Stories
Ngā Kōrero
Contact us to add your story to the collaborative Eco Church NZ puna mātauranga / pool of knowledge.
Monitoring your church’s water usage
When Chartwell Cooperating Church worked on the Eco Church self-assessment worksheet, when it came to monitoring their church’s water consumption, they got Heather Kikkert, a water engineer, to carry out an audit of their church’s water consumption. Heather shares some tips for other churches who might also want to audit their water consumption.
Solar success: People, location and renewal in Ōtautahi Christchurch
In April 2022, 120 solar panels were blessed and commissioned on the roof of Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, Ōtautahi Christchurch providing around 25% of the church’s energy needs. A strong motivation for the church in installing the solar panels was recognising the importance of creation care as an act of worship to God. Since the church has been generating their own renewable energy, carbon emissions from church activities have dropped significantly, enabling the church to more sustainably steward the resources God has generously entrusted to them.
Greening your church building project
‘How can church building projects be more sustainable and low carbon?’ was the question participants explored together in the recent A Rocha Eco Church kōrero on 24 March 2022. Participants from around the motu who are interested or involved in church building projects met together online to discuss experiences and options. The two key presenters were Caitlyn Lee, an architectural graduate working in the sustainable building industry, with experience and training in materials research, and Geoffrey Lee, project manager of Te Korōria - Karori Anglican’s new build project.
Forming, Norming, Performing: Tawa Anglican's first year as an Eco Church
During 2021 Tawa Anglican Church became an Eco Church, making a corporate statement that we want to actively care for God’s earth as an integral part of our mission. We were pleased to join the Eco Church movement to access support and resources as well as a connection to a network of other Eco Churches throughout Aotearoa. We share with you some of our initial action and longer-term goals.
Calculating a church’s carbon emissions
St Michael’s Anglican Church in Kelburn recently had a first go at calculating their church’s carbon emissions. We corresponded with Caitlyn Lee, a parishioner at St Michael’s who worked on the carbon calculation for the church about the process.
Search Stories
Type in keywords to search for stories that interest you, or use the CATEGORY list on the right to filter relevant stories.
Select below to filter stories by CATEGORY
- Advocacy 8
- Biodiversity 15
- Calendar of Environmental Days and Events 4
- Carbon Calculators 4
- Children and Families 8
- Christmas 3
- Community Engagement 19
- Community Gardens 12
- Compost 5
- Cycling 8
- Eco Church Action Planner 2
- Eco Church Events 5
- Eco-Anxiety and Wellbeing 3
- Education and Engagement 35
- Energy 6
- Food 19
- Global Campaigns 1
- Green Spaces 14
- Matariki 1
- Practical Conservation 31
- Prayer 7
- Purchasing 12
- Resource Recovery 14
- Season of Creation 13
- Sermons 7
- Small Group Resources 5
- Sustainable Buildings 5
- Sustainable Lifestyles 12
- Transport 12
- Videos 1
- Waste 35
- Water 3
- Worship 13
- Youth 10