Eco Church is an initiative of A Rocha Australia. Eco Church was adapted to the Australian context following similar programs created by A Rocha in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. In the UK over 8,000 churches have registered as Eco Churches, representing over 15% of all churches. In New Zealand over 100 churches have registered as Eco Churches.
Eco Church was created in the UK as a way to assist churches in participating in the A Rocha family vision and mission.
The A Rocha family vision is to see
“A world where nature flourishes as people live equitably and sustainably”
The A Rocha family mission is
“To live out God’s calling to care for creation and equip others to do likewise”
Why partner with A Rocha through Eco Church?
A Rocha has a heart to help followers of Jesus (the church) to be obedient to our calling of caring for creation as an act of love and worship toward our Creator and a means by which we love our neighbour.
A Rocha is uniquely placed to mobilise, support, resource and connect Australian churches in the area of creation care. We are the only Christian organisation in Australia solely focused on caring for creation and biodiversity.
A Rocha has a deep understanding and expertise in ecological issues and the Biblical reason for caring for creation.
A number of our members and supporters are in churches with creation care groups – we can learn and network with each other to establish a learning community and ensure no one feels that they are striving to increase the emphasis on creation care by themselves.
We have resources to share, including a church action planner, Bible studies and children’s resources, resources for the Season of Creation, Scripture references, ARA short films/Lausanne films.
A number of churches in Australia, including ones with A Rocha members, are already responding and seizing the opportunity to incorporate creation care into church life, discipleship and mission. A Rocha is uniquely placed to lend expertise to assist with this growth and to connect communities and individuals passionate about creation care.
We have the support of A Rocha International and access to a wealth of expertise and resources. We have also learnt and continue to learn from the experience of other A Rocha church partners and Eco-Church programs.
A Rocha has over 100 individual members across Australia most of whom are in church communities and able to advocate for the environment and initiate a creation care ministry. We have over 500 other supporters, many of whom, are connected with a local church.
