At St Barnabas, we recognize society is at a pivotal point in the climate crisis and are committed to doing our part.
Caring for God’s creation is everyone’s responsibility and we offer opportunities to educate, take action, and advocate for smarter environmental decisions whenever we can. We’ve worked hard to ensure consideration of the environment is at the forefront of all our decisions.
If you take a walk around our grounds, you’ll notice bird and bee friendly plants. Our gardens don’t use pesticides and we do our best to incorporate native plants wherever possible.
Inside, we avoid disposable kitchenware, use eco-friendly cleaning products, LED lighting, recycled paper (when paper is necessary), and ask those using our building to be mindful of energy use by keeping lights and switches off when not in use.
In worship, we regularly sing hymns that reflect the greatness of God’s creation and pray for continued awareness of human impact on the Earth. We’ve had numerous guest speakers sharing their own environmental journeys and reminding us what more we can do ourselves.
We also occasionally do litter picks on the Common, worship out of doors, and have guest speakers sharing environmental messages. Please keep an eye on our events pages for any upcoming activities.
WHAT WE CAN DO AT HOME
As an individual, here are some things our church encourages you to consider:
Reduce your use of cars: walk, ride your bike, or take public transportation whenever you can - especially to church
Abide by the Reuse, Reduce, Recycle principle and limit your purchase of new and single use items when you can
Tell your government representatives what you think about decisions they make that impact the environment
If you are interested in learning more about what you can do, check out these resources provided by the Eco Church organization. Or if you’d like to participate in our efforts, ask a member of staff to direct you to the Eco-Committee for more information!
PLANT A TREE IN TANZANIA
On June 11th, we celebrated the start of our 125 Celebration with an eco-church inspired gift day to help plant trees in Tanzania. Everything given on June 11th went towards helping GoMAD reach their goal of planting 25,000 trees in Tanzania within the next 12 months. We said we’d aim to raise enough to plant 125 trees - as it happened we raised enough to plant 800! What a great way to show our gratitude at St Barnabas - by planting hope for others.
To give online at any time, please use the reference 125 TREES and we will continue to sponsor trees in Tanzania. Thank you.
