If you thought your listed church building would stop you from getting a Gold Eco Church award, think again! Lots of us have been concerned about the limitations of our beautiful but sometimes challenging church buildings.
These inspiring churches won’t let the challenges of a historic building stand in the way of faithfully caring for God’s creation.
St George’s, Cam
Martin Gregg from St George’s Cam explains to Bishop Robert how their Silver Award is about so much more than buildings. “There are challenges of course, but Eco Church is about worship, it’s about our churchyard, it’s about how we engage with the wider community.”
In some cases, we can tick a ‘does not apply’ box in regards to the building, and won’t be penalised for that.
“When we can’t put double glazing in the windows, we can’t put cavity wall insulation in our big stone walls, we can’t put solar panels on our roof.”
St Mary’s, Thornbury
In Thornbury, St Mary’s gained its Eco Church Silver Award in 2020.
The Revd Joy Ludlow, Priest-in-Charge at St Mary’s, says, “I have two parishes which have both achieved the Silver Award, with listed buildings. We have found Eco Church is very understanding about the limitations of some of our buildings, with ‘not applicable’ options available for those things we simply can’t do at this time (e.g. double glazing and insulation). We continue to explore new technology and opportunities at regular intervals but have found Eco Church very accepting of things like our inability to attach a bank of solar panels to a Grade I-listed roof directly in front of the castle.
“We have done as much as we can inside our buildings, including changing all our lighting to LED and limiting the hours that our heating is on. We also secure our energy from green resources. The place we have been most successful is with our outdoor spaces both open and closed churchyards. And, with our worship and teaching commitments, where we are at Gold, largely because of the ongoing support of the clergy team and the wardens.
“We’re hoping to achieve Gold in the not-too-distant future in Oldbury, which is listed, but thankfully doesn’t have a gas supply!”
St Lawrence, Lechlade
In Lechlade, St Lawrence Church gained its Silver Award in 2022.
David Bainbridge, Eco Church Lead at St Lawrence Church, Lechlade, says, “We are a listed building and achieved Silver last year. We added to our score with things like our Fairtrade promotion and Toilet Twinning. Our church re-ordering project, which will incorporate an air-source heat pump to reduce our carbon footprint as got us points, and we simply changed many bulbs in the church to LED. Even something simple like sharing ‘Eco Tips’ in our weekly bulletin to encourage all our congregation towards creation care in lifestyle made a difference. We are particularly pleased that one of our Eco Group has become a Town Councillor, so is able to pursue the Town Council’s Green Agenda and another is involved with the local monthly ‘Repair Café’.
“We’re happy to chat to anyone looking for some advice. Last week, a group came from nearby Faringdon (actually in the Diocese of Oxford) visited to pick our brains over trying to get Silver, and we had a good time, sharing experiences and ideas. They were encouraged to learn that our PCC did not have to pay for anything that they would not have done anyway towards the changes.”
St Mary The Virgin, Tetbury
In Tetbury, the church of St Mary’s gained its Silver Award in 2021.
Rosemary Bailey, from St Mary’s, says, “It helped that we are electric only, so heating people directly. Using the green diocesan tariff also enables us to be carbon neutral. We have mostly LED lighting. We also have people who fanatically measure our energy usage and adjust accordingly.
“However, we were cold this winter as we tried to economise and that is a big issue for large buildings whatever system is in use. The structure of the building and our Grade 1 listing doesn’t allow us to insulate in conventional ways. In a world where saving energy is paramount, there is much to think about and we hope that the ‘eco’ agenda will play a greater part in building reforms and the relevant permissions needed to allow change.
“Pursuing the Eco Church awards system enables really useful conversations to be at the heart of the work of the PCC and with wider church partners. The breadth of the award covers so many vital aspects of our Christian life – it is in, my view, a really good pathway to pursue. Finding another Eco Church lead who is on the same journey as your church helps a lot. Networking together is vital and allows those in very small parishes to have ‘friends’ who can help and support.”
We are calling on all worshipping communities to be the change and take part in our #EcoChurchInAnHour campaign.
This campaign, developed in the Diocese of Gloucester in partnership with A Rocha, breaks down Eco Church into small, manageable steps.
- Go online to the Eco Church website
- Add your church to the Eco Church Community
- Take the Eco Church survey
The survey will help you think through steps you can take to become an Eco Church, from simple things like using hymns and songs that celebrate God’s creation to creating a wildlife area in the churchyard. You never know, you might qualify for an award already, becoming an Eco Church in an hour. 
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