Do you want some help?

Christian Environmental Groups

When you are working on a topic, project or event there are now lots of places where you can go for resources. The starting point could be one of the module booklets provided by Eco-Congregation. Many people with access to the internet will type in a suitable phrase or two in a search engine, and find lots of useful secular sites (do let us know of good ones ) There are lots of books published on almost all these themes and so your local library may help. For some there are county or national groups eager to encourage you - or you may have a local expert on hand. Part of the fun and the motivation is to get everyone finding things out for themselves.

There are some key environmental groups keen to help churches and either your church or individuals might join those with memberships to keep in touch and to support their work. Even if you are not members, these groups may be able to help, and their websites are full of useful material.

Church of England nationally: the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishops' Council has published the report "Sharing God's Planet" many will find helpful, together with other material.
Shrinking the Footprint: is the national Church of England environment programme with a particular emphasis on reducing carbon emissions. They suggest parishes take the 'StF' path.
Eco-congregation: runs a modular programme for churches. It has links with the Environmental Issues Network of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland as well as the Arthur Rank Centre
Christian Ecology Link (CEL): for individual Christians who wish to do more for the environment and help their churches do the same. They have a special scheme called 'Church Link' to keep congregations informed and a good magazine 'Green Christian'.
A Rocha (UK) : a group that began by running nature reserves but now does much, much more (and they have a local group and an international umbrella)
Conservation Foundation: this is a secular body founded by David Bellamy, but very keen to help churches, they disseminated a lot of useful information under the Parish Pumps scheme
John Ray Initiative: a group of Christian scientists concerned to help people understand both the science and the theology of creation
Alliance of Religions and Conservation: this is associated with the World Wide Fund for Nature and tries to help all religions care more deeply for nature
European Christian Environmental Network: a web-based support where we can learn from our fellow Christians on the Continent (including a number of position papers)