Education and Engagement

There are many ways to introduce creation care to your congregation. Check out some of the stories below to see what churches are doing to help get the whole church on board the eco church journey. The education and engagement stories below feature among other things - a sustainability fair, small group studies, a thematic speaking series, running conferences and workshops.

If you’d like to get someone to speak at your church or event on creation care or related topics, check out the Speakers page.

A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand Resources page

The RESOURCES page on the A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand’s website contains theological writings and sermons on the theology of creation care from an Aotearoa New Zealand perspective and is especially useful for some deeper thinking around this topic. For a more wider range of international resources, check out the RESOURCES page at the A Rocha International website which combines RESOURCES from all A Rocha national organisations around the world, including from Aotearoa New Zealand.

At Your Service

A Rocha International’s repository of creation care resources for churches. If you teach, preach or lead worship, this is for you. ‘At Your Service’ has been designed for Christian groups who want to explore the biblical basis of caring for God’s earth. You’ll find sermon ideas, Bible studies, prayers, songs, children’s activities and much, much more.

Relevant Eco Church NZ stories

Featured

Making a Difference - How one small church focused on sustainability during the Season of Creation

When it was decided that we were not holding a church fair this year, we saw an opportunity to do something different – a Sustainability Fair! We imagined the church hall full of stalls that offered advice and connections, rather than jams, books, and cakes. And we set out to make it happen.

Stewardship changes and a new riparian planting project in Masterton

We at the Tribe Church are at the beginning of our journey exploring what it means to be stewards of creation. The journey started when our bible study group went through Tearfund's The Good Lives Project. This study really opened our eyes to seeing how our everyday actions can be an expression of our faith. It inspired us to see what changes we can make at church so we can have a lighter impact on the earth.

Engaging with the topic of Creation Care in church

In 2019, our church, Massey Community Church in West Auckland, ran a four week series entitled ‘Creation Care’. For the first time in my long experience of church, I encountered in-depth teaching on the biblical mandate we have as followers of Jesus to care for creation – the earth as well as its people.

Little steps add up to a big impact at Grace Vineyard!

At Grace, we want to play our part and make meaningful and environmentally sustainable choices when it comes to the products we use and companies we support. We’re excited to let you know some of the steps we’ve taken to become better stewards over the past year. We’ve been working closely with the leadership team and over the past few months, we’ve made some really exciting changes across our church – and we would love to share these with you.

Rubbish Revolution!

Outraged by the amount of landfill-fugitives (plastic waste) buried into a Wellington natural taonga, Anglican Advocacy decided to organise a four-month, all-ages, and stimulating challenge to inspire parishioners to take action at personal and political levels.

Rich Living conference in Christchurch

In late September 2018, A Rocha partnered with South West Baptist, Cashmere Presbyterian and Grace Vineyard churches to run a weekend of events in Christchurch to explore these questions.

Build your own bike trailer workshop

In conjunction with Biketober Christchurch every October, Steve organises a build your own bike trailer workshop. Constructed from pallets (the frame), old plastic recycling bins, 20 and 24 inch bike & wheelchair wheels, and locally-made aluminium tow-bars and componentry, the trailers are low cost and hugely popular.

Electric bicycles for church leaders

In 2019, A Rocha member Steve Muir started a personal initiative to share his love of cycling – he purchased ten e-bikes and is loaning them long term to church leaders in Christchurch.

Environment on Alpine Presbytery agenda

In 2019, the Alpine Presbytery gathering in Christchurch made a stand for the environment. Fifty church leaders from the Canterbury region listened and then unanimously agreed to support a motion to make the environment a priority in their parishes.

The “Hope Seminar” in Christchurch

What’s the chance of getting 100 people out on a cold wintery Saturday night to talk about faith and looking after our planet?