Eco-Church

CARING FOR CREATION…

Blockley church has attained a Silver Eco Church level, awarded by A Rocha UK.

As a community of faith, we have stewardship over the church grounds. Churchyards have become islands of refuge for plants and animals lost from the surrounding area, not only in urban contexts. Offering a safe haven for wildlife seemed like the logical ‘next step’. You will notice some ‘no-mow’ areas in the churchyard where rare plants, such as pyramidal orchids, have thrived and welcomed a variety of pollinators.

75% of our food crops depend on bees and other insects for pollination, but over the last 60 years, the UK has lost 97 per cent of its traditional wildflower meadows, with two bumblebee species becoming extinct, and driving wild honey bee species to the brink of extinction.

This project is just one of the many examples in which caring for creation can bring local communities together. Now that we are offering a home to various wild bees, bats and more, we hope to further raise awareness and encourage others to follow suit. As created beings, we have also been entrusted with a special task – to look after all the goodness that God has made. It is a fundamental part of what it means to be human.

Creator God, how deep are your designs! You made a living earth, cloud, rain and wind, and charged us with their care. We confess that the way we live today is changing the climate, the seas and the balance of life, dispossessing the poor and future generations. Build our lives into an ark for all creation, and, as you promised Noah never to repeat the Flood, so make us heralds of a rainbow covenant: choosing life for all that is at risk – for creation, for neighbours near and far, our children and ourselves. Amen.

From Operation Noah launch, Coventry Cathedral, 2004