St George's Southall: A Journey to Eco Church Gold
In celebration of our seven churches in the Diocese of London who have been awarded Gold Eco Church awards we have asked each church to share their journey to the award. Today we hear from St George’s Southall in the west of the diocese, who’s award comes as part of a multi year journey of ecological awakening.
St George’s Southall: Our Eco Church journey to Gold
For St George’s Southall, achieving a Gold Eco Church Award in April 2025 was not the culmination of a project, but the continuation of a journey that began decades ago. What makes their story remarkable is not a single flagship initiative or dramatic transformation, but a commitment to weaving creation care into the everyday life of the church as a natural expression of Christian discipleship.
A journey rooted in faith
St George’s Eco Church story started around 30 years ago when the then Vicar felt God challenging him about waste and environmental responsibility after witnessing rubbish being dumped on a beach while on holiday. That moment sparked a theological and practical exploration of creation care that continues to shape the church today.
Long before local authority recycling schemes became commonplace, St George’s opened its doors as a community recycling hub, providing local residents with a place to recycle their waste. The church’s commitment deepened over time, and in 2005 the PCC formally adopted an environmental policy.
There was no sudden turning point. Instead, progress came through steady, incremental change. When a new Vicar arrived, creation care was not specifically highlighted in the parish profile, but it was already close to his heart. While spiritual renewal remained the primary focus, care for creation naturally became part of that wider renewal.
“The Eco Church award scheme didn’t create our commitment,” reflects the parish. “It simply encouraged us to look at areas we hadn’t considered before and helped us measure our progress.”
Small changes, lasting impact
One of the strongest messages from St George’s is that their Gold Award was not achieved through a handful of major projects, but through countless small changes embedded across church life.
Worship has become a place where environmental themes are consistently explored. For 52 consecutive weeks, the church included a child-friendly eco tip during services, drawn from the Planet Protectors resource. Lasting only a few minutes each week, these contributions gave creation care a regular and visible presence within worship.
The church’s long-running holiday club has also provided opportunities to help children engage with environmental issues. Young people have helped build a wildlife pond and establish a vegetable-growing area, offering hands-on experiences of nature that many would not otherwise encounter.
Even outdoor worship has had an impact. One recent service held outside not only helped the congregation connect with God’s creation, but also attracted a local resident who saw the gathering and decided to come to church the following week.
That said, some initiatives have played an important role. In 2009, the church seized the opportunity to install solar panels when grant funding became available. The project faced challenges for permission and required perseverance, including discussions with Local Authority conservation officers to secure approval for visible panels on a listed building. The perseverance paid off, as permission was granted and their panels are intentionally visible as part of its public witness and commitment to creation care. More recently, the local Council provided funding to install solar batteries, further increasing the system’s effectiveness.
Serving the wider community
Creation care has become a bridge between St George’s and the wider community. The church has hosted interfaith seminars, bringing together faith leaders to learn from one another and explore the shared understanding of creation and a Creator found across different traditions.
The church’s visible environmental projects, including its solar panels and wildlife pond, have attracted visits from local primary schools. Meanwhile, its weekly mental health and wellbeing café has enabled participants to enjoy trips to places such as Kew Gardens and local parks, helping people reconnect with nature and improve their wellbeing.
More recently, the church was invited to contribute to a local council climate action summit, sharing its experiences and encouraging others to take practical steps towards sustainability.
Challenges along the way
The greatest challenge has been encouraging lifestyle change throughout the congregation. Rather than relying on formal carbon footprint tools or training programmes, the church has focused on creating a culture where creation care is understood as a normal expression of faith.
As with all churches, they face many competing priorities for its time and resources, but St George has found the Eco Church framework helpful because it provides practical, measurable steps that make progress visible and motivating. Importantly, St George’s demonstrates that Eco Church is not dependent on wealth or abundant resources. Serving an area with significant economic challenges has not prevented action, and in some cases has opened opportunities to access grant funding.
Looking ahead
Above all, the church points to prayer as the foundation of its work. Creation care is now regularly included in Sunday intercessions and has become part of the congregation’s shared identity.
Despite receiving a Gold Award, St George’s sees its work as far from finished.
“We’ve only just started our journey,” the church says. The next step is to revisit the Gold survey, identify areas that could be developed further, and continue supporting other churches on their own Eco Church journeys.
The parish is also passionate about raising awareness beyond church circles. The church is now working with the Council’s Climate Sustainability team to increase understanding on how faith communities are responding, highlighting the opportunity for churches to share how faith communities are responding to the climate and nature crises while pointing people towards their Creator.
For St George’s Southall, Gold is not an end point. It is simply another milestone in a long and faithful story of discipleship, stewardship and hope.
