|
Welcome to our latest EcoNews which will be the final edition of this year. Do please share this newsletter and encourage people from your local community to sign-up to receive it at : www.DofN.org/econews
Thank you for all you continue to do in your locality to ensure that we strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
| | |
From 10 to 21 November 2025, the rainforest city of Belém in Brazil will host COP30. Leaders and representatives from around the world will gather in the shadow of the Amazon rainforest to discuss the progress we’ve made as a global community on tackling the climate crisis and what more we still need to do.
Green Christian offers an opportunity to pray with others for 10 minutes on each morning of the COP. Sign up here: Pray with us for COP30–Green Christian.
Christian Aid have a selection of prayers for justice for those worst affected by climate change and activities around this topic here: pray-for-climate-justice_v2.pdf.
CAFOD offers a prayer for COP30 Prayer for the COP30 climate summit.
Tearfund explain their involvement at COP, their concerns and hopes and suggest some further prayers: Tearfund at COP30: what, where, when, why and who? - Tearfund.
The following prayer has been recorded on video by Bishop Graham and others around the world - see Christian Aid's social media channels.
Breath of Life, from whom all order was created,
the whole of creation bears witness to you.
Teach us to respect all creatures,
increase our gratitude for your loving providence.
Forgive us for our insensitivity and carelessness with the environment.
Instigate us to fight for socio-environmental preservation
and for the end of the climate crisis,
taking care and working for the preservation of species
and the maintenance of life on earth,
as living proof of our conversion to the way of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and with the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
| | Norfolk Conservation Churchyard Award launched | | |
The Norfolk Churches Trust, in partnership with the Diocese of Norwich and Norfolk Wildlife Trust, has launched the Norfolk Churchyard Conservation Award. Celebrating the natural and spiritual heritage of Norfolk’s churchyards.
This is an exciting opportunity for churches across the county to showcase their efforts in protecting and enhancing the biodiversity, beauty and tranquility of their churchyards. Open to all whether a large, small, rural or urban church, whether you have a wildflower meadow, a nesting box or just the sheer enthusiasm to care for the area around your church building. This award recognises the vital role churches can play in environmental stewardship – celebrating those who care for these precious places in ways that benefit both people and nature.
Download a copy of the flyer here.
More information on the NCT events page, or download your application form here.
The deadline for submissions is 28 February 2026, with judging taking place in May 2026.
| | Eco Forum - survey surgery - report & links | | |
We were delighted to welcome Polly Eaton, Eco Diocese Officer for A Rocha UK to our Eco Forum focusing on the updated Eco Church survey.
Polly made reference to A Rocha's Getting Started with Eco Church resource a couple of times - and hopes this might be a useful document for some guiding principles for newcomers and those going for gold.
Although an Environmental Policy is not referenced explicitly in the Eco Church survey, it is somewhere that you can bring together church policies and procedures in one document and a great way to embed and sustain Eco Church within your worshipping community. The Environment Policy and NZC Action plan information sheet is located on the Buildings and Energy resource page. You will also find the simple Environment Policy example and the template and the detailed Environment Policy example.
Some feedback from the breakout groups focused on people being overwhelmed by the scale of the survey, not knowing where to start and finding it particularly hard to engage the congregation in the "lifestyle" section. Polly encouraged us to ask congregation members to share their own "eco top tips" either in service, or social media, or in pew sheet. She advised not trying to tackle everything but take a first look to see which you can answer straight away, and recognise what you're already doing well, and share that with your church family. She also advised to just go back to the survey once or twice a year, to not keep checking "It's a prompt to action - not to restrict".
