Stewardship changes and a new riparian planting project in Masterton

Contributed by Anna Baird. Anna and her husband, Lynton run the Oxford Street Community Garden in Masterton.

We at the Tribe Church are at the beginning of our journey exploring what it means to be stewards of creation. The journey started when our bible study group went through Tearfund's The Good Lives Project. This study really opened our eyes to seeing how our everyday actions can be an expression of our faith. It inspired us to see what changes we can make at church so we can have a lighter impact on the earth.

We switched from paper towels to hand towels, are using environmentally-friendly cleaning products and have set up a compost bin to divert our food scraps from going to landfill. However because of COVID-19, we have had to switch back to paper towels for health and safety reasons - but we are looking at how we can ensure that these paper towels get composted.

The next project is to work with a newly-formed group in the neighbourhood to fence off the stream on the property we rent and replant it. One of the church pastors and a key volunteer from the Oxford Street Community Garden is helping to lead this project. We hope that the local council will support this planting project with trees and we are looking at applying for more funding for this project. We are excited to be able to participate in this and work with our neighbours to show God's love for Oxford Street, Masterton. We really appreciate having A Rocha to walk alongside us as we continue on this voyage of faith in action.

Liz Toki demonstrating how to separate food scraps in the church kitchen.

Then emptying out the food scraps into the compost bin.

LATEST UPDATE ON HAND TOWELS: We had switched to large hand towels before COVID-19 but then went back to paper towels for extra hygiene. But we have now cut up the towels into smaller squares (about the size of a facecloth) so that they can be rolled up and used once, then put in a container to be washed. It seems to be working really well. They're just white towels bought from op shops.

Cut up towels from op shops as hand towels which can be used once then collected for washing.