A ROCHA UK CONSERVATION PROJECTS
Eco Church is A Rocha UK’s award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth. Their vision is for churches of all denominations to care for creation as an integral part of loving their neighbours and following God faithfully.
‘A Rocha’ is Portuguese for ‘The Rock’, reflecting the origins of the international A Rocha family in a field study centre located on the Alvor estuary in Portugal, back in 1982.
Since its beginnings in 2001, A Rocha UK has been practically involved in nature conservation. Their first major nature conservation initiative was the transformation of a derelict and degraded plot of land in the London Borough of Hillingdon into Minet Country Park. Following on from the success of Minet, A Rocha UK is now engaged in another urban conservation initiative at a small site in Norwood Green known as ‘Wolf Fields’. Having long been abandoned to fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour, Wolf Fields is now being transformed by A Rocha UK, working in partnership with the local community, into a multi-purpose wildlife area including: a native fruit orchard, a sensory garden with local wild flowers, organic food growing allotments, bee hives, a small woodland for birds, and new paths to increase accessibility.
As more and more people live in cities, urban conservation initiatives become more and more important. A Rocha recognises, however, that many habitats and species are found largely in more rural areas. They have therefore purchased ‘Foxearth’– a 12-acre nature reserve on the Essex/Suffolk border – that they manage as a haven for wildlife (19 species of dragonfly and damselfly have been recorded here) and a place of retreat, outdoor learning and research for people.
A ROCHA UK ECO CHURCH CORE VALUES
A Rocha UK shares the same five core values as all the other national A Rocha organisations around the world:
Christian
Underlying all we do is our biblical faith in the living God, who made the world, loves it and entrusts it to the care of human society.
Conservation
We carry out research for the conservation and restoration of the natural world and run environmental education programmes for people of all ages.
Community
Through our commitment to God, each other and the wider creation, we aim to develop good relationships both within the A Rocha family and in our local communities.
Cross-cultural
We draw on the insights and skills of people from diverse cultures, both locally and around the world.
Cooperation
We work in partnership with a wide variety of organisations and individuals who share our concerns for a sustainable world.
THE ECO CHURCH AWARD
At the heart of the Eco Church Award is an on-line Survey which helps every church to evaluate their current status in relation to Bronze, Silver or Gold Level Awards, and what they have to do to aspire to and achieve each level. In order to qualify for an Award you must attain the required standard in each of the areas covered by the Eco Survey that apply to your church
The Eco Church Award Survey takes you through five key areas of church life:
Worship and teaching
Management of church buildings
Management of church land
Community and global engagement
Lifestyle
At St Mary’s Haughley, we are working towards an Eco Church Award to be submitted in 2024, and in terms of the care of Haughley Wildlife (flora and fauna), the most relevant strand of the five is the ‘Management of Church Land’. Of course, indirectly we can promote care for all creation through educating about it; through managing buildings to be eco-friendly; through promoting global projects and initiatives; and through our own lifestyles (using Fair Trade products, cycling or walking to services, etc…).
ECO CHURCH PARTNERSHIPS
In addition to their own conservation projects, A Rocha UK also has a network of eight ‘Partners in Action’ projects across the UK. These are practical conservation projects that are locally owned and managed but for which A Rocha UK provides expertise and resources to help support and mobilise the dreams and visions of the community groups running them. ‘Our hope and goal for our Partners in Action programme is that it will increase accessibility to green space, enhance nature biodiversity and educate people about the environment’.
A Rocha state: ‘since we believe that caring for God’s earth is a necessary part of Christian discipleship, engaging with Christians and churches is at the heart of our strategy. Our primary means of such engagement is Eco Church – our new, web-based award scheme designed to motivate and resource churches in establishing caring for God’s earth as an integral part of their everyday work and witness.’
Eco Church is run by A Rocha UK in partnership with Christian Aid, the Church of England, the Methodist Church, and Tearfund. ‘Our vision is for the new scheme to create a vast network of churches as local centres of creation care in the community – shining beacons of hope for a brighter environmental future.’
This vision was endorsed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams who, speaking at the launch of Eco Church at St Paul’s Cathedral in January 2016, welcomed the new scheme as part of a ‘tectonic shift’ in Christian thinking through which environmental concerns will ‘embed more deeply’ in church culture.