Southern Green Anglican An eco-retreat: listening to God in Nature Contents: The Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist held their first clergy Eco-retreat, focus- Eco-retreat ing on God’s communication through nature. The Diocese is situated in Polo- Diocese of Lesotho- kwane which is to the north of South Environmental Conference Africa, where many coal mines and ener- Eco-Bishops– Bishop Eliina gy plants are situated, leaving the region Wamukoya with polluted resources, therefore the retreat was themed to address these God is green issues in God’s way. The three day re- treat focused on water, trees and land reflecting the Worshiping on Table spiritual values of these important resources and also looking at the challenges mountain of environmental justice. Continue HERE Food Security in Africa Diocese of Lesotho hosts its first Environmental Conference Movers and Shakers Camp “What will be the effect of Climate Change PYC goes Green Lesotho?” was the main focus at the confer- Diocese of Natal Recycles ence held by the Diocese of Lesotho. Bishop Adam Taaso hosted the first Environmental Waste Beauty pageant Conference for the Diocese. The guest speak- Christ Church Constantia – ers included Rev Dr Rachel Mash, Canon Rev Power in their hands Andrew Warmback, and a special visitor from the Diocese of Harare, Rev Sam Sifuleni. Envi- ASF-Young Green Anglicans ronmental challenges and issues facing the Anglicans Ablaze goes Diocese were discussed in pursuit of solu- tions. Continue reading HERE Green Ryan the rhino Sunday School Resource book The Bishop of Swaziland joins the “Eco-bishops” Bishop Ellinah Wamukoya of Swaziland has been selected to join the group of Eco-bishops from the Anglican Communion who will gather in Cape Town in Feb 2015 to look at how the Anglican Church worldwide can take up environmental challenges. There are many environmental challenges Swaziland is facing including invasive plants, increasing surface air temperature and larger carbon dioxide emissions. Bishop Ellinah is a 'restorer of hope, faith and love in the hearts of God’s followers, who has helped believers to connect to Christ, the church and their communities.’ Through this time of environmental challenges faced at every turn, Bishop Ellinah focuses as well on actions locally, reminding us that the fight starts small. The Diocese of Swaziland has also developed a Church Strategy and Ac- tion Plan to act on making a difference in our environment. Continue reading here God is Green Worshipping on Table Mountain St Matthew’s Church Bel- The 4th of October marked the feast of St. Fran- la Vista (False Bay) cele- cis of Assisi and allowed the opportunity for brated Green Sunday on over 100 young people from the Anglican Sunday 1st of June during Church to hike Table Mountain. Starting at World environmental Constantia Nek they followed the trail up to Week. Bishop Geoff Davis the reservoir. Highlights included a service on preached about steward- top of the mountain overlooking Cape Town and lunch was shared thereafter. As St. Francis ship and how everyone is is the patron saint of the environment and ani- called to care for God’s mals, a beautiful day worshipping outside was creation. The Bishop re- a great way to celebrate his day! Continue minded the congregants about the value and importance of Environmen- reading HERE tal justice. This awareness service included the dangers of littering, frack- ing, and climate change. The church was decorated with banners and post- ers which asserted “There were no plastics bags in the Garden of Eden”. Continue Reading HERE Religious leaders address food security in Africa The International Faith- based Farming and Sustainable Land Man- agement workshop focussed on the food security crisis and how faith communities can respond. Held in Mukono Uganda, this inter- faith workshop was well attended, close to 100 religious leaders met including Anglicans from Uganda, Kenya and South Africa. These environmental challenges are being severely worsened by climate change. So how can the church respond to the challenges in Uganda and other parts of Africa? Africa needs to double its food production to meet population de- mands by 2050. Meeting on World Food Day, the religious leaders agreed to reject the proliferation of Genetically Modified Seeds in Africa. Continue reading HERE “Movers and shakers” camp A weekend filled with worship, education, and strategic planning gave a group of young Anglicans the chance to participate in the first ever Green Anglicans' Movers and Shakers’ Camp. It was a great way for representatives of the Dioceses in the Western Cape to