Frequently Asked Questions

Eco-congregation aims to encourage churches to celebrate the gift of God's creation and to care for it in their life and mission and through members' personal lifestyles.

Eco-congregation is overseen by the Environmental Issues Network of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. A Rocha UK manages the project in England and offers support to churches in Wales. In Scotland, Eco-Congregation is managed by a partnership between Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Society, Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland. See the Eco-congregation Scotland website. The churches in Ireland oversee the project there. See the Eco-congregation Ireland website.

From a Pilot Study involving 22 churches from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The churches were drawn from a variety of contexts (city centre, inner city, suburban and rural) and varied in size from 10 members to around 1000.The feedback from the Pilot Study shaped the project development.

Three key components:

1. Resources – designed to fit into and enhance church life and mission
2. Support – though newsletters, phone and email contact, the web and linking churches with local specialist help such as local authority environmental officers
3. Award - to affirm churches good environmental work and witness this to the local community

Yes, and no! Though the project was designed to help churches tackle environmental issues, participating churches have reported that it also boosts church life and mission, contributes to community building, stimulates church life and is enjoyable!

Eco-congregation has received endorsements from denominations and Church leaders across Britain and Ireland. It was dedicated at a special service held at St Paul's Cathedral in September 2000 and is the subject of a number of commendations and denominational environmental policies. In Scotland, Eco-congregation was dedicated at a special service at Dunblane Cathedral in March 2001 with endorsements from the leaders of 11 denominations.

First - find out more by requesting copies of the Introductory leaflet by phoning 024 7669 2491 or emailing us at ecocongregation@arocha.org.

Alternatively, you could download a copy of the introductory leaflet. This is a colour leaflet so you may want to ring and order copies. Leave your name, address and phone number on the answerphone and how many copies of the leaflet you would like.

Second – undertake a churches environmental check-up or audit to identify your church’s existing good environmental practice and prioritise what your church would like to do next.

To order or download the churches environmental, have a look at the getting started section.

Yes! You can download a powerpoint presentation (save to your harddrive, then open in a powerpoint package, then you'll be able to see the notes that I've put with each of them:

What can your church do? Smaller download (1mb .ppt)

What can your church do? Large download (5mb .ppt) 

Please contact the office (024 7669 2491) if you'd like some leaflets to be sent to you.

You might also find this handout useful:

What is Eco-congregation? (200kb .doc)

It gives a basic outline of the programme. 

Yes! This is two sides of A4 which gives a brief introduction to Eco-congregation, going through the main points of the programme. It also has some ideas based on what churches have been doing, and some ideas for bigger projects that churches might want to think about.

What is Eco-congregation? document 212kb .doc

You might also want to give a taster of the resources available, so why not offer this to folk? It's a sketch called Planet Doctor written by Alan Gaunt from Parkgate and Neston United Reformed Church.

Planet Doctor document 33kb .doc