Stories

Ngā Kōrero

Contact us to add your story to the collaborative Eco Church NZ puna mātauranga / pool of knowledge.

Chartwell Cooperating Church’s sustainability initiatives

Chartwell Cooperating Church is a seasoned traveller on the sustainability journey and as shown from the excerpts below - already has so many stories to share with the Eco Church whānau. Read on to find out more and be inspired to start a creation care initiative at your church!

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Resource Recovery, Waste, Purchasing Iris Lee Resource Recovery, Waste, Purchasing Iris Lee

St Hilda’s Island Bay playground - appreciated by community and the environment

St Hilda's Island Bay Playgroup considered the environment when they set about creating a safe and fun playground for children in their community. The playgroup was able to collect old play equipment and rubber tiles from the Wellington City Council and repurpose them for their new playground, all at no cost to the church.

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Waste, Resource Recovery Iris Lee Waste, Resource Recovery Iris Lee

Refillery supports community development

Two Todman is a community space hosted by Brooklyn Anglicans that includes a chapel, co-working space, community space, and thrift shop. Recently they launched a refillery - a spot where people can come to get top-ups of common household consumables without creating more waste from plastic packaging. The concept came from consultation with their local community on what was missing from the main street and would add value to their neighbourhood.

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The Rubbish Trip came to Tawa Anglican Church

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.

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Advocacy, Waste, Education and Engagement Iris Lee Advocacy, Waste, Education and Engagement Iris Lee

UN Plastics Treaty - and our part in this global initiative

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.

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“Refuse a rubbish Christmas and a trashy New Year”

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…

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Celebrating the Season of Creation

Season of Creation is celebrated annually all around the world, in different denominations, and many parishes in the Anglican Diocese of Wellington joined in this year. Read about the different ways Season of Creation was celebrated this year around the diocese, including an intergenerational pet celebration service, beach clean-up, eco-theology sermon series, and waste workshop.

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Simplify: Videos for the Journey

As part of the Simplify series at Massey Community Church, members in our Sustainability Group took turns to produce a video about an aspect of their own sustainability journey. There are videos on groceries, transport, clothes shopping, making things at home, being sustainable on a budget, and more.

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Cycling, Transport, Waste Iris Lee Cycling, Transport, Waste Iris Lee

Sunday church service turns into free bike fix-up

At Wellington South Baptist Church we’ve been imagining new ways to engage with our local community, to share something of God’s amazing reconciling vision for the world. This past Sunday, we partnered with a local charity, EkeRua/ReBicycle, to host a ‘Free Bike Fix Up/Repair/Swap’ event. After a shorter ‘normal’ service on the Sunday morning, we transitioned into a space of welcome for whoever was going to attend, including the bike workshop, a morning tea spread, and a place for kids to hang out while their (or their parent’s) bikes were getting fixed up!

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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.

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