Christ Church, Hulland has been awarded a silver Eco Church award. Below are a few of the main initiatives undertaken in the five areas of church life that helped them achieve the award. 

Worship

• Worship leaders followed the Green Lectionary during Creationtide. 
• Messy Church Goes Wild had an outdoors nature scavenger hunt and an indoor session reflecting on creation.
• In Great Big Green Week, we presented ‘What is Eco Church?’ to our Mothers’ Union branch, followed by an eco- quiz.

The Church building 

• We calculated the carbon footprint of our church in 2022 and agreed to attempt yearly improvements in energy efficiency. 
• We continued with a recycling collection point for medication blister packs in the porch. 

The Churchyard

• We had a ‘Churches Count on Nature’ event in June –see photo. Interested members of the church & community surveyed the churchyard on 2 occasions. We identified 110 species of plants and animals. Our records were sent to the National Biodiversity database.
• We installed a 3rd bird box and 2 bird feeders.
• We continued to manage the Conservation Area for nature as well as people.

Lifestyle

• Our church email and weekly Pews News regularly included items relating to caring for God’s earth and eco-tips towards a sustainable lifestyle.
• We had a Jigsaw Swap Sunday to facilitate re-use of puzzles.

Community and global engagement 

• Letters, endorsed by the PCC, were written to our MP and County Councillor asking them to address nature loss and climate change as a priority in their recommendations and decision making. 
• We continued to be a Fairtrade church.
• We twinned our toilet with one in Malawi through the Tear Fund scheme.
• We encouraged another church in our Benefice to get started with Eco Church

Penny Northall, Eco-church lead and PCC member said: “I would like to thank our Rector, Rev. Phil Michell, other worship leaders and the PCC for being so supportive in this eco-church endeavour. We are now working towards a gold award.”