St Michael and All Angels, Ashton-on-Ribble with St Mark Preston

 'Spiritual' activities:

St Michaels takes the opportunity to highlight particular issues as part of Sunday morning worship on several occasions each year

  • Fairtrade Fortnight - environmental and social justice issues
  • Sea Sunday -junior church focus on environmental issues
  • Harvest Festival - environmental and social justice issues
  • One World Week - environmental and social justice issues
  • three God our Rock courses: students of God Our Rock have the opportunity to answer essay questions concerning Green Theology 
  • Rick Bunday our Rector states: ‘assuming that Jesus is the new creation, it is the pattern that he sets in offering a new vision of empathy, peace and justice that is at the core of my preaching and teaching. I aim to stimulate a mutual care for one another as a church community, seeking gentleness of understanding. This in turn is the bedrock for addressing the Green issues, for without these basic ingredients we, as a church community, are unable to look on the world and the environment with compassion and authentic concern.'

  • environmental issues in Junior Church sessions

  • Sunday evening group for young people aged 11-13 - the Sunday Squad. Some of their activities focus on environmental issues and they are developing plans for a regular stall in church, alongside the Fairtrade stall, which will sell environmental-friendly products.

All these activities have some element of helping people to understand that environmental care is part of our Christian responsibility to care for God's world. St Michael's church is known for this, not only in the immediate locality but among other faith communities in Preston and in the Anglican Diocese of Blackburn.

Practical activities:

  • Major re-ordering of the church building to make it a usable space for the local community. 
  • The lighting was re-ordered about 15 years ago and uses low energy bulbs, we already have a water meter and the heating system remains unchanged. We are however aware of the need to improve our energy efficiency and to this end have arranged a sustainability audit funded by Faiths4Change to look at
    these issues in February 2009.
  • started a vegetable garden.

Reaching out:

  • winning the City of Preston Green award in 2005

  • making good use of the church premises for community events: The re-ordering described in section 2 has allowed us to make the church building available as a venue for the whole community. We have been able to hold an Eco-Fair which was probably the biggest green event in Preston this year and hosted stands and stalls from 25 organisations. We have also made good use of the church grounds for community events with the farmers’ markets (see below) and an Easter Fun Day in 2007.   

  • establishing a quarterly famers’ market: In October 2005 we held our first farmers’ market – in fact the first farmers’ market in Preston. It was a great success, attracting hundreds of people. We held a second market in December 2005 and have held them every quarter since then. This has had a significant impact on the local community. It provides top quality locally-produced fresh food within walking distance, reducing food miles and supporting local farmers and producers.    

  • being a Fairtrade church: Over the last 3 years we have extended our Fairtrade role into the community by assisting neighbouring churches to have Fairtrade stalls through our bulk purchasing; by having a Fairtrade stand at Morrisons during Fair Trade Fortnight and by having a Fairtrade stall at most church events and at our quarterly Farmers’ market. 

  • maintaining our parish link with St John’s Iriiri, Uganda: This has been much more difficult. Communication between England and Uganda is difficult. We are never sure whether our money and letters have got through to Pastor Sam and when it is so one-sided it is difficult to maintain interest. We have however heard from him this autumn so our link is still there. Through the link we have enabled Sam to visit this country to fundraise for his community and provided him with funds to assist him in building first a house for his family and then a church.    

  • raising our profile as an Eco-Congregation: Many of these events have provided the opportunity for us to publicise our Eco-congregation status and tell the wider world about the link between our Christian faith and caring for the environment. Our farmers’ markets and the Eco-Fair have featured in the Lancashire Evening Post, the See - the diocese of Blackburn newsletter and on local radio. We did a special interview for Radio Lancashire during Fair Trade fortnight this year and the Eco-Fair was filmed for a promotional DVD for Faiths4 Change