Churches across Europe call for action on climate change

Every Part of Creation Matters – a statement of concern and the title of the discussion paper that framed the European Churches Environmental Network (ECEN) Assembly 2023, held earlier this month in Roskilde, Denmark.

The four-day gathering was the first face-to-face ECEN meeting in five years and the Church in Wales’ Director of Climate Change, Dr Julia Edwards, was among more than 80 participants from 25 European countries. She describes what took place.

Roskilde, a town 30-mins train travel west of Copenhagen, is renowned for its outstanding 800-year-old Roskilde Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. Participants were fortunate that the opening evening prayers and welcome by the Bishop of Roskilde, Ulla Thorbjørn Hansen, were held in the brick-built, early Scandinavian Gothic cathedral, a draw for visitors in part because it has been the resting place for the Danish royal family over the centuries.

This year’s Assembly also marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of ECEN and while there was much acknowledgement and celebrations about the significant achievements of the network during the last quarter of a century, there was also concern expressed about the unprecedented level of extreme weather events during Summer 2023, and the urgency for action. The focus of the meeting, therefore, was very much on what actions and outcomes are needed by the church community going forward.

The gathering offered the opportunity for rich discussions and exchange of experience and ideas, and it was particularly poignant that colleagues from Belarus and Ukraine were able to attend and contribute together.

Opening on the first full-day of the Assembly, Bishop Emeritus of the Church of Denmark, Peter Fischer-Møller, called for action from all. He said, “Nice talks and good will are not enough. The [climate] situation calls for immediate action from all of us, and especially us in the rich western world […] Every part of creation matters.

It is a crisis, but a crisis is not only something difficult and frustrating. It can also be a positive turning point, an opportunity to rethink our mission”

The conference coincided with the start of the Season of Creation (1st September to 4th October) and two ECEN participants, the current moderator and a youth representative, led the intercessions live from the plenary floor to the global, remote audience who were attending the online Season of Creation opening service.

During the Assembly, participants also had the opportunity to engage in one of several different thematic discussion groups, and the outcomes of each contributed towards the final Assembly Statement.

Encouraged by the recent commitment of churches to strengthen the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches’ engagement with care for creation and climate justice, participants urged churches and faith communities in Europe to act on climate change as part of being church in Europe today.

In particular, Churches are called to divest at the local level from the use of fossil fuels and incorporate climate justice into every Sunday service as a part of prayers and to include both thankfulness at what we have and concern about what we could lose if we do not act now.

ECEN received a warm welcome and was generously hosted by the churches in Denmark, and, especially by the community of Sankt Jørgensbjerg, Roskilde.

The ECEN Assembly is held at least once every two years.

See our resources for the Season of Creation