Agreed statement following the Climate Change Conferences held at St Ives Cambridgeshire on 18th June 2016 and at Kassam Agricultural Institute, Diocese of Vellore on 13th February 2017
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Visit Facebook for more on the Vellore- Cambridgeshire Environment Project
and support the Diocese of Vellore on their Green Crusaders Facebook Page
We, Christian brothers and sisters from the churches in Cambridgeshire and the Diocese of Vellore, believe that God is the creator of all things. God invites us to participate in God’s work, as stewards of this amazing creation of the world. In Genesis ch 2, God entrusted us with joint responsibility to care for the earth and to affirm life in all its fullness. In Genesis ch 6 we see a God’s vision of all creation living in harmony. His Son, Jesus, fully God and fully human, demonstrated both his power over and his respect for creation. With us, all creation waits for the fulfilment of the promise of life in all its fullness (Romans 8)
Through our failure to respond to the call to care for the earth, both the earth and its people have suffered. From Vellore, from Cambridgeshire and from other parts of the world, we have heard the stories of those affected by climate change. In repentance and hope, we seek to align ourselves with the life- affirming force of the love of Christ and to support the integrity of creation.
To this end we commit ourselves to:
-advocacy at every level for climate justice
-studying together and separately Biblical values on the integrity of creation, at every level including encouraging our children at Vacation Bible School and Holiday Clubs to consider climate justice
-learn more about biodiversity
-encourage schools and colleges to undertake an environmental audit
-have an awareness of climate justice issues in our churches’ decision making processes
-issue ourselves with a personal challenge to reduce, reuse and recycle, to undergo a climate fast in order to develop a lifestyle for the planet.
In particular, we challenge our churches to:
-share a Carbon Fast in Lent 2018, using some materials produced jointly (Dr Nirmal Magdalene offered to help with this from the Vellore side)
-to have an Eco – Walk. In Vellore, this will be on Eco Sunday; in Cambridgeshire this should be on Sunday 2nd September
-to encourage our schools to develop their eco-awareness. Cambridgeshire may want to follow the pattern of competitions etc that are held for schools in Vellore; or may want to use the Bishop’s Lent Challenge of 2018 to think about climate justice. Janet Scott will write a section for the Cambridge RE syllabus on climate justice and the diocese of Vellore’s response..
-the CSI VBS material will be sent to Cambridgeshire (Jared to send to Fiona). Suitable Holiday Club material, using this, SU ‘Wastewatchers’ and other resources will be produced for 2018
-explore the use our spirituality resources (CSI Eco-spirituality Centre, Yelligiri Retreat Centre; Bishop Woodford House etc0 to think about the spirituality of climate justice
-engage with other groups, with people of all faiths and of none, involved in environmental advocacy
-set ourselves and our churches local targets to reduce our use of plastic and to explore renewable energy.
We should hold another joint conference in 2019.
Rev Sharma Nithyanandham
Rev Jared Isaac
Rev Suresh
Dr Nirmal Magdalene
Rev Fiona Brampton
Mrs Lily Whymer
(Brad Frey was due to be part of the writing group, but the meeting was postponed, and he had left India)
Through our failure to respond to the call to care for the earth, both the earth and its people have suffered. From Vellore, from Cambridgeshire and from other parts of the world, we have heard the stories of those affected by climate change. In repentance and hope, we seek to align ourselves with the life- affirming force of the love of Christ and to support the integrity of creation.
To this end we commit ourselves to:
-advocacy at every level for climate justice
-studying together and separately Biblical values on the integrity of creation, at every level including encouraging our children at Vacation Bible School and Holiday Clubs to consider climate justice
-learn more about biodiversity
-encourage schools and colleges to undertake an environmental audit
-have an awareness of climate justice issues in our churches’ decision making processes
-issue ourselves with a personal challenge to reduce, reuse and recycle, to undergo a climate fast in order to develop a lifestyle for the planet.
In particular, we challenge our churches to:
-share a Carbon Fast in Lent 2018, using some materials produced jointly (Dr Nirmal Magdalene offered to help with this from the Vellore side)
-to have an Eco – Walk. In Vellore, this will be on Eco Sunday; in Cambridgeshire this should be on Sunday 2nd September
-to encourage our schools to develop their eco-awareness. Cambridgeshire may want to follow the pattern of competitions etc that are held for schools in Vellore; or may want to use the Bishop’s Lent Challenge of 2018 to think about climate justice. Janet Scott will write a section for the Cambridge RE syllabus on climate justice and the diocese of Vellore’s response..
-the CSI VBS material will be sent to Cambridgeshire (Jared to send to Fiona). Suitable Holiday Club material, using this, SU ‘Wastewatchers’ and other resources will be produced for 2018
-explore the use our spirituality resources (CSI Eco-spirituality Centre, Yelligiri Retreat Centre; Bishop Woodford House etc0 to think about the spirituality of climate justice
-engage with other groups, with people of all faiths and of none, involved in environmental advocacy
-set ourselves and our churches local targets to reduce our use of plastic and to explore renewable energy.
We should hold another joint conference in 2019.
Rev Sharma Nithyanandham
Rev Jared Isaac
Rev Suresh
Dr Nirmal Magdalene
Rev Fiona Brampton
Mrs Lily Whymer
(Brad Frey was due to be part of the writing group, but the meeting was postponed, and he had left India)