As part of being an Eco Church we support A Rocha UK, which is a Christian mission (part of the wider A Rocha International movement ) with a vision to inspire and enable churches and individual Christians to look after God’s creation. They do this through their hands-on ventures (such as the Wolf Fields Nature Reserve in Slough), partnering with Christians and Christian organisations to protect and improve land and habitats they own, and encouraging churches to get involved through the Eco Church programme, Climate Sunday and other initiatives.
Eco Church
A Rocha UK co-ordinates the Eco Church programme which encourages churches throughout the country to place our responsibilities to be good stewards of God’s creation at the heart of ministry and the way our churches operate. Through the scheme, churches can work towards levels of achievement (bronze, silver and gold) as care for the planet becomes an ever-increasingly important part of the life of the church. St Andrew’s started out on the Eco Church journey in 2021 and, as part of that, has adopted A Rocha UK as a mission partner.
Wild Christians
This is A Rocha UK’s work to encourage individual Christians and Christian families to get involved and make a difference. We encourage all members of St Andrew’s to get involved and details of ideas of how to do this can be found on the A Rocha UK website at Wild Christian (arocha.org.uk)
There is also the possibility, for those who feel so called by God, to work overseas through other members of the wider A Rocha International movement.
Partners In Action
For those with more sizeable areas of land, A Rocha UK provides a programme to help landowners make that land as beneficial for nature as possible. There are many and varied schemes around the country and more details can be found on the A Rocha UK website at Partners in Action (arocha.org.uk).
Wolf Fields Nature Reserve, Slough
As A Rocha UK is only a small organisation it puts most of its effort into enabling as many other churches, organisations and individuals to get involved as possible. It does, however, run some schemes directly. The closest one to us in Woking is a nature reserve reclaimed from derelict land at Wolf Fields in Slough. Again, more details are available from the A Rocha UK website: How a wasteland became a wonderland (arocha.org.uk)
A Rocha has provided this information sheet for members of St Andrew’s church: CLICK HERE
You can find out more about A Rocha UK from their website and social media accounts as follows:
https://arocha.org.uk
www.facebook.com/Arochaorguk
www.instagram.com/arocha_uk
www.twitter.com/ARochaUK
www.youtube.com/channel/UCfQM1rfOoPThgV3dQbVGoSw