate – our ‘outstanding’ seventh Gold Award 🥇
Today’s newsletter shares the exciting news of our seventh Gold Award recipient and encourages volunteers to register for the Climate Challenge Fund annual gathering and film night discussion. Great photo courtesy of Gate Church International of solar panels on the community centre immediately behind the church building.
Dundee church is seventh to achieve an Eco-Congregation Gold Award
Eco-Congregation Scotland warmly congratulates Gate Church International in Dundee, celebrating the wonderful news that they have achieved our Gold Award.
This means that they have met or exceeded Eco-Congregation’s Gold Award standards in spiritual living, practical living and global living, while also addressing some more general aspects of environmental care. As our most challenging Award, a successful Gold assessment recognises congregations which have developed a long-term commitment to promoting environmental issues as an integral part of their congregational life.
The seventh eco-congregation to achieve a Gold Award were especially commended by assessors for an outstanding contribution in demonstrating practical action taken within the church and involving the local community, through the Gate Church Carbon Saving Project and various Climate Challenge Fund resourced initiatives since 2013.
Dundee West End Community Fridge
One of the projects which was particularly praised by the assessors was their innovative Community Fridge in Perth Road opposite the church buildings which has a major impact in reducing Food Waste in Dundee. They were delighted to hear the project is using an electric van to pick up excess food from suppliers for the fridge.
We really appreciated their contribution to our recent ‘Feeding our Communities‘ event and the example they offered that can be followed across the country. This took place during Scotland’s Climate Week (14th–20th September 2020) when organisations aim to promote the message that, together, we can help end Scotland’s contribution to climate change.
The Carbon Saving Project aims to make Gate Church International the ‘Greenest Church in Scotland’.
The assessors noted the way that Gate Church International includes so many volunteers within their projects, many of whom do not have a church link, and the integration this brings with the community they serve, enriching the church’s mission.
Also of note was the work that has been done to reduce the carbon footprint of the buildings, a 200 years-old Grade A listed church and century-old community centre. The installation of solar panels, condensing boilers, draught proofing and insulation offers a wonderful example of what can be done in listed buildings and halls like theirs.
Clothes Swap in Gate Church International
The assessors were impressed with the fact that reuse, recycling & up-cycling was well established culturally within the congregation, with lots of examples of best practice. They liked the Sew and Repair classes the church occasionally runs, alongside their Community Wardrobe, as well as the Gift Boxes which help meet material poverty in the city.
The assessors also commended the house groups that meet across the area and discuss environmental matters. They really appreciated the focus on stewardship as a church, and the church focus that worshipping God means caring for those in need and the world God created.
Also of note are the links the church has with Signpost International and Compassion UK, and the support they give for international small projects through their personal connections. The children in the congregation have been encouraged to sponsor children in the developing world through Compassion UK.
News of the Gold Award was confirmed days before the 2020 Climate Challenge Fund Gathering. Gate Church Carbon Saving Project and the church’s volunteers have regularly been highlighted at the yearly event celebrating climate projects across Scotland.
We appreciate this is a challenging time for many across all churches and communities due to COVID-19 restrictions. We are delighted to share good news over coming weeks from local eco-congregations, this weekend celebrating Eco-Congregation Scotland Award success in Aberdeenshire.
We value the excellent participation of so many volunteers and supporters in recent interfaith events and a range of meetings as we look forward to welcoming the COP26 climate conference to Scotland next November. We invite you to join a wide variety of online events and activities through the remainder of this November.
Thank you for all your efforts and continuing support as we pray, share and act together, caring for our common home.
Today we acknowledge the wonderful work of Inverurie West Parish Church. Congratulations to enthusiastic environmental team leader Joy Doorghen and all at Inverurie West on achieving our Silver Award recognising their commitment to caring for creation. You can read more about their Silver success on our website.
We will share more Award success stories in coming weeks and encourage every eco-congregation to apply, affirming your church’s environmental activities through online assessment. You are also welcome to join Inverurie West and our Eco-Chaplain this Sunday for a live at home service on the Church website and YouTube.
Many Christians mark this Sunday as the feast of Christ the King. Eco-Chaplain Rev David Coleman will be reflecting on Matthew 25:31-46: “A masterpiece of ‘end-time’ writing, the ‘sheep and the goats’ is perfectly directed at those who look to God for hope in a time of global crisis.”
Hear about the varied work of Out Of Africa…Into Malta as it aims to relieve humanitarian need and provide hope to a displaced people. Rev Doug McRoberts, former minister of St Andrew’s Scots Church in Malta, will share how the project founded in 2010 grew from offering prayers and second-hand clothes to becoming a major life-changing presence, partnering with the Red Cross and becoming a Church of Scotland Guild Partner Project.
Just Transition Commission members will share some of the emerging themes from their work to date, ahead of delivering their final recommendations to Scottish Ministers in early 2021. This will be your opportunity to explore and discuss their findings, and the solutions proposed to deliver a just transition in Scotland. The Commission was set up last year to give practical advice on how Scotland can meet ambitious climate change targets in a way that is fair for all.
Chaired by Kat Jones of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, join Alan McDonnell of Trees for Life, Veronique Walraven of Morvern Community Woodlands and Madagascar-based Bangor University research fellow Sarobidy Rakotonarivo to explore how forest conservation and woodland restoration can best deliver climate mitigation, the co-benefits that arise and the role of local communities in delivering them.
The Climate Challenge Fund Gathering provides opportunities to learn, network and share experience on tackling climate change, bringing together over 200 CCF Grant recipients and local community-led groups including churches and faith projects. The evening will explore how community film nights can get people thinking about climate change, followed by the opportunity to watch and discuss a challenging film. Find out more and book Gathering and film tickets here.
This Sunday 22nd November, please join us and Christians across Scotland in prayer at 7.00pm.
Good Shepherd, Speak once more to our hearts And offer us vision and hope for days to come. Go before us Shepherd King And lead us into the future that you hold in your hands. Lord, hear us. Lord, graciously hear us
