All Saints’ Springfield celebrates Eco Church Gold Award

25 June 2025

All Saints’ Church in Springfield has become the fourth church in Chelmsford Diocese to achieve Gold Eco Church status

All Saints’ Church in Springfield, Chelmsford, is celebrating after being awarded Gold Eco Church status through the A Rocha Eco Church programme.

Out of more than 8000 registered Eco Churches, All Saints’ was the 93rd in the country and one of only four churches in Chelmsford Diocese to receive a gold award, joining Colchester, St John's, Moulsham, and Chelmsford Cathedral.

The A Rocha Eco Church programme in England and Wales awards Bronze, Silver and Gold status to recognise the work of churches in caring for the environment in the way they manage their buildings and land, and through their services, communications, community and global engagement, and personal lifestyles.

Some of the things All Saints’ has done to achieve their Gold Eco Church award include:

Making Caring for God's world a focus for prayers, talks and songs in church services.
Transforming the churchyard for wildlife, by developing the wildflower area and the woodland path area and developing a Churchyard Management Plan.
Conducting an annual “How green is your lifestyle?” questionnaire with the congregation.
Providing monthly articles about the environment in their church magazine.
Developing an Energy Management Plan to help cut carbon emissions.
Building strong relationships with the local community.

The Revd Sally Croft, Rector at All Saints’, was presented with Gold Eco Church award certificate by Diocesan Environmental Officer, The Revd Sandra Eldridge at All Saints’ Environment Sunday service held on Sunday 1st June.

Upon receiving the award, Revd Sally said:

“I am so proud of the environmental group who have worked so hard to change hearts and minds to place environmental issues at the forefront of life at All Saints’. I also want to thank the congregation who have engaged with the process so readily. May we continue to build on this engagement in everything that we do here in All Saints’ Church and the surrounding community.”

Roger McFarland, lead of the environment group at All Saints’ Church added:

“We hope our story will encourage other churches to pursue their own Eco Church goals!”

Revd Sandra commented:

“An Eco Church Gold Award reflects passion, vision and commitment from the whole church to address our environmental crises in every area of life. It is exciting to see churches like All Saints’ leading the way in the transformation that we need to become a more sustainable society. Many congratulations to everyone involved in obtaining the award, and for the obvious enthusiasm to go further!”

The Revd Sally Croft, Rector at All Saints’ and Roger McFarland, Eco Team Lead, were presented with Gold Eco Church award certificate by Diocesan Environmental Officer, The Revd Sandra Eldridge.

The Revd Sally Croft, Rector at All Saints’ and Roger McFarland, Eco Team Lead, were presented with Gold Eco Church award certificate by Diocesan Environmental Officer, The Revd Sandra Eldridge.
The Eco Church Team at All Saints' Springfield celebrates their Gold Eco Church Award with Diocesan Environmental Officer, The Revd Sandra Eldridge.

The Eco Church Team at All Saints' Springfield celebrates their Gold Eco Church Award with Diocesan Environmental Officer, The Revd Sandra Eldridge.