Anne Albers shares her reflections from the Season of Creation Retreats #1 and #2 to mark the beginning and the end of the liturgical season. And Rebecca Webb shares a poem she wrote from the first retreat.

Waitakere Salvation Army shares with us what took place during their Eco Church launch service in September during Season of Creation and how the church is tackling the issue of food waste as their first Eco Church initiative.

For Puanga this year, St Peter’s Anglican Church Whanganui created a worship service for all ages which was reflective and interactive, weaving elements of Creation Care into the liturgical flow of the service. Our service used a liturgy to take us on a journey of reflection. We had space to remember those who had passed, and a space to offer thankfulness for the year gone. Instead of a sermon, we split into kēmu/mahi toi (games/art), confession and reflection stations.

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. Read on to find out some highlights from their Eco Church launch service which included presentations from their local community conservation group, student advocacy action for free fares, an eco quiz and a low-waste morning tea!

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.

Karakia for our Climate (K4C) is a group of followers of Jesus, looking to empower the Church in supporting those who are lobbying for climate justice. In April, a day before the Schools Strike 4 Climate, Karakia for our Climate organised prayer vigils in Te Whanganui-a-tara Wellington, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtepoti Dunedin, joining as partners in both prayer and action. They prayed about climate change: for courage, for hope, for creative solutions, for unity, for justice.

We all know the frustration of not being able to fix something that breaks. Why not let people share their fix-it knowledge and expertise, and run a Repair Café?

In October last year, The Village Presbyterian Church in Ōtautahi-Christchurch decided to tandem up a Repair Café event with our usual monthly Community Market Day. The idea was to have volunteers on hand to help fix broken items that members of the public brought along, thereby stopping stuff going to landfill.