Inspired By Creation
ENVIRONMENTALLY-FOCUSED LEARNING
A study day on environmentally focused worship
Saturday 27 April 2024, 10 am – 4.30 pm
Venue: St Oswin’s Church, Wylam, NE41 8AT
Led by Helen Bent, Worship Consultant for ‘Transforming Worship’
together with
Tim Mayfield, Bishop’s Advisor on the Environment, Newcastle Diocese
and Tom Birch, Vicar of St Oswin’s, Wylam and St Mary’s, Ovingham
This will be a day full of hope, imagination and practical resources for all those who regularly lead worship in their churches, suitable for clergy, lay leaders, musicians, children and youth leaders, and anyone interested in making worship more intentionally conscious of the environment.
How can we facilitate worship which resonates with the fifth Mark of Mission:
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth?
How do we ‘green’ the liturgy for regular weekly worship and where can we find appropriate
resources? How can we use the agricultural festivals and contemporary movements such as World Environment Day (June 5), Climate Sunday (September 1) and The Season of Creation (September to October 4: St Francis Day)? How can we help our congregations respond with a balance of praise and lament, thanksgiving and intercession, reflection and action, while at the same time remaining realistic, positive and full of hope.
Cost: There is no booking fee as such for this event, but there will be a retiring collection during the closing worship towards the costs of the day.
To book your place, please use the following link: https://bit.ly/3Uwd1o3
(Bookings close Friday 19th April 2024)
Provisional Programme
10.00 am Arrivals – Coffee available
10.15 am Welcome and Opening Worship
10.30 am Session 1: Worship with a heart for the environment
11.15 am Coffee break
11.30 am Workshop Carousel: Choose 2 out of the 3 workshops
Workshop 1: Musical Resources for environmentally sensitive worship (Helen Bent)
Workshop 2: ‘Not the end of the world’: prayers inspired by the hope-filled research
of Hannah Richie (Tim Mayfield)
Workshop 3: Worshipping Outdoors (Tom Birch)
1.00 pm Lunch (A simple vegetarian soup lunch will be provided.)
1.45 pm Session 2: Practical tools to ‘green’ your worship and renew hope
2.30 pm Plenary with workshop leaders
3.10 pm Closing Worship (Open to all)
4.00 pm Tea and Cake
4.30 pm Finish
Speakers
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Helen BentWorship Consultant for ‘Transforming Worship’Helen Bent is a Worship Consultant working with Transforming Worship and Associate Priest in the Walgrave Benefice, a group of four rural churches in Peterborough Diocese. Helen is a gifted
communicator, worship leader, musician and respected author. Over the past two years, she has been writing Beyond Consumerism worship resources for the Arthur Rank Centre, which supports Rural Christians and the agricultural community. Materials reflect on food production, sustainable agriculture, our carbon footprint, our care of the environment, and social justice. Helen is also a member of the Group for Renewal of Worship and a member of the Leading your Church into Growth national team. -
Tim MayfieldBishop’s Advisor on the Environment, Newcastle Diocese
Tim Mayfield is Acting Bishop’s Advisor on the Environment for Newcastle Diocese. Tim writes: ‘I was first consciousness-raised at a seminar at Greenbelt. Once you become gripped by the impact of greenhouse gases on the planet there’s no turning back.” Tim manages a network of Parish Environment Champions, and recently delivered the Church of England’s Carbon Literacy Project (the first time it had been rolled out in Newcastle Diocese). He devoured Hannah Ritchie’s 2024 book ‘Not the End of the World’. The cover blurb (rightly) says ‘shines with practicality and positivity. It will banish your feelings of doom, help you focus on what’s really important, and make you want to be a part of the most effective solutions to our greatest challenges’.
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Tom BirchVicar of St Oswin’s, Wylam and St Mary’s, Ovingham
Tom Birch is the Vicar of the Combined Benefice of Ovingham and Wylam. He has an MSc in
Ecological Economics and prior to ordination was a climate change and development economist for the Internation Institute for Environment and Development. He is a member of the Diocese of Newcastle’s Environmental Working Group. Through the pandemic Tom and others in the parish have learnt quite a bit about outdoor worship, livestreaming and how to combine the two. This has included livestreaming Holy Week services from a Bell tent, a parish Eucharist from an igloo and (in 25 mph winds) setting up tech and recording the outdoor Eucharist presided at by Bishop Mark at the Vindolanda chapel as part of the Small, Faithful, Rural Conference.