​​The Five Marks of Mission

The five marks of mission were developed by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) and have been widely adopted as an understanding of what contemporary mission is about. The marks were adopted by the General Synod of the Church of England in 1996 and many dioceses and other denominations use them as the basis of action plans and creative mission ideas.  In 2012, the ACC added wording to the fourth mark, to include the need for Christians to challenge violence and work for peace.  The five marks are: To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom  To teach, baptise and nurture new believers  To respond to human need by loving service To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.  It is with the fifth mark of mission that Eco Church is engaged:

             To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain
​             and renew the life of the earth.​​​

We believe that as a church community it is essential that we play a full and clear part in this and in countering climate change.

Eco Church

Eco Church is a project of A Rocha UK - a charity committed to mobilising Christians to care for nature.  The Church of England fully subscribes to the project and our Diocese of Bristol is a registered Eco Diocese.  The Diocese is committed to addressing the environmental challenges that our community faces and in November 2019 declared a climate emergency.  As part of this, it working towards achieving a net zero carbon position by 2030.  The Parish of Colerne has committed to the Eco Church project and seeks to express our care for God’s world:

• In our worship and teaching: we will include care for God’s creation in preaching and prayer as much as possible and have services dedicated to the environment.
• In how we look after our building: from installing LED lighting to seeking innovative energy saving and sustainable solutions.
• In how we look after our land: creating specific no-mow areas, eschewing the use of herbicides and pesticides and installing bird boxes.
• In how we engage with our community both locally and globally: in particular, supporting and being part of Wild Colerne.
• In our personal lifestyles as members of the church's congregation: adapting our lifestyles in order to reduce the negative impact that we have on our planet.

In order to guide us on this greener path, we are committed to the A Rocha Eco Church Award Scheme and have achieved a Bronze Eco Church Award.

How can we do more in our personal lifestyles?
Changing our personal lifestyles is essential if we’re to worship God with heart, soul, mind and strength – and love our neighbours as ourselves.  ‘We all need to make a complete, radical and honest audit of our lifestyles, their impact on the poor and on the planet,’ said A Rocha UK co-founder Dave Bookless, ‘and to ask God to pinpoint where we should start making changes.’

Where do we start?
It’s not always easy to know where to start, or how to get buy-in from other members of the family!  A personal lifestyle audit helps you identify where you are doing well and where you could improve.  There are many available measuring slightly different things.  Focus on your personal decisions at home rather than corporate decisions of the church body, by using the Creation Care website.  The seven categories of questions are in the same areas as the Eco Church survey so the resources we have provided will help you at home as well as at church:

• Worship and prayer
• Home
• ​Garden
• Community and global engagement
• Travel
• Food
• Possessions

​St John the Baptist is registered with Creation Care.  Households may take the survey alone or they may link their results to our church, so that we may see the collective impact of individual choices.  Please do participate at:     https://creationcare.org. uk/ 

Useful Environmental and Eco Church Links

Church of England Eco Church web page

Diocese of Bristol Environment, Climate Justice and Reaching Net Zero

Diocese of Bristol Eco Diocese web page
 
Diocese of Bristol Eco Church web page

A Rocha Website

Eco Church Resources

Wild Colerne

The children from SHINE have made their very own
​bug hotel in the churchyard!

Fairtrade Place of Worship

In addition to being registered with A Rocha for Eco Church, we are now a Fairtrade Place of Worship.  For more information, please follow the link here

Eco Church Activities

God's Acre - Count on Nature - Saturday, 7th June 2025
On Saturday, 7th June, we conducted a 'God’s Acre - COUNT ON NATURE' to which  everyone was invited to identify as many species as they can find.  

Nature Day on Sunday, 8th June 2025
On Sunday 8th June, there was a NATURE DAY organised by Wild Colerne.  There were mulltiple stalls in the Market Place and churchyard, all supporting NATURE: Eco church with seed bomb making and wild flower seed sewing in a pot, all our usual educational and awareness raising material from ARocha, God’s Acre etc, photographic display with audio support in the church building.  An update was provided on the swift hotel project - now completed. 

Film:  Rave on for the Avon on Friday, 13th June 2025
The film followed the highs and lows of the Conham Bathers, Bristol’s clean water campaigners as they fight for the safety of wild swimming on their beloved Avon River.
The Guardian gave this 2023 film four stars  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ saying: ‘Campaigning never looked so fun and friendly as it does in this joyous documentary'.

The event was organised by Wild Colerne in collaboration with St John the Baptist Eco Church, and supported by Colerne Parish Council. 

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