On a beautiful spring morning, Kristel, Selwyn and I had the pleasure of visiting Flagstaff Community Church in Dunedin. When we arrived at Flagstaff Community Church, Rev. Brendon McRae welcomed us, dressed in his Hunting and Fishing gear, clearly in the midst of working on the church's native regeneration project.  He is a pastor who truly embodies the phrase "faith in action." Not only is he deeply invested in the spiritual growth of his congregation, but he is also equally passionate about the church’s role as kaitiaki of God’s good creation.

The story of Te Ringatini began in 2018 during one of my runs along the river. As I was going through the Donkey Track reserve, I was struck by the stark contrast between the established riparian planting and the invasive tradescantia weeds that were choking the understory. At that moment, amidst the beauty and the brokenness, I felt a divine nudge - a sense that God was calling me to help restore this piece of creation. I felt myself saying “Someone should do something about this” and I felt God respond “You should do something about this”. Yet I felt totally unprepared for the task that I sensed God was calling me into. 

Christchurch's Urban Forest Plan is a Council-led and community-driven effort to create a greener, more equitable city. By planting, nurturing, protecting, and involving the community, Christchurch is well on its way to becoming a greener city - ensuring all of the benefits of trees are available for us and for generations to come. Churches are encouraged to contribute to a thriving urban forest by planting trees on their properties and engaging their congregations in environmental initiatives.

In true Waikato fashion, Saturday morning 23 March was wet. Proper heavens-open sort of rain. Yet that didn’t stop 35 people gathering at Anglican Action Mahi Mihinare to hear from several speakers about conservation and sustainability. Read what attendees have to say about the event...

Having joined in the Eco Church movement in 2023, St Mike’s are continuing to look for ways to support local whenua. As the recent Season of Creation kicked off, each member of the church whānau were invited to consider making a fresh pledge for creation: one act which they would personally commit to in response to the call to be kaitiaki of God’s world.

Chartwell Cooperating Church is a seasoned traveller on the sustainability journey and as shown from the excerpts below - already has so many stories to share with the Eco Church whānau. Read on to find out more and be inspired to start a creation care initiative at your church!

Cityside Baptist community had long wanted to enhance the gardens around their building. They also wanted to extend them, with a couple of gravelled spaces at the back of the church calling out to be planted. In 2021, they began a programme to explore what being a regenerative church could look like. At the same time, they joined the Eco Church movement and the garden project sat easily at the intersection of these initiatives. After years of dreaming and months of planning, in August last year, the community got stuck in to make the new garden happen. Even one or two self-proclaimed “non-gardeners” got their hands dirty.

The local green space at Oxford Street, Masterton was starting to look like a party. Live music, balloons, lawn games and the smell of sizzling sausages could all be observed last Sunday as we celebrated Neighbours Day Aotearoa.

Members of St Michael’s Eco church group in Kelburn, Wellington have been supporting the Pukehinau Reserve biodiversity restoration project and were excited to be part of the opening of the new Pukehinau walking track between Kelburn and Aro Valley in November 2022.

At St Peter’s Anglican Church in Kaikōura, we have been privileged to help some of our local endangered birds this autumn. Kaikōura is home to the endangered Hutton’s Shearwater / Kaikōura tītī (Puffinus huttoni). Crash landings or ‘fallout’ of Hutton’s Shearwaters in the Kaikōura township is frequent, as the fledglings find their way to the sea at night. St Peter’s parishioners take an active role in patrolling for and rescuing the birds at night throughout this season.

At Pauatahanui Anglican parish, one of our four core values is legacy. For many years prior to the launch of Eco Church, a group called God’s Earth Our Home operated within the parish, fostering a deep spiritual sense of ecological responsibility within parishioners and nurturing environmental action. This provided a natural launching pad for the parish to join the Eco Church movement at the start of 2021.

At St. Peter's Anglican in Kaikōura we had our Blessing of the Animals service on Sunday. In addition to blessing the nine dogs and one cat present (and the domestic animals not present) we blessed, at a distance, the wild animals that call Kaikōura home, including the dotterels/tūturiwhatu, hutton's shearwaters/tītī, little blue penguins/kororā, and hector's dolphins.