You'll be able to view a recording of the webinar shortly on the Eco Forum YouTube playlist HERE
| | New Eco Chaplains being commissioned 16 November | | |
Four new recently-trained Eco Chaplains will be commissioned during a Celebrating Chaplaincy service at Norwich Cathedral at 3:30pm on Sunday 16 November. Everyone is welcome to come along to support them at this special service, and if you can't make it do please pray for them anyway! Further details of these Chaplains, the areas they will be covering and their contact details will follow soon! This brings our growing network of Eco Chaplains up to eight. If this is a ministry you feel you would like to explore, please contact Barbara for a chat. We shall be running another training course next year. barbara.bryant@dioceseofnorwich.org
| |
Haveringland celebrates Eco Church Silver
Festival church St Peter's in Haveringland celebrated their achievement of Eco Church Silver at their annual 'Cut and Rake' event on Sunday 28 September. After an hour or two, a ploughman's lunch was enjoyed by all, followed by a short Harvest Festival service, after which the Archdeacon of Lynn presented Eco Reps Kate and Nigel with the Silver Eco Church award. Full story HERE
| |
Curlews help UEA student win annual Bishop of Norwich Prize for Ecology
Research into nesting curlews has won student Caleb Stradling the Bishop of Norwich’s annual Ecology prize. The £1,000 prize is awarded to the University of East Anglia student achieving the highest marks for a masters dissertation in applied ecology and conservation.
The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, said: “As a Christian it is my calling to care for God’s creation, and it is a privilege to be able to support this kind of research. Caleb’s work is giving curlews the best chance of survival and helping make it possible that generations to come will be able to delight in the beautiful curlew call.” Full story HERE
| |
Children win Bishop’s prize for spiritual nature garden
A new garden which the children of St Peter and St Paul Carbrooke Church of England Primary Academy and Nursery designed and helped create has won the first Bishop of Norwich Environment Prize for Schools.
The children have been involved with everything from clearing weeds and debris from an overgrown and unused corner of the grounds to painting the fencing, and deciding what to plant.
The garden is still under construction and they plan to add a barefoot trail, a covered seating area and lots more plants. Read the full story HERE
|
Eco Teams in Schools commissioned
On Wednesday 5 November the first group of Eco Teams from Diocese of Norwich Church of England schools took part in a Zoom Commissioning Service hosted by Revd Andrew Whitehead.
"This marks the beginning of a project to draw school children in the Diocese that are leading on Creation Care together, and giving power to their collective voice to make change happen," says Sharon Brett, Diocese of Norwich Schools Environmental Advisor.
| |
New infra-red heating system helps village church provide warm welcome
“Our call is to be a powerhouse.” That’s the vision of St Andrew’s Church in Oakington, a village in our neighbouring Diocese of Ely. “The better the facilities, the more welcoming we are as a church”, says their Fabric Officer, Roger Goodden.
Formerly, the church was heated by electric panels on the back of the pews. These dated back to the 1990s and had become notoriously unreliable. “The whole system was subject to breakdowns, and whole sections of pews could lose their heating.” So, to make the church physically warm and welcoming as well as emotionally and spiritually so, in 2023 infra-red panels replaced the old, unreliable ones, on the back of each pew. Sixty-four panels were installed around the church, as well as two wall-mounted infra-red heaters in the side aisles which have chairs instead of pews. “In a building such as ours, heating people is the way to go rather than heating the building,” says Roger. Full story HERE
| | Congratulations and welcome | | |
Congratulations to those who have received awards over the past few months, and welcome to those who have registered as Eco Churches.
SILVER - St Peter's, Haveringland and Cloverfield Church, Thetford
BRONZE - All Saints, Wilby; St Margaret's, Old Catton; St Botolph, Banningham
NEWLY REGISTERED - St. Mary the Virgin, Hillington; St Andrew's Church, Guist; St Swithin's, Frettenham; St Andrew's, Gorleston; St Mary & St Margaret's, Sprowston; St Margaret of Antioch, Felbridge Hall Estate; All Saints, Bawdeswell; St Mary's Church, Bylaugh; St Mary's, Elsing; Holy Innocents, Foulsham; St Thomas, Foxley; St Margaret's,Lyng; St Mary's, Sparham; St Andrew's, Themelthorpe; St Ethelbert's, Larling; St George the Martyr, Hindolveston; St Peter's, Carlton Colville
| |
Webinar: EV Charger installation grants for clergy housing
Monday 24 November I 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
REGISTER HERE to join the Zoom call
In this Webinar, the national Church of England team cover the two main application routes for government EV Charger Installation Grants applicable to clergy housing. Both grants are worth around £350 – or up to 75% of the full installation cost.
