We are an Eco Church
One of the five Marks of Mission of the Church of England is "to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth" In the Tring Team Parish we are committed to this. In 2025 we were awarded a Silver Award by A Rocha for the work that we have done.
What is Eco Church?
Eco Church is a project run by A Rocha enabling us to be part of learning community of churches dedicated to caring for the environment. Eco Churches come in all shapes and sizes and the community is open to all denominations.
A Roacha give us a framework to support us in taking practical action on caring for God’s earth. This is mainly done through us looking at what we do through an Eco Church survey, and helping us to identify how we can transform our practices.
The survey covers five key areas of church life:
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Worship and teaching
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Buildings and energy
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Land and nature
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Community and global engagement
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Lifestyle
What is A Rocha?
A Rocha UK is a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environmen
Is the A Rocha Eco Church programme supported by the Church of England?
Yes. The Church of England promotes the A Rocha Eco Church programme in support of all five of the “five marks of mission”
What is Tring Team Parish doing about it?
We have undertaken the Eco Church survey for all of the churches in the Parish and have so far achieved the Silver Award for two of them, St Peter and St Paul in Tring and St John the Baptist in Aldbury. The other 3 churches will soon be registered and will hopefully be awarded Silver too. We will continue to work towards the Gold award across the Parish.
Watch here for more information.
Many of the aspects of the survey were already in place but others have needed action across the parish and in individual churches and church communities.
Examples of these are:
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Eco tips in pew sheets
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Use of FairTrade goods across the Parish.
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Involvement in ‘Count on Nature” as part of the “Great Big Green Week”.
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Churchyard surveys
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Presentations on Moths and Bats
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Visiting speakers
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Carbon footprint surveys
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Review of ecological banking opportinities
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Support for Eco Charities
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Services and sermons with an Eco theme