Read about the Cityside Travelling Nativity Set - a Cityside Baptist tradition that began in 2013. The Nativity set starts its journey by being handed over to the initial hosts during the service on the first Sunday of Advent. There is a liturgy for the giver and the receiver to say during the process of handing over. The nativity set will stay with the hosts for one or two nights before they pass it on to the next recipients, continuing until it arrives back at Cityside on Christmas Eve.

St John’s Anglican Church Timaru represented in our own Eco Church stall at the South Canterbury Sustainability Festival. We gave out chocolates and succulent plants with a message of hope and shared what Eco Church was about to anyone who was interested. We even made the paper.

All Saints Burwood shared with us their journey so far as an Eco Church… and the little and big steps that have been made.

Captain Simon Montgomery, a member of Salves and corps officer at Whanganui Salvation Army, leads a group of people who are passionate about caring for God’s creation and helping to sustain the environment around them. As a corps (church) they’ve decided to join the A Rocha Eco Church NZ project.

Having joined in the Eco Church movement in 2023, St Mike’s are continuing to look for ways to support local whenua. As the recent Season of Creation kicked off, each member of the church whānau were invited to consider making a fresh pledge for creation: one act which they would personally commit to in response to the call to be kaitiaki of God’s world.

The annual Blessing of the Animals service at St. Peter's Anglican Church was delightfully chaotic. Human voices rose up in song alongside dog voices and cat voices.

Over the school holidays, we held our first He Māhuri Tōtara gathering in Ōtautahi Christchurch. What a week it was! with rangatahi from across the motu coming to explore caring for creation, leadership, Te Ao Māori and the Bible, and how those things are connected. He Māhuri Tōtara is a Christian environmental leadership development courses are for young people, young adults and youth leaders. The course explores the unique environmental challenges and opportunities of our world and the biblical imperative to care for creation.

Rachel Doragh, Eco Church kaihāpai at Tawa Anglicans created a beautiful altar panel art for Season of Creation 2023 using the theme of the year: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5: 24)”

“…by putting these images in front of us as we worship it will help us keep in mind that we are joining our voices in worship with those of all creation, and also to ponder on the image of the river and what justice and righteousness might look like for us in our world right now."

Saint Columba’s Havelock North Environment Group (SCHNEG) has a long and impressive history, being created in the early 1990s and continues its valued work today, some 30 years later. We share some of their highlights over the years.

When Chartwell Cooperating Church worked on the Eco Church self-assessment worksheet, when it came to monitoring their church’s water consumption, they got Heather Kikkert, a water engineer, to carry out an audit of their church’s water consumption. Heather shares some tips for other churches who might also want to audit their water consumption.

At All Saints Hataitai, 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 recently, to be better stewards. Clergy, staff and ministry leaders have been working together to make exciting changes across our church – and we would love to share these with you.

Chartwell Cooperating Church is a seasoned traveller on the sustainability journey and as shown from the excerpts below - already has so many stories to share with the Eco Church whānau. Read on to find out more and be inspired to start a creation care initiative at your church!