Churches preach a green gospel; Christians across Birmingham are doing their bit to be environmentally friendly by working towards Eco Congregation Awards. Environment Correspondent PATRICE JOHN met with the people who told her what happens when spirituality meets sustainability.Byline: PATRICE JOHN SELLY OAK Selly Oak is an area in south Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Selly Oak is a parliamentary constituency; its member of Parliament is Dr Lynne Jones. METHODIST CHURCH (won Eco Congregation CONGREGATION. A society of a number of persons who compose an ecclesiastical body. In the ecclesiastical law this term is used to designate certain bureaux at Rome, where ecclesiastical matters are attended to. Awards in 2003 and 2006) THE award-winning congregation of Selly Oak Methodist Church have been recognised time and again for their green credentials CREDENTIALS, international law. The instruments which authorize and establish a public minister in his character with the state or prince to whom they are addressed. If the state or prince receive the minister, he can be received only in the quality attributed to him in his credentials. . Parishioners have won the Eco-Congregation Award twice and the Christian Ecology ecology, study of the relationships of organisms to their physical environment and to one another. The study of an individual organism or a single species is termed autecology; the study of groups of organisms is called synecology. Link Millennium Award. But the success of tackling these issues is down to the commitment of the Green Group. Convenor of the group David Edden, a member of the church for more than 20 years, says Christians should be concerned about saving the planet. "Many churchgoers recognise the state of the planet is a big problem," he says. "We do not own the Earth, we rent it and it is entrusted to us while we are here. "I want future generations to enjoy a quality of life I have had while I have been here. Essentially I am a hands on type of person and so I want to do something about the problems I see." David, has certainly been playing his part as he has been convenor of the Green Group for a decade. In that time he has seen the group grow from strength to strength and even influence other churches to change. The church is part of a circuit of 11 congregations, and one way they have worked with other churches is to hold Sunday services where they encourage congregants to give recyclable re·cy·cle tr.v. re·cy·cled, re·cy·cling, re·cy·cles 1. To put or pass through a cycle again, as for further treatment. 2. To start a different cycle in. 3. a. goods instead of money in the collection. They have also created the Green Machine where parishioners can leave goods to be recycled. He says: "The Green Machine started after the recycling recycling, the process of recovering and reusing waste products—from household use, manufacturing, agriculture, and business—and thereby reducing their burden on the environment. box we used became too small. It got so full, we had to do something and so one of members of the Green Group suggested we get one made. A college student did this for us and it has been a great success." The church has been recognised for collecting more than 2,500 pairs of spectacles spectacles /spec·ta·cles/ (spek´tah-k'ls) glasses. spec·ta·cles n. See glass. spectacles Opthalmology Glasses, gafas, occhiali, lunettes Vox populi A scene (spectacle) which have been recycled. They are also a base for the Whizz Go car sharing scheme; they organise an annual Gardener's Market were organic and home-grown vegetables are sold for charity. Selly Oak Methodist Church are also working hard to conserve energy and heat in their building so they have sectioned off parts of the church hall to make sure heat is kept in, and they plan to retain their eco status by improving their efforts. "We do not enter awards for the kudos," he says. "We do it because it helps to show people in the church how important these issues are. "They are also a way of convincing people it is not just a couple of people in Selly Oak that are interested in the issue of global warming global warming, the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. ." CAPTION(S): CONSERVATION ... Selly Oak Methodist Church's David Edden. |
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