By Patrick Argent
Copyright thescarboroughnews
The specialised ecological symposium comprises a series of illustrated presentations about the Eco Church scheme and its importance, given by nine eminent speakers to be held within St Mark’s. The day also features an Information Fair in the church hall in addition to a photographic exhibition, The Natural World and Climate Change, presented by Scarborough Camera Club. The conference aim is to raise awareness of the national Eco Church initiative and highlight the vital contribution that local faith communities can make in caring for the environment. The event will focus on the increasingly urgent matter of ecological issues and to encourage Scarborough churches to adopt the challenge of sustainable living. The key highlight of the day will be an interactive exploration of the Eco Church Awards Scheme – a pioneering programme that recognises churches making significant progress in environmental stewardship. Delegates will find out how they can embrace energy efficiency, improve waste management, boost biodiversity, incorporate environmental themes into worship and engage more deeply with their communities. The conference brings together an impressive line-up of keynote speakers offering both national and local perspectives. These include Professor Colin Beale of York University, A Rocha UK Chair of Trustees; Revd. Johannes Noble, Green Ambassador for York Diocese and Dr Martin Hodson, Principal Tutor of Christian Rural and Environmental Studies and visiting Researcher at Oxford Brookes University. Further speakers include Catherine Fish from Green Christian, Angie Creswick from the York Methodist Circuit, Rev Margot Hodson of The John Ray Initiative, Jane Macfarlane of St Margaret’s Aislaby, Alex Randall from Climate Outreach (via Zoom) and Scarborough’s own sustainable living champion, Emma Teasdale. Exhibitors include Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, RSPB, Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire, Green Christian, Community Sowing Bee, Take The Jump, The Rainbow Centre and Eco Green Appliances. Eco Church is an award-winning initiative administered by A Rocha UK, a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world that assists churches of all denominations to care for the environment. The scheme covers five key areas of church life: worship and teaching, buildings and energy, land and nature, community and global engagement and lifestyle choices. An online Eco Church Survey enables a church community to assess their progress towards a bronze, silver or gold Eco Church award. St Mark’s has so far achieved the bronze award. Visit https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/ to find our more. Conference organiser Trevor King stated: “We hope the conference will be a catalyst, encouraging churches and community members across Scarborough to take meaningful steps in caring for creation”. The Eco Church Day Conference & Information Fair is held on Saturday October 4 from 9.30am to 5pm. Tickets priced at £10 are available in advance. Visit stmarksscarborough.com/ecochurch for further details and registration can be found on the church.
