Eco-church & care for the environment
The parish's ecological journey and care for the environment goes back many years, starting with work at St John's. Partnerships with Dorset Wildlife Trust, Community Payback and others are long standing. Now, as a parish of four churches, we take care for the environment very seriously. Two of our four churches (St John's and St Luke's) have been awarded Silver Awards from A Rocha with our fourth working towards the Bronze Award.
Our churches & the environment
Being custodians of four old, listed buildings brings many challenges. However, we also recognise how fortunate we are. Each church is set within grounds that are homes to plants, trees, bushes and plenty of wildlife. St John's churchyard is the resting place for many as it is an open churchyard. It's seen as a sanctuary locally and is a place of quiet and beauty in suburbia. The churchyard is cared for by a great many people and has a plan in place that ensures that wildlife flourishes. Within that plan we hope to create a sustainable environment for wildflowers grow in the spring and homes for birds, bugs and other wildlife. Within the grounds we have plenty of bird boxes as well as a bug hotel to ensure that creation flourishes in this small oasis.
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Across the parish, we regularly think about our responsibility to the environment - both as a group but also as individuals. In our monthly news there is always an Eco Church update and we include preaching and teaching regularly in our Sunday services to help us all think more carefully about how we care for the environment. We work closely with schools across the parish too in talking about care for creation and the world around us.
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If you would like to know more about our work with A Rocha and how we respond to our call to care for creation, please get in touch.