Another Eco Church Award

St Mary the Virgin Parish Church, West Moors, has just received a Bronze Award from Eco Church.

The Rev’d Andrew Rowland, parish priest of St Mary’s and Rural Dean of Wimborne said, “We are very pleased to have made this significant step in affirming our commitment to caring for God’s creation.”

Wimborne Deanery has included care for the environment as one area of focus in its 2020 Deanery Action Plan. The Deanery was encouraged in its efforts through an excellent talk at Deanery Synod from Ruth Valerio, representing A Rocha, which explained how the EcoChurch programme works and why it is such a powerful expression of faith in Christ.

Gillian Clarke, Church Warden at St Mary’s and Wimborne Deanery Lay Chair, said, “The Eco Church on-line survey is so user friendly. It takes only minutes to register and costs nothing. It is an excellent way of doing an audit on your church’s current practice.

“The questions then trigger lots of ideas to help churches move forward in behaving more responsibly as stewards of God’s creation. Making an impact on the state of the world’s environment may seem an impossible task, but by starting with small steps, we can all make a difference.

“There are suggestions which are manageable for all churches, no matter how big or small.”

The Eco Church survey for parishes and congregations can be completed at ecochurch.arocha.org.uk.

Diocesan Synod agreed a new environmental policy at its March meeting, committing it to working towards an Eco Diocese award.

To achieve an Eco Diocese Bronze Award, 10% of its parishes must engage with Eco Church, and 5% must actually obtain an Eco Church Bronze Award.

With St Mary’s now the fifth church in Salisbury diocese to receive an award, it is hoped that more parishes will be encouraged to engage with Eco Church.

Watch a video of the teams at Vale of Pewsey and Wimborne Minster sharing their experiences of caring for creation. These videos are available on the Diocesan YouTube channel here.