St Peter’s Church FinancesIt costs over £1,200 a week to keep St Peter’s running. This is money that has to be raised by the PCC, mainly from the giving of those who attend church. Unfortunately in recent years our costs, such as heating and insurance, have increased significantly while our congregation has not recovered from the impact of Covid. For the first time this year the PCC will not be able to meet all its commitments. The PCC would therefore be grateful for any support from the local community. If you would like to contribute to the costs of running our church this can be done on the Ways to Give website www.waystogive.org.uk/evercreech-st-peter where there are details of how to make a BACS payment, set up a standing order, leave a gift in your will, or raise funds while you shop online.St Peter’s is a magnificent Grade I listed medieval church and the PCC also needs to raise funds to maintain the building. If you would rather make a donation towards the fabric of St Peter’s Church please indicate that it is for the Fabric Fund and it will be put into a ring-fenced fabric fund, rather than be used for day to day running expenses. As well as giving online, donations can be given to the Churchwarden, put in the wall safe by the font or sent to our Treasurer: Rob Sage, Portway Farm, Batcombe, Shepton Mallet BA4 6BR. (Cheques payable to Evercreech PCC please).
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St Peter’s, Evercreech, are proud to announce that we have achieved an EcoChurch Silver Award. In 2010 we took part in the Diocesan Lent course called “Love for the Future”. The Sustainability Group grew out of that, encouraging the PCC to sign up as a Fairtrade church, set up the conservation / biodiversity area, and we wanted to get photo-voltaic panels on the south-facing roof of the aisle, but the architect wouldn’t allow it. Over the years since then we have gradually taken steps to do more to care for the environment. Working for an EcoChurch Award was a way of inspiring us to continue and expand that work. Looking after this beautiful but fragile planet that God has given us is important to so many people. With our EcoChurch Award we can show people outside our congregation that we, too, take environmental issues seriously.You may be wondering what we had to do to gain this award. We had to show our commitment to caring for God’s earth under five different headings, Worship & Teaching, Buildings, Land, Community and Global Engagement, and Lifestyle.· Worship & Teaching included celebrating the special Sundays relating to caring for creation (such as Rogation and Harvest), hymn choices, and prayers. · Buildings. This meant things like low energy light bulbs, having gas and electricity on a green tariff, not using disposable cups, plates etc. · Land covered things like our conservation area, bird feeders, having plants in the churchyard that are beneficial to birds and insects· Community and Global Engagement. For this section we showed that church members are involved in conservation work, we “twinned” our toilet and tap, and we showed that we are a Fairtrade Church and more besides. · Lifestyle included promoting Fairtrade, recycling, and the garden / allotment produce sharing barrow, Pete’s Fruit’n’Veg (which is, of course, named for St Peter’s Church, not for any of the people called Peter who have been involved.)That’s just a brief summary of what was involved in getting our EcoChurch Silver Award. You can find out more at https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/
