Evangelical Alliance helps churches tackle climate change following COP26
This week, the Evangelical Alliance launched Changing church: climate change, a series of resources to equip the church to respond to the climate crisis with gospel motivation.
This comes after it found that 84 per cent of church leaders don’t believe their church is doing enough to address climate change, according to its recent ‘Christians, creation and the climate’ survey. While most agreed that the church had an important role to play, 79 per cent of all survey participants agreed that the church should be doing more.
Jo Evans, advocacy coordinator at the Evangelical Alliance, says: “Our planet is in crisis, and although aspects of the new COP26 global climate deal are encouraging, the consensus is that communities still have a vital role to play.”
“We believe these resources can equip and empower the UK church to make practical changes and contributions to a climate change response, whilst keeping our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus. By understanding creation care as a gospel issue, we have an opportunity to be good stewards of God's creation, love our neighbours and tell others about our creator God.”
The resource comprises research into the attitudes and actions of the church; theological and biblical underpinnings for creation care; questions for church leadership; and 10 sustainable practices the church can implement now. Its key findings and recommendations are set to inspire the UK church in its efforts to engage with one of the pressing issues of our time.
This follows the Evangelical Alliance’s wider work at COP26, where its Scotland advocacy and public policy team provided updates and information on various events, partnered with Christian organisations in prayer and activity and met and prayed with leaders who were at the conference. It also hosted a special public leadership event at COP26 to inspire a new generation of Christians in public life.
The Evangelical Alliance will continue to weigh the research presented at COP26, articulate public policy decisions, and advocate for socio-economic change with biblical motivation.
To find out more and explore the resources, which are freely available for all to use, go to: eauk.org/climate-change
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Jo Evans is available for interview upon request. For more information, interview or photo requests please contact Helen Locke (h.locke@eauk.org, 02075 203850, 07920117595).
Notes to editors
Explore the resources: eauk.org/climate-change
Key research findings: eauk.it/climate-change-church-research
Aims and scope of ‘Christians, creation and the climate’ research
The Evangelical Alliance aims to represent its members in their work on climate change, and to support them to live more sustainably. To do this well, it is important to understand what the current attitudes of church members and leaders are on this issue. This is what our survey aimed to find out.
The research took the form of two online surveys, one for church members and one for church leaders. In total, we had a sample size of 907. Participants were recruited through a variety of methods. The survey links were sent to members of the Evangelical Alliance through its email newsletters as well as posted on its social media platforms, where they were shared further by several organisations, including Tearfund, A Rocha, Christian Aid and others. This enabled people across the UK to access the survey. The participants were self-selecting. The survey was conducted in May 2021, when the UK was still under pandemic restrictions. The data will therefore be somewhat limited, as many churches were still unable to meet for in-person gatherings, so it is more difficult to assess what churches may or may not have been doing to address climate change.
About the Evangelical Alliance
We are the Evangelical Alliance. We join together hundreds of organisations, thousands of churches and tens of thousands of individuals for the sake of the gospel. Representing our members since 1846, the Evangelical Alliance is the oldest and largest evangelical unity movement in the UK.
We love Jesus and we want everyone in the UK to be given an opportunity to know Him.
We love His church, and we will do all we can to unite evangelicals, building confidence in the gospel and speaking as a trusted voice into society to see it changed for Him.
Working across the UK, with offices in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast, our members come together from across denominations, locations, age groups and ethnicities, all sharing a passion to know Jesus and make Him known.
