Creationtide or the Season of Creation is the period in the annual church calendar, from 1 September to 4 October, dedicated to God as Creator and Sustainer of all life. Many churches choose to use this time of year to hold special services and events to give thanks for God’s gift of creation, and to renew their commitment to caring for our one planet home. From our churches to our back gardens, we can all take action to demonstrate our intention to sustain and renew the life of the earth.
“Faith is something that you live, not what you just do in a building – and if you believe there’s a creator, who loves creation, you care about the natural world.” And that’s the basis of what the Revd Nigel Tuffnell and his wife, Vivienne have been putting into practice in their garden, shared in a new, short film “Nearer God’s heart in a garden”.
Now the Rector of Swaffham in West Norfolk, Nigel and Viv invited us to see what they had been doing to encourage wildlife into their previous garden in Harleston. The film gives a delightful glimpse into the impact small actions can make to promote biodiversity in our own back yard.
Vivi shows off the “micro pond” in a tub she created. “Within a few weeks it was teeming with all sort of small life. You could have this anywhere, on a balcony, in a concrete yard, and you would see the biodiversity in your space increase because there’s water. And it’s just a rather serene little thing to have”
From hosting bee hives, or providing ivy and shrub cover and berries for birds and insects to sheltering hedgehogs, they’ve found the process of helping to create this domestic garden wildlife haven has been a metaphor for their faith experience.
“In some ways its about letting back and seeing what wants to be here and letting go of my personal need to control things, which ties in with the faith aspect,” says Viv. “It does,” chips in Nigel, “Because one of the key things that gets in the way of our faith growing is own pride. We need the humility to allow God to act, to not put ourselves at the centre of everything, to be good stewards and servants.”
Encouraging actions like Nigel and Viv’s counts towards the “Lifestyle” part of the Eco Church survey: “Our church recognises that private gardens and other outdoor spaces can make a significant contribution to nature, and encourages members to manage their own or local outdoor spaces for nature in some way.”
Simply show this film and share the resource links (perhaps print some of them out to give away?) and you’re fulfilling this part of the survey. Remember to repeat regularly – and give space for people to share their experiences. It all aids appreciation, experience and protection of nature. The more we connect with and cherish something, the more we care for it.
Here are some practical resources to share to encourage parishioners to further develop this:
RHS Create a wildlife friendly garden
Wildlife Trusts How to start a wildlife garden
National Trust How to make your garden a haven for wildlife
RSPB Planning a wildlife garden design
Season of Creation/Creationtide resources
As the Season of Creation gets underway, here is a selection of worship and prayer resources:
Season of Creation – the main website for the global gathering – this year’s theme is Peace with Creation
Season of Creation – A Rocha UK
Indigenous community prayers: Indigenous prayer collection VER 02 KJG.pdf – Google Drive
Mike Perry’s (DEO for Salisbury) suite of worship resources: Creation Season 2025 Resources.docx – Google Docs
Lincoln Diocese’s resources: https://learn.lincoln.anglican.org/learning-resources/season-of-creation-2025/
And to complement all of the above, we have the following local offers:
Environmental hymn – written by Susanna Gunner and sung for the first time at the Bishop’s Teaching Morning in July
Porch Prayers – compiled by Susanna Gunner in response to a regular contemplative prayer session at Surlingham Church. These are two booklets in Word format to enable editing/copying and pasting from into local contexts/needs. They work well with the Creationtide theme:
https://www.dioceseofnorwich.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Porch-Prayers-Final.docx
Please do share any other resources you may use/discover with our DEO by sending them to barbara.bryant@dioceseofnorwich.org
