Church leaders to join climate change protest

Sixteen leaders of Christian Churches in the UK will be attending an ecumenical service in London this Saturday, 5 December, to urge political leaders meeting in Copenhagen to ‘Act Now To Stop Climate Change’.

Among them will be Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury; Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Catholic Archbishop of Westminster; Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, Head of the International Department of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference; Bishop John Rawsthorne of Hallam, Chair of CAFOD, Revd David Gamble, Chair of the Methodist Conference; Revd Pat Took, Chair, London Baptist Association; Steve Clifford, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance; Colonel Brian Peddle, Chief Secretary for The Salvation Army UK and Republic of Ireland.

At least 3,000 Christians are expected to join them, carrying an array of colourful banners and dressed in blue. They will be travelling from their parishes around the country in special trains and coaches. After the service some church leaders and the congregation will join tens of thousands of people marching to form a blue wave around the Houses of Parliament.

Churches on the march will be a key part of the growing movement for action on climate change. It is expected to be the UK’s biggest ever demonstration in support of action on climate change, ahead of the crucial UN climate talks in Copenhagen.

Th service takes place from 11am - noon at Westminster Central Hall, SW1H 9NH.

Some church leaders and heads of Christian agencies will be at the head of the main Stop Climate Chaos march, setting off from Grosvenor Square to Westminster around 12.50pm.

The keynote address at the morning service will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The churches are calling on the UK government to take a leading role in securing a fair, ambitious and binding climate deal in Copenhagen.

For Christians, tackling climate change is urgent for two major reasons. Firstly, it is a social justice issue since it is having immediate and devastating impacts on the world's poorest people, who are least responsible yet hardest hit. Secondly, humanity is charged by God with protecting and preserving the diversity and beauty of God's creation, which is depleted and threatened by climate change. Church leaders urge that the UK must commit to stringent reductions in carbon emissions and provide money for adaptation and clean development to help poor communities in their response to climate change.

Prayers will be led by Archbishop Vincent Nichols, plus other church leaders and visiting partners from the global South. Steve Clifford, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, will MC the service.

On 5 December between 11 - 12am there will be a time of quiet prayer and reflection for the Copenhagen Summit at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, and the chance to visit the powerful Hard Rain Exhibition which St. Martin’s is mounting on the railings of their courtyard and throughout their downstairs foyer. Hard Rain, by Mark Edwards, is a photographic elegy and an impassioned and moving cry for action on climate change, habitat loss and human rights. Hard Rain explores the issues that are defining the 21st century.
 
The website of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is offering prayer resources for churches and individual Christians praying for bold and legally binding agreements at the Copenhagen Summit: www.ctbi.org.uk/climatechangeprayer

Churches internationally will be ringing their bells at 3pm local time on 13 December to coincide with the Copenhagen Summit. Westminster Cathedral is one of the churches doing this in Britain. For more information see:  www.oikoumene.org/en/events-sections/countdown-to-climate-justice/be llringing.html