Bronze award pursued
St Mary’s Church, Kelling, is a Grade II listed building set in a large churchyard in an area of outstanding natural beauty on the North Norfolk coast.
Walking among the wildflowers, watching dragonflies hover, mindful of the hen pheasant who is protecting her young in the undergrowth, it takes a consciously prolonged blink to focus on the reality of a global crisis.
Three years ago, I came across Katharine Hayhoe’s 2017 John Stott Lecture – an extraordinary breath of optimism – sponsored by A Rocha, the international organization responsible for Eco Church.
At our next PCC meeting we looked at the survey and felt that, over the decades, numerous challenges had been achieved. Encouraged, we decided to pursue a bronze award. Mostly we had to explore the last two of the five categories – Community and Global Engagement and Lifestyle. So, for instance, we undertook a Plastic Challenge for Lent and later, an Eco Quiz – with the first prize being a vegan meal which no one much wanted to win! The most inspiring aspect of Eco Church is the structure it gives for conversations – from the trickier challenges such as ‘a commitment to ethical investment’ and ‘engagement with local leaders’, to practical issues such as – is it okay to use oasis? A silver award will be tougher, and we have taken a short break to re-clad the roof.
In the meantime, with hymns and sermons, and intercessions, we are managing to maintain gold in the Worship and Teaching category.
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Articles in this issue...
Funding awarded
Two churches in the Diocese are set for a major cash boost as the recipients of the Norfolk Social Infrastructure Fund.
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Welcoming new residents
Housing developments are happening everywhere, Horsford is no exception. Just six miles north from the centre of Norwich, it is a place to which couples and young families are keen to move.
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VAT is a grey area… but let us add a little colour!
Parochial Church Councils come within the scope of registration for VAT. Whether they do so in practice depends on the extent to which they supply items which are taxable. In most cases, the taxable turnover will not be great enough to call for registration. Some expenditure that most of our PCCs have are listed below, some of which attract reduced or zero-rated VAT.
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Nurturing early growth
Where are the spaces in your community that enable faith conversation to flourish?
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The stable which became an Easter Garden
They are many of us saying this – but it is true: ‘We have tried new things because of the pandemic – and there are some things that we want to keep.’
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Faithful band of pilgrims at Easter
Great Yarmouth Minster is blessed with a set of Stations of the Cross paintings set in our town
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Thinking about heating?
Before you go any further with a heating project, you should carefully review your current situation.
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Opportunities to enrich your regular routine
‘Becoming’ is a process; it takes time, and the process itself is the key benefit.
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Continuing the journey
This spring, our PCC and congregation at All Saints, Chedgrave, were delighted to discover that they had achieved a bronze eco-award.
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Easier than you may think
Churches complete the unique online Eco Survey about how they are caring for God’s Earth in different areas of their life and work.
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