On Sunday mornings at Morley Church of the Nazarene in Leeds, England, congregants pour themselves a cup of hot tea or coffee and chat with a friend. 

However, at Morley, the dishes are reusable, and volunteers wash up after the crowd disperses rather than hauling out bags of disposable cups and plastic spoons. The cups and saucers were an intentional decision to care for creation, and now the church is being recognized for its effort.

The congregation at Morley has been awarded “Certified Nazarene Eco-Church” status by Nazarenes for Creation Care (N4CC), a grassroots group that educates churches about creation care. The certificate recognizes the church for its thoughtful, deliberate stewardship of God’s creation.

For Jennie Poppleton, building manager at Morley, the certification has brought a fresh sense of excitement into the church.

“It’s created a real buzz and everybody’s really proud of it,” Poppleton said.

To receive certification, churches must form a team, sign a covenant focused on caring for creation, and pursue personalized solutions to local and global environmental issues. Changes don’t need to be dramatic to make an impact, as demonstrated by the 50 or so people who call Morley home.

Along with reusable mugs and teacups for Sunday fellowship, the church also creates craft projects using upcycled and repurposed goods, and when old light bulbs go out, they’re swapped for LED bulbs. The changes arise naturally, aligning with Morley’s commitment to use every item as long as possible.

Morley's uniform exchange program emerged in a similar way. Morley’s charity shop often received donated school clothes, and as a parent and former primary school teacher, Poppleton knew that school uniforms were often outgrown before they were outworn. After the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, area parents faced a dilemma. 

“When the kids started back to school, the parents were struggling because they’d got kids who had suddenly grown, and the uniform didn’t fit them, and we couldn’t go shopping like we’d used to,” Poppleton said.

Poppleton and church volunteers saw the need and created the uniform exchange. Donations trickle in throughout the year, and each uniform is cared for by a member of the congregation: holes are patched, missing buttons are replaced, and faulty zippers are fixed up. 

During school holidays, the church hosts pop-up shops, where community members come and take what they need. More than 5,000 pieces of uniform have been saved from landfills while actively supporting families in the surrounding area.

The uniform exchange has also fostered relationships with community schools, which now donate unclaimed, lost clothing at the end of the academic year instead of throwing the items away. Students are involved, too— Poppleton and the team intentionally engage their youth as a part of the ministry.

“We have a team of young adults who help at the events to get them having conversations with their friends,” Poppleton said. 

The Morley congregation wants its students to embrace the model as well so that “wearing second-hand becomes second nature.”

To the west of Morley, Manchester’s Longsight Community Church of the Nazarene has also received N4CC’s Eco-Church Certification. During the pandemic, the church had to rely on single-use, disposable cups, plates, and silverware. As a result, the plot of land behind the church building became overgrown and underutilized.

Once the pandemic subsided, says Reverend Nicole McConkey, “We had to start to think again and say, ‘this is not good.’”

The church returned to reusable cups and silverware for fellowship after Sunday services. For larger events, they purchase compostable single-use dinnerware. The overgrown plot of land behind the church is now lush—its weeds replaced by raised garden beds—thanks to a partnership with a local ministry serving the homeless. 

The ministry brings its clients out to work the garden and surrounding grounds. In turn, these visitors harvest and cook the food they grow. Last season’s rhubarb became a crumble—the potatoes whipped into bangers and mash.

“I mean, it was absolutely overgrown,” McConkey said, remembering the garden’s prior state. “It was just amazing the transformation.”

This story was originally published by the Eurasia Region. To read the story in full, click here.