After the May 2021 floods in Canterbury, the Papanui Baptist Earthcare Group checked on the riparian planting they did along the Ōtukaikino Stream in Sept 2020. They were relieved to find that their trees survived well, and are in fact thriving under a fresh bed of silt, and the first hints of new leaves are starting to appear!

At Pauatahanui Anglican parish, one of our four core values is legacy. For many years prior to the launch of Eco Church, a group called God’s Earth Our Home operated within the parish, fostering a deep spiritual sense of ecological responsibility within parishioners and nurturing environmental action. This provided a natural launching pad for the parish to join the Eco Church movement at the start of 2021.

At St. Peter's Anglican in Kaikōura we had our Blessing of the Animals service on Sunday. In addition to blessing the nine dogs and one cat present (and the domestic animals not present) we blessed, at a distance, the wild animals that call Kaikōura home, including the dotterels/tūturiwhatu, hutton's shearwaters/tītī, little blue penguins/kororā, and hector's dolphins.

Girls Zone’s Got WOW! Considering eco-awareness, a show presenting outfits made only from recycled and upcycled items was held at Karori Anglican Church. This was themed on the Creation Story in Genesis. Psalm 8 pulled together the foundation of the project along with the Genesis creation story to "teach" GZ what an amazing world we have been given and entrusted with.

Look at that bunch of children and parents with spades and buckets. They’re above Te Auaunga (Oakley Creek), on the Auckland isthmus and it’s a Saturday afternoon, children from Cityside Baptist Church. They’re celebrating Matariki, the Māori New Year, with this midwinter tree-planting.

How to get children engaged in sustainability? Baking! Our Kids' Church have been learning about the wonder of Creation, how it's struggling, and how we can participate in God's healing work. When asked how we could reduce our waste at Kids' Church, the children had the fantastic idea of doing some home baking to replace the plastic packets of biscuits they consume each week for morning tea.

Mary Hutchinson, A Rocha trustee, had the pleasure of joining in the Eco Church launch celebrations of Karori Anglican at St Mary’s Anglican Church in Karori. Read on to find out about what activities they did during and after their launch service.

The Papanui Baptist Earth Care Group wants to give a shout out of appreciation to Carol Aitken, our church administrator for the proactive and intentional things she is already implementing in the practical life and running of our church facility, that are at the core of what we are about – better stewardship, less waste and the promotion of beauty, in respect of God’s amazing creation!

The Wellington Abrahamic Council held a Workshop on the Climate Emergency on 20 June 2021 at Te Herenga Waka / Victoria University of Wellington. The event was attended by 50+ people representing Jews, Christians, and Muslims. From the initial presentations by representatives of each of the three faiths it was clear that the teaching of our Abrahamic traditions about sustainability and the natural world provides a rationale and motivation to address this defining issue of our time as a priority.

St Michael’s Anglican Church in Kelburn recently had a first go at calculating their church’s carbon emissions. We corresponded with Caitlyn Lee, a parishioner at St Michael’s who worked on the carbon calculation for the church about the process.

St Andrew’s Community Food Gardens were established to promote sustainable organic gardening practices to produce edible produce for the community. In 2018, the late John Allen, a parishioner of St Andrew’s, was our Sustainability Fieldworker and he spearheaded the team that established the food gardens. View a photo tour around our community vegetable garden as it’s been developed over the years!

Karakia for our Climate (K4C) is a group of followers of Jesus, looking to empower the Church in supporting those who are lobbying for climate justice. In April, a day before the Schools Strike 4 Climate, Karakia for our Climate organised prayer vigils in Te Whanganui-a-tara Wellington, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtepoti Dunedin, joining as partners in both prayer and action. They prayed about climate change: for courage, for hope, for creative solutions, for unity, for justice.