Psalm 24:1 “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are his.”
Gen 2:15 At the beginning of time, “.. the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it” .Often translated as stewarding, humanity’s role is to care and tend God’s creation but in this generation more than any other we risk condemning our children and their children to a world that will not sustain or support them.
In October 2021 Southern Synod invited two serving ministers, Rev David Pickering and Rev Nadene Snyman to volunteer as Green Apostles as part of the denominational team co-ordinated by URC HQ at Church House.
Nadene and David have the following roles:
Networking and Representing
- Representing Southern Synod on the URC Inter-Synod Green Apostles’ team
- Supporting/encouraging those concerned with environmental issues in Southern Synod
- Being a channel between local church, Synod and the denomination
- Regularly meeting with representatives of Southern Synod Property Committee
Acting on Eco-Church and Eco-Synod
- Promoting Eco-Church and supporting local church participation
- Taking forward Eco-Synod for Southern Synod
Facilitating
- Identifying issues where greater expertise or capacity is needed, and exploring ways forward. For example, finding a way for local churches to gain affordable, expert and independent advice on addressing energy issues.
Prophetic
- Reflecting on environmental issues from a Christian perspective, and being ready to raise issues about policy and practice
Other sources of information
You can download the URC Environmental Policy here (May 2019) which sets out denominational commitment to stewardship
The URC Southern Synod Environmental Charter and Strategy was agreed in October 2021 together with the incredibly ambitious target of net Zero carbon emissions by 2025. You can watch the inspiring talk from Rev David Coleman – Environmental Chaplain from Eco Congregation Scotland here
Churches are encouraged to work towards becoming an eco-friendly congregation through the A Rocha Eco-Church initiative. Many churches have already registered and we’ll publish details and encourage networking here shortly.
Green Christian is an organisation working to care for creation through prayer, living simply, public witness, campaigning and mutual encouragement. https://greenchristian.org.uk/
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change provides updates and summaries on CoP26, progress on initiatives and plans for next year’s conference.
Operation Noah is a website packed with up-to-date information and campaigning material.
Questions?
Contact Nadine or David for more information
Page last updated 04/2/22