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Commonwealth Youth Forum CYF is a conference inside Commonwealth meeting which took place in London this year, where Anglican Communion was Represented by 3 Young People (David from Mozambique, Ann From Kenya and Jake from Australia. My Experience on the commonwealth. I found it amazing, such a great opportunity to exchange, share and learn from the various themes addressed during the sessions, in particular ‘climate change’ where we had President of Seychelles, Prime Minster of Jamaica and some others addressing on the issue, in few words from this session I could say that all the countries across the commonwealth are aware about the impact of climate change, and plastics. Sessions About technology and tntrepreneurship were also done in a very amazing way where we were taught how to be great leaders, how to create a movement for a certain cause and how to build companies. So much could be said about the commonwealth conference, and I’d like to encourage people to attend the upcoming one in 2020. As the Anglican Communion Representatives after the conference we visited the Lambeth Palace to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury who challenged me to spend a year in London in the community of St Anselm, he told us that Anglican Church is not part of the Commonwealth, but he made arrangements, so we could join and be part of it. I also had the chance to meet the young leaders from the Diocese of London (Thanks to Rev. Sheenagh, ALMA Coordinator).  We were introduced to them, also had an opportunity to showcase our work in my Diocese as well as the Green Anglicans Environmental Movement, the were excited to hear about it since the youth of London is not so aware about climate change’s existence. -David Junior

The Diocese of Christ the King, through the initiative of the Diocesan Environmental Desk, took the challenge that each congregation plant a Palm Tree on Palm Sunday. The challenge was taken up with enthusiasm. Congregations were also encouraged to post pictures of their tree planting on the Diocesan Facebook page:Diocese of Christ the King. Some of these pictures can be green there! We pray to God that such initiatives may continue to grow our efforts in trying to create with God. -Fr. Mpho Mohale

Our Green Living Day The Green Saint of St.Patrick and All Saints Lansdowne hosted a Green Living Day on 21 April 2018. A day filled with conscious living by making a difference to our health and environment. We had interesting talks on the dangers of preservatives in our food and tasty solutions by Diane Jutzen , Healthy eating & free range products by Desiree Butzer, Start your organic garden by Roger Isaacs of Samporele, Save water & plastic by Felicity Swartz  of Naturally Good, How to make humus & falafel by Glenda Pieters and simple yet effective self defence by Danielle Rinquest. Delicious healthy goodies were sold. The profit made at the event was spent on buying flowering plants for the church instead of buying cut flowers weekly which is expensive, you need to clean the vases and the flowers  gets thrown away. We also bought Naturally Good  cleaning products for the church. Because of the green awareness, the men’s group built a simple water system that leads the greywater from the sink to the garden! Any church group who would like to have a Green Living Day can contact the Green Saints.

