All Saints Burwood Eco Church
Contributed by Lee Fraser and the All Saints Burwood Eco Church Team.
Our team of seven started forming in December 2022 and began by hearing each person’s experience, skills, knowledge, passions and other commitments. This was handy, since not many of us knew each other before the group formed! We then combed through the self-assessment worksheet, making several lists: easy wins; more complex projects that fit within our own capacity; projects to collaborate with church staff on; and longer-term or ‘backburner’ ideas.
We officially launched in April with poetry, a group intro, a sapling and seed giveaway for eco-orientedness (e.g. whoever had biked the furthest to church), and a ‘coming soon’ and ‘coming later’ project flyer. Our vicar’s sermon tied in Mark 16:14-15 and Phil 4:11-13. We also had a sorting activity for tamariki – a small paper bag each, with items (puzzle piece, soft plastic scrap, milk lid, pen lid, envelope, pine cone, fabric scrap, harakeke, paper straw, peg, plaster etc) for them to put in the right ‘bin’ (compost, city recycling, local small-scale recycling, Terracycle, landfill).
This year we’ve set up pest traps in our community garden, a weekly eco tip in our newsletter, a soft plastics recycling bin, a second bike rack for our church site (the first one was often full), relevant bus route links on our church website, worked through the Stewards of Eden book with its discussion questions, switched to glass communion cups and reviewed our cleaning and hygiene supplies. We’re looking forward to more progress next year, including eco support of our building project.
