Launching Eco Church at St Michael’s Kelburn
Story contributed by Mary Hutchinson, A Rocha trustee and parishioner at St Michael’s Kelburn.
St Michael’s Anglican Church in Kelburn joined the Eco Church whānau in Dec 2021. It was not till March 2022 that they officially launched Eco Church at one of their services. Below are highlights from their Eco Church launch service.
At the start of our service we all watched a pre-recorded video message of encouragement from Amy Ross, Eco Church NZ Community Coordinator for the Wellington Region (who was isolating due to COVID). We also outlined to the congregation the five categories of action that Eco Church encourages:
Leadership, Worship and Teaching
Church Building and Facilities
Church Land and Grounds
Community and Global Engagement
Sustainable Living
Mary Hutchinson, A Rocha trustee and parishioner at St Michael’s then presented the Eco Church sign to Vicar Tim McKenzie. The Eco Church sign is now displayed along with other environmental information, on our church noticeboard dedicated to Eco Church and creation care.
Rev Tim McKenzie with Mary Hutchinson, A Rocha trustee
As part of encouraging community and global engagement (one of the categories of Eco Church), we had a few people speak about initiatives they were involved in that encouraged care of creation.
Cecilia Warren from Kelburn Conservation Network was scheduled to speak but was sick too, so Mary Hutchinson shared Cecilia’s slides and notes on her behalf. Kelburn Conservation Network’s work at Pukehinau Reserve is the closest local neighbourhood biodiversity restoration project to St Michael’s Kelburn. The Pukehinau Reserve project is a collaboration between Wellington City Council, Predator Free Wellington, and Forest & Bird. We shared about the group’s monthly working bees and encouraged more church members to join in. We also presented on the backyard trapping programme in Kelburn that provides free traps to residents to trap in the suburb. It was very valuable to be able to update the congregation about these activities that we can be a part of. Also, we were able to share information about a new walking track that is going to be built through the reserve which will improve access into the reserve and provide a local and easy way to get close to nature.
The next guest speaker was Mika Hervey, a student in our congregation, who has been working with Victoria University of Wellington’s Students Association, local council, and with the support nationally of more than 60 other organisations (A Rocha included), campaigning for public transport to become free for all tertiary students, under 25s, Community Services Card holders, and Total Mobility cardholders. He shared about the progress of the "FREE FARES" campaign which at that time had the support of over 13,000 petition signatures, and about their meetings with Hon. Michael Wood, Minister of Transport. Again, we encouraged church members to get proactive in advocacy and to take action for the issues and places we care about.
Our final guest speaker was Sheila Reed who coordinates an afternoon St Michael's group for seniors and she shared about how their group has been using A Rocha’s Rich Living booklet on 'Waste’ which has been helpful and challenging for members to enhance the actions they can take in their daily lives.
Another highlight of the Eco Church launch service was an eco quiz, organised by Caitlyn Lee, which encouraged all-age participation, including participation from those zooming into the service online. Seedlings were given away as prizes! An impressive finding from the quiz was that many of the young kids could answer questions that adults couldn’t - this showed how much more attuned children are these days to environmental facts and issues, and probably also how environmental education is far more a part of education in schools these days.
Some surprise giveaways during the service were packets of seeds that were taped under a few chairs, donated by a member of the Eco Church group, so that parishioners could take home and plant.
We also had a resource table with some information about the various community groups and initiatives talked about during the service, plus information on A Rocha’s Eco Church initiative and A Rocha’s Rich Living booklets.
Finally, an eco-friendly low-waste morning tea was provided by the Eco Church group after the service, and there was lots of enthusiastic sharing of lifestyle change experiences and tips, over a cuppa!!
Light of the World
We are grieved by many things
things in the wide world
and things in our lives.
Give us, we ask, eyes to see
all things in your light;
Give us passion to walk lightly
on the earth;
Give us hearts to praise you,
And may your Kingdom come.
Amen.