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St Georges Cathedral celebrated the Feast Day of St. Francis on the 8th of October 2017 with a special service. With ques of dogs, cats, horses, parrots and a pony, the church was filled with God’s creation. A beautiful image was painted during the 9:30 am service as the sanctuary was rather decorated differently as the Dean was blessing the animals. The service was organised by Frank Moltino who worships at the cathedral, who believes that we are all God’s creatures, human beings and animals.  It is upon our responsibility to love and care for animals as well blessing them.  

Fill in the crossword puzzle, according to their colour coded question By: Jenifer Brent – Church of Transfiguration Bellville (Diocese of Saldanha Bay)

ST MARGARETS ECO FAIR St Margaret’s Church in Parow, Diocese of Cape Town organized an Eco-Fair on the theme of Eco-justice. The Environmental Action Group  had a wonderful programme of talks and activities. As Cape Town is in the depth of the worst drought in decades, the focus was on practical actions. The day started with a demonstration of a water less Eco car wash. To double up the effect, the car to be washed was a LEAF fully electric car which raised a lot of interest! Rev Rachel Mash, Anglican Environmental Coordinator challenged us about the realities of the water shortage as well as reminding us of the sacredness of water – we are baptized into the family of God through water and receive wine and water in our Eucharist. The party grew bigger with the arrival of the youth and they were brilliant with their performance of the skit and dance. Let us all try to use less than 87 litres of water per day #greenanglicans #seasonofcreation

ECO CAMP  2017– “IT IS THIS GENERATION THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD” The Diocese of Cape Town YPM held an Eco-Camp in partnership with Green Anglicans. The venue was the beautiful beach at Soetwater Environmental Camp. Young people from 10 churches came together for a fun-packed weekend. After a devotion and praise and worship, the first night was quite challenging with a night hike through steep sandy mountainside. The next day started on a the beach with a quiet meditational devotion. Then we had  a snake show which was fascinating to some and terrifying to others! A packed programme followed, a visit to the Lighthouse at Kommetjie, a hike up Slangkop, an Obstacle course and then a potjike competition. After our evening devotion we all relaxed with a fun concert and we saw some real acting and singing talent coming through, judged by Father Shaun Cozett and his team. The next morning we started with a devotion led by Rev Rachel Mash to reflect on the damage we have done to creation, we are called to be healers of the planet. Then we divided into our church groups to work out what actions we should take to care for creation. There were wonderful suggestions such as a beach clean up, putting in water harvesting, a recycling competition etc. Here are some quotes by the young people who attended: Eco camp meant a lot to me as I learnt so many things that I never knew. This was my first eco camp that I attended and it was amazing as I got to meet new people and surround myself with nature and adventuring specially the night hike we had. This camp also opened my eyes to saw what God created for us and how we ourselves destroyed what he has given us. (Lana Louw – St Marks) As it was my first time on the green-Anglicans Eco-camp i did not know what to expect but it all went well. Personally camp has not only draw me closer to God it also drew me closer to new people and also developed stronger relationships with the youth from my parish. Being on this camp had me thinking on what heaven really is and for the first time in almost forever I realized that the earth that God created was like heaven and us as humans had polluted the earth and used its materials. All of us Christians can restore God’s creation. It is this generation than can change the world and before we know it we’ll be in heaven once again. Camp taught me how to overcome my phobia of snakes by having one on my shoulders, and for this I thank Green-Anglicans for inviting me to this camp. (Lolo Ngele ( Olwethu)- St Thomas Rondebosch)

The Anglican Woman’s Fellow­ship of the Diocese of Khahlamba held its 4th annual conference at Palloti Farm in Queenstown from the 19th -20th August 2017. Ms Thulethu Ngudle and Mr Bonginkosi White from the Diocese of Mthatha, attended the event representing Green Anglicans Provincial office. In their speech they explained the relevancy and importance of the environment in our church. They urged every member of the AWF to become a green Anglican. They can become Green Anglicans by taking care of the environment e.g. saving water, recycling, avoiding any form of pollution, tree planting, do away with take away containers, gardening etc. They urged AWF members to start up projects that will encourage people to take care of the environment. AWF members were so happy to hear about the Green Anglicans and promised to start caring for the environment. -Thulethu Ngudle

The Diocese of St. Mark the Evangelist Green Anglicans team went an extra mile, to kick-start one of their programs titled Plant a Confirmation tree!  Where the bishop visits a particular parish for confirmations, the confirmation candidates of that parish together with the congregants get to encounter this lifetime moment of planting a tree. The tree signifies the start of a new Christian journey of the candidates and also for them to take a stand against environmental corrosion. Therefore, this program also educates the young and the old about alleviating environmental deterioration and the importance of planting trees. On the 8th October 2017, when Bishop Martin visited Tlhatlaganya Parish for confirmations, the diocesan team also went to Tlhatlaganya parish to kick-start with the programme. The confirmations took place at St. Thomas chapelry, in a mountainous village called Spitzkop GaMamabolo (20km east of the University of Limpopo). The team presented the tree to Bishop Martin, and the team gave further information about we should take a stand as Tlhatlaganya Parish and as the church of God against sudden change of climate and environmental deterioration. In the Bishop’s words of acknowledgement to the team he said “May this tree may not bear fruits not only to the congregants of St. Thomas, but may it bear fruits for the community of Spitzkop!” The tree was named by the team as Saint Thomas of Tlhatlaganya, and it was followed by sounds of joy and happiness. After the service, the confirmation candidates together with the bishop and clergy went to the place where the tree was planted. The rector of the parish (Revd. Lutz Ackermann) blessed the ground, after the sanctification the 15 confirmants planted the tree (Saint Thomas). Saint Thomas of Tlhatlaganya is one of the first trees to be planted within the chapelry’s yard! – Makwetša Ramusi and Kenneth Lamola