H4C at the Season of Creation

On Saturday 7th September 2024 Hope4Creation delivered a workshop for members of the Diocese of London, Kensington Area, as part of the Season of Creation, hosted at St John's Church Notting Hill.

The workshop provided a introduction to our charity's approach to engaging and galvanising religious communities to take meaningful action on climate change and other ecological crises, and demonstrated how creation care is authentic and central to Christian theology. We explored the Four Acts of creation care as formulated in the doctoral thesis of H4C Founder, Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker, as well as providing practical advice and next steps for people from a range of denominations who are working towards the Eco Church Awards.

One of the Four Acts, the Act of Eco Pilgrimage, involved reflecting on the natural in the grounds of the church, including a special beekeeping demonstration from the St John's Church Administrator, Johannes.

One participant, Lindsey, found the workshop to be 'a breath of fresh air'. The H4C Team found giving the workshop to be an enriching experience due to the high quality of contributions and feedback from our participants who shared inspiring stories and insights from their own eco journeys. 

You can see more photos from the workshop on our Facebook page, and if you would like to hear about future events, please sign up to our mailing list.

H4C at Memories From My Attic

On Monday 15th April H4C Founder Rev Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker joined the Council of Christians and Jews Oxford branch (CCJ) for a special event, Memories From My Attic, showcasing the power of storytelling around family heirlooms and artefacts in an interfaith context.

Charlotte’s chosen object for this special show-and-tell was a piece of embroidery made by her supposed ancestor, Mary Ann Gilbert, who is recognised as a pioneer of allotmenteering. Gilbert made the embroidery almost 200 years ago as a testament to her good fortune in being taught embroidery. The piece, with its floral embellishments and quote from the Hebrew Bible, encapsulates much of the values at the centre of the Hope4Creation Foundation: recognising that the Earth is a shared home for people of all faiths and backgrounds that we have a responsibility to look after that, and taking a grassroots approach to communicating that message as engagingly as possible.

While showing the piece, Charlotte told the story of Gilbert’s work in establishing affordable land for the rural poor of the early 19th Century, supporting sustainable food security and an achievable route out of poverty in opposition to the stereotypes of the time about poorer people being unwilling to help themselves. Much of Gilbert’s research, techniques and observations have informed allotmenteering practices to this day, when allotments continue to provide the opportunity for community food production that offers less carbon-intensive produce than large-scale agriculture.

The event was recorded, so you can catch up on Charlotte’s presentation on Youtube, and if you would like to host us at an interfaith environmental event, please do get in touch.

Inspiring Hope for Creation at Marmalade Festival

On Thursday 11th April 2024 we hosted a workshop titled Inspiring Hope for Creation as part of Marmalade Festival, a breakout conference to the Skoll World Forum that focuses on social change of all kinds.
Due to the international nature of the conference we were thrilled to host participants from charities and environmental organisations based as far afield as Australia. The interactive workshop was facilitated by our founder, Rev Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker with our patron Esther de Waal as an additional guest speaker and contributions from the rest of the H4C team.

The 2-hour workshop was structured around the cornerstone concept of the Four Acts, resulting from Charlotte’s PhD research incorporating the neuroscience of behavioural change. Contrary to the traditional belief that having information leads to action, neuroscientists have recently demonstrated the importance of agency in the context of the climate crisis, and how this is engendered by action. Thus action supports belief, rather than the other way around. Hence the Four Acts as steps for unlocking fear and inertia in the face of climate change: The Act of Lamentation, The Act of Reciprocal Hospitality, The Act of Eco-Pilgrimmage and The Act of Engagement. Each of these were undertaken through activities during the workshop, guided both by the facilitators and the participants’ own stories and experiences.

We are currently in the process of gathering feedback from the session, so do watch this space to find out what people thought!

We will be using what we have learned from hosting this workshop and our other research to continue to shape our programme for the remainder of 2024, so if you would like to hear about future opportunities to work with us, please get in touch.

Climate Change, Conflict and Gender

(L-R: Dr Husna Ahmad OBE, Ndelika Mandela, Dayo Israel, Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker, Josephine Chiname - the panel for ‘Climate Change, Conflict and Gender: The Critical Role of Faith Leaders)

On Friday, 15th March 2024, Hope4Creation founder Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker presented some of our charity’s key aims and motivations at the 10th Annual Commonwealth Africa Initiative Summit, as part of a panel discussion titled ‘Climate Change, Conflict and Gender, The Critical Role of Faith Leaders’. 

The panel discussion took place on the last day of the Summit, which celebrates and promotes the role of African nations as central to the sustainable future of the Commonwealth. 

The keynote speaker on the panel was Ndelika Mandela, founder of the Thembekile Mandela Foundation and board member of the event’s co-hosts, Faith For Our Planet (FFOP). Alongside Charlotte, Ms Mandela was joined by Dr Husna Ahmad OBE: CEO of GlobalOne and Co-Chair of the UN Inter-agency Task Force on Religion and Development’s Multi-Faith Advisory Council, and Josephine Chiname: Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

The discussion was Moderated by FFOP's Honorary Youth Fellow, Dayo Israel and explored the potential for religious women in the leadership of global, equitable climate action. The event was livestreamed and the full panel is available now on the Faith For Our Planet Youtube channel.