connect with one another, gather tools to be able to send the message to their own communities and be able to gain support and action on climate change. The participants left charged to take action in their churches to make a difference in the way they operate and think about how they can be 'green'. Continue reading HERE Provincial Youth Council The Green Anglicans took part at the Provincial Youth Consultation held in the Diocese of Kimberly and Kuruman and they educated and facilitated discussion about how churches can become 'green' and what this means in the Anglican community. Green Ministry continues to grow in the Anglican Church of South- ern Africa, especially as youth are beginning to make changes. The Diocesan youth structure also presented their progress in environmental activities and the Diocese of K and K showcased their exciting programmes. Continue reading HERE Diocese of Natal Recycling project The Pietermaritzburg Cathedral (Diocese of Natal )is putting care for creation into action as they prepare for their recycling project. The Cathedral is situated in the centre of the city, placing it in a place with a lot of litter. Michelle Sheyi and Sibusisiwe Shezi, the diocesan environmental interns visited a recycling plant that will be supplying their recycling services to the Cathedral. Everyday Waste takes central stage at beauty Christ Church Constantia – The power is their pageant hands! St Clare of Assisi in Ocean View changed the emphasis of The Green Team at Christ Church Constantia re- the Annual Beauty Pageant by encouraging people to ceived an award from SAFCEI for implementing wear outfits made of recycled materials. The event changes to cut down significantly on their electricity turned into a spectacle of celebration as everyday waste and water usage. They turned off an unused geyser materials took centre stage. Throw-away items such as which had been on 24/7! The geyser in the kitchen plastic bags, bubble wrap, bottle-tops, chip packets and is now off and is only turned on for functions. Urns tin foil suddenly took on a whole new sensibility as the are now switched off once they have boiled and have been insulated. Energy guzzling security lights crowd ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ were replaced with LEDs and motion sensors saving for the amazing creations up to R2000 sashaying down the catwalk. per month! As much as it was about Bricks were fashion and creativity; it was added to each also about the future. The cistern to re- youth coordinator, Grant duce water Constable says, “We want to flow in the toi- drive home the message of lets. The gar- den is being recycling and reusing. We’ll mulched to have to do much more if we reduce water loss through evaporation. They have wish to preserve anything purchased blankets to keep them warm in winter for the future.” services. Continue reading HERE Continue reading HERE Anglican Students Federation 54th Conference The Anglican Students Federation (ASF) held their 54th annual conference at Kimiad Christian Centre – Heidelberg in the East Rand of Johannesburg, under a theme of “UKUQAQAMBA EKONENI YAM” translated “BEING BRIGHT IN MY CORNER”. The Anglican Environmental Network attended the conference to pre- sent to the students on how to be a Young Green Anglican. The programme for the young people included day to day activities that can be done in the environmental ministry as well as living a simple life like Jesus did. ASF has shown growth in the environ- mental ministry already as they theme some of their regional and branch activities green such as planting trees, worshiping outside Caring for Creation at Anglicans Ablaze Anglicans Ablaze was a wonderful gathering of over 2000 people from around the province and even be- yond. The conference was arranged around the themes of the five marks of Mission. The fifth mark of mission is“ To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth”. The guest speaker on this theme was Rev Victor Mughogho from Malawi. The young Green Anglicans team assisted with providing recy- cling services. Ryan the Rhino—A new resource for Sunday School! An exciting new resource has been developed by the Environ- mental Network of ACSA (Green Anglicans). This is a Sunday school manual on caring for Creation. Rhino the hero of the sto- ry teaches the children God’s story of creation and challenges them to care for God’s world. The book is available for free download at http://www.greenanglicans.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ www.greenanglicans.org Facebook join Green Anglicans . you can also join Green Anglicans on LinkdIn follow us on Twitter .