'The Church that's lean, clean and green
..... and deserves its eco-award'
That's what 'London Link'had to say in their Summer 2002 edition in an article about the Church of the Ascension. They reported that 'Churches are assessed on three criteria : Spiritual progress, practical measures and work with the rest of the local community'.

The Vicar of the Ascension, Simon Reed, told them "Christians believe in a Creator God, but we realised that we needed to go further in putting that belief into practice.

"We're using various opportunities in the year besides harvest to keep making connection with how we live. We have .... carried out an audit of everything we do that uses energy."

Gillian Harrison, the Ascension's 'Green Apostle', said : "We've got a long way to go, but I hope getting this award will spur us on to great new things."

In the article, Gillian stresses how important it is, if we believe that God created the world, that we do not "mess it up". She goes on to say that there is a very practical side to Going for Green and how each church signing up is required to conduct a 'green audit'.

Gillian says, "We had a survey of our central heating and looked at what we could do to conserve energy. We now tend to use proper plates and cutlery for events, instead of using throw-away paper cups and plates. We also buy fair-traded products."

Members are also encouraged to use their cars less and re-cycle more household waste. So far, 12 churches in Ealing have signed up to Going for Green. They are known as Eco-Congregations.