Care FOR Creation

- the Fifth Mark of the Anglican Mission
St Paul’s is passionate about our beautiful whenua, and we are on a journey as a church family to make changes to how we do things, to better look after our planet. 

We’d love for you to join us.

We are an eco church.

We're excited to announce that we've joined Eco Church, with A Rocha Aotearoa NZ. We are continuing to actively engage with our beautiful whenua and taking steps to ensure that as a church we are doing what we can to look after it.
Learn More

Current initiatives

Here are some of the things we're getting up to at St Paul's, both in a practical way and in a creative way.

Coffee Cups

We love hospitality here at St Paul’s, and there’s nothing like arriving at church and pouring yourself a cup of coffee or tea before the service.

We're looking into how we make this hospitality space more sustainable, specifically looking at our coffee cups.  To help us out, we encourage you to bring your keep cups to church, both on Sundays and throughout the week.

CREATION

As part of Creationtide (September each year), we launched a year-long event called CREATION which began in September 2023. The aim was to celebrate creation in Aotearoa New Zealand, through artist’s work in painting, photography, pottery, song, and more. This culminated in an exhibition in 2024. As we move ahead, we're looking at a design for some new stained glass windows based on creation motifs. You can learn more here in this SPAM brief.

The St Paul's Gardens

St Paul’s is responsible for the gardens around our church. As well as looking after what is already there, we have planted pinātoro, pōhutukawa and rengarenga in our top gardens.

We continue to think about our spaces, both the buildings and also the gardens. Each year we have working bees, so we can continue to care for our patch on Symonds Street.

On-Going Conversations

There are a few conversations happening at the moment that are helping us figure out what being a sustainable church looks like. 

Here are a few initiatives we are looking into: 

Recycling 

We have recycling bins around the church, and we thank you for separating out your recycling from your rubbish.

In order for us to get better at this, we are looking into ways to make more these bins more accessible and to guide you on what can and can’t be put in each bin.

Zero Waste Programme for Churches

In partnership with Para Kore, A Rocha offers a Zero Waste programme that supports Eco Churches to develop waste minimisation strategies that are appropriate for each church’s specific context.

They also offer a Self-Assessment that a church can do to evaluate what they’re doing and what could be improved. We’re looking into doing that for St Paul’s. 

Future thinking

Care of Creation is not a one-time endeavour. As we kōrero about some of the issues we see around us, we are thinking about what the future of St Paul’s might look like.

Resources

If you or your church are looking for some sustainability resources, here are some we recommend checking out. 
A Rocha
A Rocha is a global network of Christian environmental organisations. Their focus is on environmental science and research, practical nature conservation, environmental education, creation care, and advocacy. A Rocha New Zealand are involved in a number of community conservation initiatives which you can check out here. They also have a long list of resources as part of their global organisation, which you can see here.
Eco Church New Zealand
Eco Church New Zealand has the goal of seeing church communities across Aotearoa take an active role in caring for God’s creation. They support church communities by inspiring collective action to reduce our environmental impact. You can read more about Eco Church here. 
Carbon Calculator
A Rocha and Climate Stewards have partnered up and created a Carbon Calculator. The calculators were developed specifically for the New Zealand context. Check out the Calculators here. 
Anglican Diocese of Auckland
The Anglican Diocese of Auckland has a page on their website on social and climate justice. The focus is on “living beyond ourselves through social justice”. A part of this is our response to the climate crisis. There is more resources and information on this here. 

It takes everyone to make a change

In order for us to continue striving to live out the fifth mark of mission and the calling God has placed on us to look after the land He created, we all need to play a part.

Here are a few practical things you can do at St Paul’s that will make a difference: 
  • Bring a keep cup to church for your drinks and for your kids
  • Put your recycling in the marked recycling bins - if you’re not sure, please ask
  • Get involved in our Working Bees
  • Give financially to help us implement some of the changes

Be part of the conversation

If you have a passion for sustainability and care of creation and would like to be part of the bigger conversation, please be in touch. 
Get in Touch