Christ Church Norris Green has been awarded the prestigious Eco Church Gold Award, making it one of just three churches in the Diocese of Liverpool to hold this highest level of environmental recognition. The award, presented by A Rocha UK, celebrates churches that demonstrate a deep, practical commitment to caring for creation across their worship, buildings, land, community engagement, and lifestyle.
We sat down with a spokesperson from the church to hear more about how they achieved the award, what it means for their congregation, and what advice they’d offer to other churches across the Diocese looking to follow a similar path.
The church’s journey to gold has been shaped by an intentional and collaborative approach. As a longstanding participant in the Diocese of Liverpool’s Net Zero Carbon programme, Christ Church Norris Green has embedded sustainability into its life and leadership from the outset. “We were already blessed with a modern building and solar panels,” the spokesperson explained. “Our focus was on catching up to that standard in every other part of our church life. Getting ‘eco’ onto the PCC and Local Leadership Team agendas helped keep the momentum going and ensured we were all held accountable.”
The church is also an active member of the Christ Our Hope and West Derby Churches Eco Leads group, a network of local churches working together to share good practice and develop new initiatives that promote environmental action across the area. This collaboration has played an important role in helping churches support one another on their Eco Church journeys.
The gatherings of the Eco Leads group have been both encouraging and inspiring, helping to raise aspirations and grow confidence as churches seek to improve good practice in all matters of creation care. One of the five marks of mission is ‘to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth’. Working together in Christ Our Hope and with others from around the deanery, they are finding new ways to live this out, strengthening their resolve and resourcing their mission.
At Christ Church Norris Green, this ethos has led to meaningful changes both in church infrastructure and within the congregation. Significant upgrades to The Centre, the church’s office and meeting space in the old vicarage, have included new windows and doors, as well as zoned heating controlled via an app. These measures have led to reduced energy bills and a much lower carbon footprint. “Our last bill showed a small refund, around 60p, even accounting for gas usage, thanks to the efficiency of our 48 solar panels and the improvements we’ve made,” they shared.
But for the congregation, the biggest changes have been less about numbers and more about culture. “It’s become a part of our life together,” they said. “We’ve had wonderful feedback from members who’ve made changes at home because of what they’ve seen us do at church. It’s brought generations together in a shared purpose and encouraged us all to learn.”
The church has also invested in making its land more nature-friendly, and they say it’s paying off. “It’s really thriving, we’re seeing signs of life everywhere.”
Christ Our Hope is currently working to develop an environmental policy that embeds this good practice into the life of all its churches. They are delighted to be celebrating two Gold Awards within the parish and are committed to the aspiration that every church will reach at least Silver. Their aim is to enable every individual, household and worshipping community to do more to better steward the earth, this incredible gift from God, the source of all being and life.
For other churches considering starting their own Eco Church journey, the advice is clear: “Take a deep breath and jump in. If we can do it in Norris Green, an area rich in love but not in money, then any church can. Environmental action shouldn’t feel out of reach. You don’t need to be wealthy, what matters is the will to change and the belief that you can make a difference.”
They added that wider shifts in the climate conversation have helped. “Campaigns are rightly challenging billionaires and unfair systems, and that’s made our community feel more empowered. Whatever your situation, just get involved and help care for God’s creation.”
This Gold Award holds particular significance for Christ Our Hope Liverpool, the parish that encompasses Christ Church Norris Green and St Cuthbert’s, both now Gold Award holders. “To have two out of the three Gold churches in Liverpool within Christ Our Hope is a real encouragement. It shows that they are a community actively seeking to live out their faith by safeguarding the world God has entrusted to them.”