The Giving Directorate’s Dave Stout will talk about accessing the grant for his (non-clergy) home and how he schedules his charging times to get the best value. Jo Chamberlain will talk about accessing the grant for her clergy home. There will be Q&As and discussion. Please share this invitation with any colleagues and clergy who might like to join.
| |
Climate Action Norfolk - funding opportunity
Norfolk County Council have teamed up with Crowdfunder to launch Climate Action Norfolk.
"Using the power of the crowd, we’re helping environmental, sustainability and net zero projects to get the funding they need to turn their ideas into a reality."
Projects that match the eligibility criteria will be eligible for 50% funding, up to the maximum value of £10,000. You need a crowdfunding project to apply for funding. Start or continue adding your project and, if eligible, you'll be prompted to apply. Further details HERE
| |
New project by British Trust for Ornithology
Birds in Greenspaces, is a new project by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) launching in April 2026.
"We are encouraging everyone to go out into their local publicly accessible greenspace to record the birds that they can see in them to understand how important these spaces are. Whether you are going for a walk with the dog or catching up with a friend, you can record the birds that you see or hear and take part in this citizen science project. We will have all the resources that you need and to get started, sign up for our newsletter for the latest information by clicking the link below":
www.bto.org/greenspaces
| |
Lungs of the Earth - a call for action and advocacy
This call invites Anglicans to restore and protect God's world with a particular focus on three vital ecosystems that act as the planet's natural lungs of the earth: oceans, forests and ice caps.
- Oceans & coral: Generate oxygen, store carbon, and support marine life.
- Forests: Absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
- Ice caps & frozen regions: Reflect sunlight, regulate ocean currents, and slow global warming.
Due to environmental damage, the lungs of the earth are at risk, with huge implications for people and planet. 'Lungs of the Earth' also ties in with Anglican advocacy at COP30, in Brazil next week. The advocacy focus on oceans, forests and ice caps has been developed with Anglican environmental advocates around the world, particularly indigenous Anglicans. It will reflect the wisdom, traditions and sustainable practices of indigenous communities, in caring for the planet.
The initiative aims to:
- Invite Anglicans to advocate for the protection of the world's vital ecosystems.
- Highlight examples of how Anglican churches around the world protecting oceans, forests and ice caps/frozen regions.
- Represent the voice and experience of indigenous communities in caring for the earth.
- Amplify the advocacy messages of faith groups at COP30.
DOWNLOAD the Lungs of the Earth Resource Pack
| |
BOOK: Dreaming of a Green Christmas
- Sustainability and creation care for busy people
Olivia Warburton
Pb, ISBN 978 1 80039 430 8, £6.99
Fun, practical, biblical and thoughtful, Olivia Warburton offers 111 easy eco-tips to reduce, reuse and recycle and generally go greener at Christmas. With sustainable ecofriendly ideas, she highlights the joy of giving and helps equip us to be responsible stewards at this important time of year. She says: ‘I wanted to give families a tool kit for approaching Christmas differently, showing that it doesn’t have to be expensive and wasteful, and hopefully removing some of the guilt and stress. I’m hoping to enable people to make choices they are happier with as well as giving the context for why it’s a biblical principle to try to look after the beautiful world God has given us.’
Order from Bible Reading Fellowship: Dreaming of a Green Christmas: Sustainability and creation care for busy people – BRFonline
| | Regular links to resources | | Ed and Barbara are happy to come out to your deanery or benefice with their "Eco Roadshow" presentation - or answer any questions/offer support - just get in touch! | | You are receiving EcoNews because you either have an active role in the diocese (e.g. are an Eco Rep) or you have subscribed to receive it. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link below and you can read our Privacy Policy here. | | Norwich Diocesan Board of Finance Ltd is a limited company (no. 88175) and charity (no. 249318) registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Diocesan House, 109 Dereham Road, Easton, Norwich NR9 5ES. | | | | |
