Feature 10 and

ld idea: Becoming an eco church

and help themselves to what they need. Recently, however, this has changed as donations have reduced.

As an already established eco church, the solution seemed obvious: the team began branching out to supplement the dwindling supply with homegrown fruit and veg. Unused beds on the grounds of the chapel have provided the perfect place to plant produce.

‘We’re trying to be ahead of the game here,’ says Vivienne. ‘We’re anticipating that it’s going to get harder before it gets easier, and we’re going to grow as much as we can.’

The Salvation Army’s fully refurbished pub in Broadwell, meanwhile, has become a hub of learning. A string of conversations brought light to the fact that local families frequently rely on convenience meals. The reason behind this is less to do with convenience and more to do with a lack of confidence around sourcing and preparing fresh food.

This sowed the seed for Plot to Pot, a series of courses run out of the pub that teach people how to grow food and cook seasonally. Seasonal food has the benefit of being cheap, healthy and good for the environment, fitting perfectly with the mission of the corps.

The corps gave the pub garden over to a growing space, with local folk working communally and harvesting as they need. To top this off, the hub is giving out starter packs to help people reap the benefits of their new skills at home.

Over in the 3.5-acre field, the Growth and Learning Equine-Assisted Ministry (Gleam) has been helping young people find their voice for the past eight years. In addition to the support the animals provide, a new initiative offers people the opportunity to sit in a moment of tranquillity.

A muck heap has been revitalised into a gated garden. This new space allows people to step away from the bustle of the animals and sit quietly in nature. There is also an important ecological motive behind the creation of the garden, as it will promote biodiversity in an area that has been largely used for grazing.

All in all, Forest of Dean Corps has gone a long way to show how ‘programme’ and environmental sustainability can be intrinsically linked. But what if you don’t have access to acres of land or growing spaces?

Vivienne is keen to underline that a key impetus was registering with Christian eco-charity A Rocha.

Working towards a bronze Eco Church award meant facing and addressing small challenges one step at a time. This is a journey that any Salvation Army expression could take.

‘If this is something you want to do, look at what’s involved in becoming a bronze-award Eco Church,’ Vivienne encourages. ‘Even the questions we ask ourselves as part of the process are a great tool to addressing issues that we may have as a worshipping community.

‘And it’s not only looking at our church, but also looking individually to see what we’re doing at home and in our own environments. It’s about making those changes while encouraging that as a church. Anything can have such a significant impact.’

Whether it’s a greater focus on household recycling or a commitment to reduce the amount of meat we consume, environmentally aware change is important for us all to consider as we strive to care for creation. After all, can we really experience fullness of life if God’s creation isn’t protected and cared for?

SIMON HOPE

Editorial Assistant Salvationist

Next time

In our 24 September issue, Vivienne shares how Forest of Dean’s Wild Ministries is teaching people to love nature through loving God

COP26: A year later

Major David Cavanagh considers how last year’s UN climate conference was an opportunity for ministry as well as change

ENGAGING with COP26 was ‘one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had’, said Lieutenant Scott Garman (Glasgow City Centre), looking back at how the corps was involved with the UN Climate Change Conference.

Over a two-week period, hundreds of people visited the welcome hub at the corps that was close to the conference venue. Some of them were looking for information about what was going on and how to get around the city, others were looking for somewhere to rest or meet other environmental activists and campaigners. Some ended up chatting with Scott and his team about how Christianity encourages caring for creation and how Jesus gives fullness of life.

Often this started with the corps café, which seats up to 40 people. It was an obvious place for people to gather and get a bite to eat, providing a practical service to visitors from all over the world. They mixed with the usual locals, creating an ad hoc diverse community for these two weeks.

The café featured a special ecological menu, which was created together with Nourish Scotland, an NGO dedicated to combatting food poverty, developing a sustainable diet and sharing food together in community.

Many of the guests started asking questions about what The Salvation Army believes and does as a Christian church, not only in the UK but also globally. By a providential coincidence, officers who had served in Bangladesh happened to be present when a group

Lieutenant Scott Garman (right) and the team during COP26

One farmer realised how caring for creation was a way of showing love for brothers and sisters on the other side of the world

of Bangladeshi chauffeurs, who had just dropped off their clients at the conference, began asking questions, and were able to share stories of their experiences there.

It wasn’t just visitors who were asking questions, though: volunteers were interested too. One volunteer at the café spoke about how he felt safe there, contrasting this with his previous church, where he had felt uncomfortable as a bisexual. Scott told him how the Army wants to love people unconditionally and this led into a series of conversations about faith and life issues over the following week.

Another volunteer, from Nourish, who was initially resistant to any conversation about God, eventually told Scott that she hadn’t set foot in a church for years. Aged 16 she had rejected the ultrastrict, cult-like version of Christianity she had been brought up in, but now she was ready to look again at Jesus and Christianity after attending a kids’ club talk on caring for creation, which she described as the best conversation about God she had ever had.

Scott was clear that The Salvation Army was taking part in COP26 because Christians have something to contribute to the ecological movement