At St Heliers Presbyterian Church to help enable their congregation’s Eco Church journey, an Environmental Justice team was formed and one of their first initiatives was hosting The Week. Edina Kuki reflects on The Week - three hour-long documentaries which was followed by a group conversation to debrief and process what’s been heard.

Imagine you’ve arrived late for church and as you gaze through the glass doors on your way in, you see a line of people, some wearing black beanies and balaclavas. Do you continue to enter? Yes, at Cityside you do. The congregation were not being held at gun point, they were just learning about load shifting electricity use.

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...

Tied into Sunday’s Service of Creation service, was the introduction of Eco Awards presented by Tim and Anna Cox. The Eco Church awards are an acknowledgement of the actions by members of our parish towards environmental change and improvement.

Over the school holidays, we held our first He Māhuri Tōtara gathering in Ōtautahi Christchurch. What a week it was! with rangatahi from across the motu coming to explore caring for creation, leadership, Te Ao Māori and the Bible, and how those things are connected. He Māhuri Tōtara is a Christian environmental leadership development courses are for young people, young adults and youth leaders. The course explores the unique environmental challenges and opportunities of our world and the biblical imperative to care for creation.

Saint Columba’s Havelock North Environment Group (SCHNEG) has a long and impressive history, being created in the early 1990s and continues its valued work today, some 30 years later. We share some of their highlights over the years.

At All Saints Hataitai, we want to play our part and make meaningful and environmentally sustainable choices when it comes to the products we use and companies we support. We’re excited to let you know some of the steps we’ve taken recently, to be better stewards. Clergy, staff and ministry leaders have been working together to make exciting changes across our church – and we would love to share these with you.

A long awaited evening, postponed due to COVID, Tawa Anglican Church finally had the opportunity to host Liam and Hannah from The Rubbish Trip in Nov 2022. Around 40-50 people (both from the church and from the wider community) attended to hear about a huge variety of methods for living without a rubbish bin. An inspiring evening from the dynamic duo who walk-the-talk on their zero waste journey.

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.

A Rocha hosted an Eco Church Kōrero about plastic waste with a focus on the UN Global Plastic Treaty in Nov 2022. The kōrero also included discussion on ways our faith communities can be part of this global initiative. The kōrero featured guest speaker Dr Trisia Farrelly from the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance (APPA). Read on to find out more including a link to the recording and further resources to explore.

Hannah Blumhardt and Liam Prince of The Rubbish Trip presented a talk on how to reduce waste during the Christmas season at Ngaio Union Church recently. Topics discussed included gift giving and gift wrapping, Christmas dinner and table settings, decorations and travel. Read on to explore the tips…

Kāpiti Anglicans did the Eco Church self-assessment exercise as part of a church service in October. The super-creative Rev Fee Thompson, the Assistant Vicar, designed and built these amazing boards as the basis for the exercise.