THE DIOCESE OF OXFORD IS CALLED TO PROPHETIC ACTION AND ECOLOGICAL REFORMATION As the Diocese of Oxford gathered for their clergy conference on the theme of Living Waters, they were challenged to be prophetic in actions around climate change and ecological reformation Rev Rachel Mash was invited from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to share with the Conference as they discussed three themes of Contemplation and Courageous and Compassionate. Contemplative: We can learn more about God from his fingerprints in nature “All heaven declares the glory of God” Psalm 19 shows us God speaks through Nature and through the written book. Courageous: Southern Africa is facing the three impacts of climate change : drought, extreme weather events and sea level rise. Capetown faced the possibility of day zero when the taps would be turned off  – it is the canary in the mine… We need to take urgent action to combat climate change and reduce our footprint Compassion: Loretta Mingella former CEO of Christian Aid described the impact of being in the Philippines after the Hurricane . A mother described being washed away with her four children. We need to act in compassion to halt the impact of climate change globally. Bishop Steven Croft in his daily reflections from Colossians reminded us that all things were created through Christ, all things were created for Christ and all things are saved by Christ. Rev Chandra Sekhar G shared how the Church of South India is responding to environmental challenges with the Green Schools Programme, tree planting, celebrating World Environmental day, Green Clergy training and earth sermons. Bishop Ossie Swartz from the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman shared the impact of water on his Diocese. The Diocese was challenged to consider an “ecological reformation” in the words of the Volos Declaration: “Such a reformation cannot be restricted to a recovery of a theology of creation or a call for responsible stewardship. It calls for reflection, discernment, prayer and a transformation of Christian practices that may be harmful to others, to all God’s creatures. It also calls for a rereading of the canonical biblical texts, a critique of the environmental impact of specific Christian traditions and practices, a retrieval of historical insights, figures and practices, a reinvestigation of the content and significance of the Christian faith, a reconsideration of influential symbols, a renewal of Christian communities and a transformation of the ministries and missions of the church. The ecological reformation of Christianity therefore is comprehensive in its scope and needs to extend to Bible study, catechism, teaching, liturgies, hymns, Christian art, pastoral care, ministry and mission alike” Ernst Conradie: Manifesto for an Ecological Reformation of Christianity The archdeacons in their visitations will be challenging all parishes to shift to renewable energy sources, to do an electricity audit and to join the Eco-church movement. Carol Marples of Soul Marks brought art into liturgy with the theme of living water. In her closing remarks Rev Rachel challenged the Diocese: Now, in our time, these three rivers—anguish for our world, scientific breakthroughs, and ancestral teachings—flow together. From the confluence of these rivers we drink. We awaken to what we once knew: we are alive in a living Earth, the source of all we are and can achieve. Despite our conditioning by the industrial society of the last two centuries, we want to name, once again, this world as holy. (Richard Rohr) I believe that the Diocese of Oxford with your deep streams of ancient spirituality and fresh expressions, with your awareness of the challenges of the global community and with courageous leadership are being called to be prophetic –  you have the resources of gifted people, just as you are taking the lead with the divestment of fossil fuels, you can take the lead in liturgical renewal, environmental actions, speaking truth to power.  God is laying a special call on this Diocese to take the lead to spearhead this new reformation that seeks to renew the face of the earth Photographs Soul Marks #greenanglicans #livingwaters #earthinglife

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE – CARE FOR CREATION The Green Anglicans hike from Newlands to Kirstenbosch attracted a large crowd from young (4) to older (recycled youth))!! Neil Adams, hike leader encouraged the hikers to be the light fo the world. The world needs people committed to caring for creation and who will inspire others ” Let your light so shine before others , that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven”. Matthew, 5:15 and 5:16 #greenanglicans

EARTH DAY CLEAN UP OF THE LIESBEEK RIVER April 22nd is Earth Day – a day to take practical action to help to heal the Earth. Peter Hyslop, member at St Thomas Anglican Church and teacher at Bishop’s school in Cape Town decided to make a difference. Several schools are linked by being close to the banks of the Liesbeek River and so an event was organized to clean the river and learn more about water systems in Capetown. The day dawned dry and chilly, and an enthusiastic group of over 100 young people (with a few recycled youth) gathered at St Thomas Church. There were members from the Church Inspire Youth Group, Bishops school, Rondebosch Boys, Rustenberg Girls, San Souci, and SACS. Kyron Wright from the Friends of the Liesbeek told of how the canalized river is slowly being turned back into a river, as the reeds and vegetation are being allowed to return. Play parks have been established on the banks of the river and a cycling lane. A ‘veggies for free’ garden supplies the needy. Rev Rachel Mash from Green Anglicans shared how to make eco-bricks (2 litre coke bottles filled with non-recyclable plastic which are used to build classrooms). She also shared about the “bring your own bag” campaign – first you pledge to stop using plastic shopping bags, then you campaign to your local shop to change to paper bags and then we go for a national ban the plastic bag campaign. The young people jumped with enthusiasm into the river , muddy as it was and hauled out over 50 bags of rubbish. Back at the church and following snacks , a talk was given by Prof Kevin Winter of UCT Futures water. He explained that we should not only think of dams as being our catchment , but the entire city should be thought of as a catchment area. Enough rain falls on the city to meet our needs three times over, yet the majority ends up rushing down the canals as storm water out to sea. He also reminded us that the rubbish that we picked up today – most of it was not thrown into the river. It was thrown on the side of the highways and washed into storm water and then made its way down the canals into the sea. Following the talk, the young people divided into groups to discuss actions plans. Some of the ideas included eating less meat to save water, changing from taps to hand sanitizers in the school toilets, and forming a schools “friends of the Liesbeek” . Each school could take a section of the river to look after , planting indigenous vegetation, and then joint clean ups could take place from time to time. The day ended with a braai, sponsored by Rotary Club. A big thankyou to all the members of St Thomas who helped with catering and to “Letsdoitafrica” who sponsored bags and gloves.