We will start the day with a conversation between the Bishops where they will unpack why caring for God’s creation and doing our part in tackling the root cause of climate change is such an integral part of our overall Christian ministry.

Andy Atkins (CEO of A Rocha) will provide an overview of how Eco Church has evolved to become a popular tool to enable churches to progress in their own local creation care journeys. This session will provide a chance for people to share their own Eco Church experiences (whatever stages of the journey) and, in a Q&A session, ask pertinent questions.

For much of the rest of the day we will unpack Portsmouth Cathedral’s inspirational journey over the last 10 years as they have gradually and purposefully progressed to Eco Church ‘silver’ status, reducing their carbon emissions by almost 50%. Much of the learning and underlying principles from these experiences will be transferable to smaller parish churches.

There will be a more general time for Q&A later in the day, where we will discuss how parishes and dioceses can continue to walk together in our ongoing creation care and NZC journeys. We will also set aside time during the day for mid-day prayer.

We hope this will be a day of inspiration, contemplation, learning, questioning, and finding some useful practical answers, as well as establishing new relationships and links.