Eco Church 

Eco Church Day Conference and Information Fair

Saturday 4th October at St Mark’s Church, Newby.

We have been working on the Eco Church scheme for over six months and have now achieved the Bronze award. There are information boards about the project at the back of church, plus a file of more detailed information taken from the Eco Church online resource library.

In order to raise awareness of the project amongst members of the church and the wider community it has been decided to hold an Eco Church Day Conference during Creationtide. It won’t just talk about getting Eco Church awards, but it will stress our responsibilities as Christians to care for God's creation and to try to live more sustainably. We hope it will appeal to a wide range of people, congregation members and the general public, as well as church leaders. It will be focussed on 'why and how' in practical terms, not academic ones.

We have secured three keynote speakers:

• Prof Colin Beale, Chair of Trustees of A Rocha and Professor of Ecology and Conservation at York University.

• Revd Johannes Noble, Green Ambassador for York Diocese.

• Dr Martin Hodson, Principal Tutor in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies. He is a plant scientist and environmental biologist, and a former Principal Lecturer, and now Visiting Researcher at Oxford Brookes University.

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To book on this conference please follow the link 

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The draft conference programme is as follows:​

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9.30 Registration

10.00 Why Christians should care for creation                       Catherine Fish from Green Christian

10.30 What is Eco Church?                                                      Prof Colin Beale

10.45 A Gold Award Church                                                    St Margaret's, Aislaby, Whitby

11.00 Coffee At the back of church and in hall

11.45 Buildings and Energy                                                     Angie Creswick

12.30 Lifestyle                                                                           Emma Teasdale

1.15 Lunch At the back of church and in hall

2.00 (Topic to be confirmed)                                                   Dr Martin Hodson

2.45 Land & Nature                                                                 Rev Jan Noble

3.30 Community Engagement                                               Climate Outreach (Zoom) 

3.45 Tea At the back of church and in hall

4.30 Worship & Teaching                                                        Rev Jan Noble

5.00 Plenary & close All

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Running at the same time in the church hall there will be an Information Marketplace. A wide range of local interest groups, wildlife charities, recycling projects, and so on will be invited to have a stand.

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The Scarborough Camera Club is also going to have an exhibition of photos relating to wildlife, the environment and climate change.

 

We intend to charge £10 per person for the day and advertise it widely, via Scarborough Deanery, Churches Together in Scarborough, social media and the local press.

                                                                                                                                    Trevor King, Church Warden. 16/06/2025