In June, 24 members of Kingswinford Parish got together to host their first ‘Sustainable Evening’ with friends. They watched ‘The People’s Emergency Briefing’ film, after sharing a vegan meal. The evening ended with open and meaningful conversation and prayer.
The film is 45 minutes long and focusses on topics such as the climate crisis, the economic impact and health and food systems amongst others. Specialists in their field discuss the impact of continuing living the way we currently are and how even small changes we can all make would have an impact and slow the escalating crisis we are facing, if we all committed to them. Prior to the film being shown the group had discussed how these topics may be hard to hear and re-emphasised the Kingswinford pastoral team are always on hand to provide support where needed.
After the film the group spent a short time in reflection and prayer and then opened the floor to a short discussion on people’s initial thoughts. This was followed by larger breakout groups where those present were invited to discuss their reactions, and 3 actions they were going to take as a result of watching the film.
Kingswinford Operations Manager Grace Wrigglesworth shared:
“Reactions varied from shock, fear, anger and hope for a better future. The actions it has inspired people to take include: eating a vegan meal once a week, writing to our local MP, sharing the knowledge they have gained from the film and encouraging others to attend a screening, which, along with challenging misconceptions of vegan food, was the main purpose of the event.”
The evening closed with three prayers from Fr Adam who encouraged the group to sit with and reflect on their feelings, but also to take action!
Grace added:
“I found out about the film after attending an Eco church meeting and with support from our own eco teams found it easy enough to organise our own screening, especially as the film creators are keen to share it as widely as possible so are on hand to support!”
“We planned it far enough in advance that as many people as possible could attend and had sign-up sheets in the back of both our churches to guage numbers and any dietary requirements. From there I contacted the National Emergency Briefing team who sent the film link over promptly and added us to the national list of showings. We also advertised it on our own social media and websites.”
“The evening was truly a great event spent with friends and as a Parish we would encourage as many of you as possible to hold your own similar event or search for a local one to attend, whether as an individual or a group. You will leave with your eyes opened and hopefully inspired to make… one small change.”
Find out more information on how to hold your own screening here: https://www.nebriefing.org/the-film
This event was part of Kingswinford Parish’ Eco Year - completing a monthly eco activity to drive forward their Eco ambitions.
Activities they have already taken part in include the Big Bird Watch in January, setting Earth based intentions on Earth Day in 2026 and entering data for ‘Every Flower Counts’ in May 2026. Future activities include the upcoming Butterfly Count which runs from 17 July – 9 August, only using plant milk on World Plant Milk Day in August.
