THIS week, the Church Times broadcasts the sponsors of the seven award categories within the 2024 Green Church Awards.
The awards recognise the urgent environmental crisis that we’re in, and seek to have fun the efforts being made by Christian organisations and communities, churches, and church schools to look after creation.
The seven award categories are open to church groups and church schools, of all denominations, from the UK and Ireland, to enter.
The category sponsors can now be announced as follows:
- Green Building award, sponsored by Inspired Efficiency. Prize: £1000.
- Land and Nature award, sponsored by A Rocha (Eco Church). Prize: £1000.
- Congregation and Community Action award, sponsored by Green Journey. Prize: £1000.
- Action on a Shoestring award, sponsored by Green Journey. Prize: £1000.
- Green Champion award, sponsored by Stewardship. Prize: £1000.
- Training and Education award, sponsored by BRF Ministries (Messy Church). Prize: £1000.
- Green Health award, sponsored by the Conservation Foundation. Prize £1000
The founding father of Inspired Efficiency, Matt Fulford, sponsor of the Green Building award, said: “We are proud to be supporting the Church Times Green Church Awards, and sit up for learning more from the entrants and their inspiring efforts.”
As sponsors of the Land and Nature category, the CEO of A Rocha UK (Eco Church), Andy Atkins, said: “Church land has enormous potential for serving God by helping to revive nature, cutting carbon, and ministering to the area people; so we’re delighted to support these awards to encourage and encourage churches to completely include their land as a part of their mission.”
The Congregation and Community Action award and the Action on a Shoestring award are each being sponsored by Green Journey.
The head of Green Journey, Craig Hogg, said: “Our mission to guide churches towards sustainability perfectly aligns with these awards, showcasing progressive and efficient environmental practices inside church communities.”
The Green Champion award’s sponsor is the charity Stewardship. “We recognise these causes are made up of passionately committed individuals who’re making a big contribution to caring for our planet; so we very much sit up for honouring those nominated for this award and showcasing the winner,” the CEO of Stewardship, Janie Oliver, said.
BRF Ministries (Messy Church) is the sponsor of the Education and Training award. The ministry lead for Messy Church, Aike Kennett-Brown, said: “Education and training are at the guts of understanding the issues of climate emergency. Messy Church Goes Wild, our initiative to assist church address our environmental responsibilities, offers people of all ages the possibility to take their part in changing behaviours and attitudes, providing the chance to come across God through nature.”
The Conservation Foundation is our sponsor for the Green Health award. The director, David Shreeve, said: “We are delighted that the Green Health awards are continuing to encourage Churches and faith organisations to make use of their space to bring the advantages of nature to assist mind, body and spirit. ‘Faith space’ is commonly the one green lung in a community, and it may possibly help to enhance lives in some ways. I very much hope that we will encourage each existing and recent projects through these awards.”
The Church Times Green Church Awards 2024 are organised jointly with the Church of England’s environment programme, the Methodist Church, the Salvation Army, and Eco Congregation Scotland. The headline sponsor is Ecclesiastical Insurance.
The church-operations director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, Helen Richards, said: “There are amazing projects and initiatives going down in churches in communities throughout the country helping to tackle climate change, and these awards are a improbable opportunity to have fun them. We’d encourage churches to submit their entries and share the work they’re doing for a probability to receive £1000 to support their work.”
The deadline for entries is 30 June 2024.
For more details, visit: churchtimes.co.uk/green-church
Nominate a project for the 2024 awards here
