Clare Stockford is a member of St Cassians Church inChaddesley Corbett, just outside of Kidderminster. St Cassians has achievedtheir Silver Eco Church Award and Clare was a key part of the team.
How did you get involved in the Ecoagenda?
I have been a member of the DCC for a few years and twoyears ago became a church warden. Our previous vicar, Hugh Burton, waspassionate about the eco agenda and as a primary school teacher, I was veryaware of the issues. St Cassians is a rural church and is part of a farmingcommunity. We have always included creation-focussed hymns and prayers for thecare of our world in our regular worship. However, as an old building wewerent sure how easy it would be for us to be eco-friendly.
Faith is about everything we think, speak and do. Oftendoing can be the hardest bit, but becoming an Eco Church has been reallyimportant in linking with our local community. Weve done community litterpicks and made links with the village school and their recycling projects. Itsa way for the church to demonstrate that we dont just talk about things, butactually do it as well.
Why did you feel this was important?
I have children myself and worry about what the future willhold. I can remember the environment being an issue when I was at school wecant keep just talking about it. Some things are becoming irreversible andthere is no second chance.
God gave us something so precious and it is the decisionsthat man has made which has caused us issues. Weve done this to our planet andnow we need to fix it.At St Cassianswe regularly pray for the environment and also talk about the issues, includingpractical sessions in our family services. We share relevant content on oursocial media channels. However, weve also made practical changes recyclingin church, making sure our cleaning products and toilet rolls are eco-friendlyand buying new hymn books so we dont need to use photocopies of the hymns thatwerent in the old ones! Some of the changes have been more major for exampleweve changed our lighting and gone from using the same energy as 15 kettles tojust one!
How hasthis work affected your faith?
My faith is strong and has definitely been strengthened bythis work.
Its been fantastic to be able to support other churches intheir Eco church journey. Its nice to be an advocate for the movement and toknow that were all working on this together to make a difference. I also spokeabout our experience at Diocesan Synod, which is something I never thought Iddo. It was important to me to stand up and say what I think is right and whenyoure passionate about something, I definitely believe that God gives you thewords to inspire others.
Find out more at www.cofe-worcester.org.uk/everyday-faith.