Speak Up

We’ve had over 2,200 registered Climate Sunday services in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, during which many churches have registered for a greening scheme and signed the Time is Now declaration.

While the Climate Sunday campaign has ended, we want to encourage churches to keep holding climate focused services, to keep on committing to one of the greening schemes, and to keep on raising their voices and campaigning for a greener and fairer future beyond COP26.

Briefing for Churches on Key Climate-Related Issues Post COP26

The Environmental Issues Network, which brought you the Climate Sunday campaign, recommends the following three themes as priorities for climate campaigning by churches in 2022, while the UK still has the presidency of COP: ending fossil fuel development in the UK, compensation for Loss and Damage, and Ecological Conversion. You can find a briefing paper on these issues put together in collaboration with the members here.

Below we list how you can continue to ‘speak up’ with one or more of the Climate Sunday partners:

A Rocha UK

Join A Rocha UK’s Wild Christian community for information and encouragement on how to enjoy and defend nature. Just as Eco Church is a toolkit for churches going greener, Wild Christian complements it, by supporting individuals and families in caring for God’s creation in their homes and communities, and by speaking up.

As part of Wild Christian you will receive a monthly email with tips and ideas for enjoying, nurturing and defending creation. You will also receive information about our programme of events with opportunities to learn about nature, to meet together as a community, and to campaign on nature, climate change and other environmental issues.

CAFOD

The livesimply award is an opportunity for Catholic communities - parishes, schools, religious orders and chaplaincies - to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation in Laudato Si' to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”. It is awarded to communities who can show how they have been living simply, in solidarity with people in poverty and sustainably with creation.

Christian Aid

Christian Aid has produced a toolkit of resources to help you think through how churches and their members can create effective, impactful campaigns to bring about justice with our global neighbours.

You can use the toolkit to:

learn more about running a campaign action.
get more people involved.
learn how to work with your local politician.
support one of Christian Aid’s campaigns, or even start your own.

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland encourages all congregations to register to become an Eco-congregation at https://www.ecocongregationscotland.org/. We work in partnership with our colleagues to support congregations as they take the steps to becoming an Eco-congregation and all that entails. Congregations have access to up to date resources and opportunities for advocacy and campaigning on climate justice.

Climate Stewards

Climate Stewards provides free online carbon calculators which enable individuals, churches and other organisations to measure their carbon footprint. Once you know your carbon footprint you can take steps to reduce it year on year. To compensate for unavoidable emissions, we offer carbon offsetting through trusted community-based projects in the majority world, bringing multiple benefits to people and places as well as mitigating CO2.

Cytûn (Churches together in Wales)

Cytûn and a number of our member churches and organisations are partners in the Stop Climate Chaos Cymru coalition and its continuing post-COP 26 campaign Climate Cymru. Visit their websites for latest news and suggestions on how to speak up in Wales as we approach COP27 in November 2022, and as Welsh Government continues to implement its Net Zero Plan for Wales. The current Net Zero plan is working towards a target date of 2050, but in December 2021 Welsh Government announced that it was commissioning work on the possibilities of aiming for Net Zero in Wales by 2035. The Church in Wales has set it itself a Net Zero target date of 2030, and latest news and resources around this can be found on its dedicated webpage, which will also be of interest to Christians in other traditions.

Green Christian

Churches across the UK can sign up as supporters of the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill. The campaign group Zero Hour is calling for this bill so that UK law addresses the full extent of the climate and creation crisis in line with the most up-to-date science. The bill is the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that ensures a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the emergency. Read Green Christian’s step-by-step guide: Invite your church to back the bill!

The Journey to 2030

What do we want our parish communities to look like in 2030? The Journey to 2030 is a movement supporting parishes to act on the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. The website is developing a 'parish guide to Laudato Si,' including inspiration for action, stories from parishes, a directory of local diocesan social action contacts, and information on how themes link to the Laudato Si' and Sustainable Development Goals.

Joy in Enough

Green Christian’s Plenty! course can help churches decide on the actions they can take to raise their voice.

Plenty! invites you to imagine a society where everyone has enough to live a good life, where communities flourish, and Creation heals and thrives.

Over six weeks, the Plenty! course will take you and your community through some of the tough questions around inequality, consumerism, social justice and the environment – all approached through conversation, stories and questions - and all leading into that important question of what you and your church can do to help create a fairer and greener world.

Joy in Enough – Awakening to a new economics

Tearfund

Join Tearfund to take action on climate change - resources include Bible studies, films, a climate escape room, prayer and campaign actions. This webpage will be added to regularly.

Tearfund also recommends looking at the Climate Emergency Toolkit.

USPG - ‘For Such A Time As This’ Study Course

Are you looking for a way to engage members of your Church community on creation care? For Such A Time As This is a six-session study course designed for group or individual use. Focusing on inspiring case studies of prophecy, resilience, action from across the world church, this is a great resource to facilitate both conversation and action within your local church community; enabling all to participate in our missional calling to act for justice for people and planet.

https://uspg.org.uk/forsuchatime