The Anglican Church’s fifth mark of mission is to ‘strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth’. One action that the Church of England is taking in support of this aim is to strongly encourage churches to take action to reduce their carbon emissions.
We are working with folks from both the diocese and national church as a stage one net zero demonstrator church. We have joined Broughton St John and Lancaster Priory, also in Blackburn Diocese, and about 70 other churches nationwide in participating in this project. So far we have received a free enhanced energy audit that has identified how we can reduce our energy usage, the preferred technology for swapping to an electric form of heating from gas and generating our own solar power on site as part of our practical journey to net zero.
Dave Champness who works as the diocesan Creation Care Senior Project Manager is in the process of obtaining quotes and other supporting information that will help the PCC make a decision later this year as to whether we wish to progress to the implementation stage. Should we choose to go forward we will be eligible for grants from both the national church and the Benefact Trust and will also be seeking funding from other grant makers.
If you have any questions about this project, please speak to Rev Damian or email Dave.Champness@Blackburn.Anglican.Org
