St James Church Audlem is committed to protecting the environment and minimising all harmful impacts. We take environmental concerns into account in our mission, worship, education, training, pastoral, and administrative work and in doing so will ensure the Fifth Mark of Mission is a central part of our life, work and mission.
Our policy as well as being a practical response to the environment, as a Christian community, is grounded in our faith in our Creator God. As such our practical response flows out of our discipleship. That faith teaches us that we are part of creation, not above or beyond it. We therefore aim to affirm this in our worship, preaching, intercessions and learning together. We also recognise that part of our mission is to take the lead as a Christian Community in promoting respect, support and understanding of the Created world of which we are a part. Our aim would be to base our actions in environmental care upon our understanding of our faith.
We therefore commit to the following goals:
* We will identify environmental issues in church in Audlem and recommend appropriate action.
* To provide opportunities for the exploration of ways to deepen the relationshil between our faith and concern for God's creation including at least one service of
worship each year focussing on the Creator and Creation and our response to it.
* Having undertaken the A Rocha 'environmental audit' of our premises and property we will seek to improve on our results year on year.
* We will highlight the most significant aspects for which we are responsible, and devise appropriate plans to care for them.
* To respond in any other appropriate ways to environmental matters as part of our ongoing mission .
These goals will be underpinned by the following Environmental Principles:
1. The PCC will work with the Environmental Sub Group to deliver this Environmental Policy and make it available to St James' stakeholders.
2. We will ask our members to consider their personal impact on the environment in their daily lives.
3. We will support the work of local and national environmental organisations, and keep abreast of current environmental affairs, legislation and best practice.
4. We will continue to assess the value of our land and property for wildlife, and manage therm to conserve biodiversity, wherever possible.
5. We will encourage all suppliers and contractors to take environmental concerns into account in their work.
6. We will encourage environmentally-friendly forms of transport as appropriate, and keep journeys to meeting venues short.
7. We will maintain and, where possible, improve our buildings to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and our contribution to climate change.
8. We will seek ways to reduce consumption, and use, re-use, repair and recycle materials.
9. We will seek to purchase food and drink that meets the LOAF principles (Locally-sourced, Organically-grown, Animal friendly, Fairly-traded), avoid
over-catering, use seasonal foods and avoid using genetically-modified foodstuffs.
10. We will avoid using water unnecessarily and check for leakages regularly.
We will continue to ensure that our approach actively supports the prevention of pollution and we will conduct our activities in full knowledge of, and compliance with, appilcable environmental and energy regulations.
The PCC Environmental Sub Group will meet at least once a year. The Group's purpose is to ensure continual improvement and progress against the goals and maintaining our core principles. The Group will work to implement and monitor our initiatives. St James' PCC understands and is committed to successful implementation of this policy and will continue to provide leadership, support and, to the best of our ability, financial assistance.
* 5th Mark of Mission - to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.