The H4C team were thrilled at the opportunity to share ideas and make connections with other influential women motivated by the huge potential of interfaith action for achieving climate justice. In keeping with our mission to inspire people from all faith backgrounds to move from intention to eco-action, we are planning a series of appearances at others’ events as well as our own H4C conferences and retreats. To find out about all upcoming H4C events, please get in touch.

Faith and the Environment Conference

Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker speaking at the CMCS Faith and the Environment Conference.

On Friday, 1st March 2024, H4C’s founder Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker presented at the Faith and Environment Conference hosted by the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies in Oxford. The hybrid conference demonstrated the diversity of environmental theologies within Islam and Christianity. 

Charlotte's presentation followed a keynote speech by Farhana Mayer from the Laudato Si’ Research Institute on the subject of climate justice. Charlotte focused on the motivation of children and young people in dealing with this subject, drawing on examples from her work with young people in Lamu, Kenya and Oxford. A recording of the presentation is available to watch on the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies’ Youtube channel.

Our participation in this conference was a continuation of our work of inspiring a move from concern for the environment to action against climate change, in people from all faith communities. To stay connected with H4C and find out about all our upcoming events, please get in touch.

Children of Hope Exhibition

During a 2023 research sabbatical, the Revd Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker spent several months visiting sustainable development projects in India and Nepal. This exhibition of her photos offers glimpses of some extraordinary people and places where life is challenging, economically and environmentally, yet still full of promise, beauty and hope.

“Throughout my twenties, I worked for charities in many parts of India and Nepal, focusing on the roles of women, and of education, in economic development. After 20 years of ministry back in England, I spent a few months revisiting charities in the same regions. This research gave me a unique chance to chart the changes that have occurred in the lives of women and children living in complex and challenging landscapes.

One profound change that I observed, which forms the theme of this exhibition, was the increased power of women and young people who, despite living in very challenging circumstances, in fragile environments, are playing lead roles in transforming their lives and the lives of their communities. Women today are solar engineers, teachers, buffalo farmers, beekeepers, grassroots organisers, and many other things in addition to daughters, wives and mothers. They are beacons of light, working with, protecting, and teaching about our threatened ecosystems on earth.” 

Returning to India and Nepal after thirty years gives a true sense of hope. With support from grass-roots local NGOs that invest in ‘walking’ alongside women and their communities, more and more women are making their own decisions about their lives and their children’s future.  

The UN states that “We need more women, in all their diversity, involved in all levels, from climate negotiations, to forest and fields, especially in the regions hard hit by climate change.” The voices of women and their children are being heard. Their impact and work in nature has real momentum now even in the remotest places, and that was not the case a generation ago.  

When our world cries out in distress, as it does today, faced as we are with the climate emergency, ...the Spirit of hope helps us to glimpse a different future, and inspires us to work together to bring it to fulfilment.  - Sister Teresa White, 2021.

The Oxford Three Faith Encounters Lecture

H4C participated as a partner in the Oxford Three Faith Encounters lecture by Founder President Woolf Institute, Cambridge) www.oxfordthreefaithsencounter.co.uk Oxford Three Faiths Encounter Booking via www.wegottickets.com/sct/vYjc4QaBCb “The Changing Landscape of Religion and Belief: standing at the crossroads” with a contribution by Ian Finlay from Oxford Council of Faiths. 

Vigil for Peace

A candlelit 'act of solidarity' brought Oxford city centre to a silent standstill on Sunday as faith and civic leaders were joined by members of the public to call for peace in the Middle East.

Those gathered heard messages from Bishop Steven, Imam Monawar Hussain, founder of the Oxford Foundation, and Louise Gordon, vice president of the Oxford Jewish Congregation, as well as prayers from representatives of Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist faiths.

ODCIR day school conference

H4C designed of an education session for The Oxford Diocesan Committee for Interfaith Relations (ODCIR) day school conference in Slough.

H4C designed a session for the school children on sacred texts related to the awe and wonder of the world's creation. They shared readings from the Hebrew Bible, New Testament and the Quran on the 'beginnings'  of the world. They then spoke of times they were most happy in nature.  Discussions were also held on the climate crisis and how best to respond.

Photo by Rebekah Sharrock, Diocese of Oxford

World Council of Faiths Discussion

The Revd Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker was a panelist for an interfaith discussion with HRH Prince Hassan of Jordon for the World Congress of Faiths. The  Prince spoke on the theme of Hope for the World. Chaired Revd Dr Alan Race, the Revd Bannister-Parker raised the importance of ecology and sustainability,  themes that faiths worldwide can engage with over and above religious differences. A practical topic and a way to collectively look towards protecting our planet - faiths together.

One Earth, Many Faiths

One Earth, Many Faiths was the first Diocesan Interfaith Eco Conference, held in the research centre at Christ Church Oxford on Saturday 21 January, organised in conjunction with Hope4Creation Foundation.

Around 40 attendees of different faiths joined the conference including those from the Christian, Sikh, Jew, and Muslim communities, for a day of creative workshops and speeches from local faith leaders, the Bishop of Reading, Imam Monawar Hussein, Rabbi Judith Rosen-Berry and Dr Arvinder Singh.

The conference was a joint project, chaired by the Revd Dr Canon Charlotte Bannister-Parker and the Revd Dr Paul Smith, with the Oxford Diocesan Committee for Interfaith Relations and the Hope4Creation Foundation. The Archdeacon of Oxford and Interim Sub-Dean of Christ Church,
the Ven Jonathan Chaffey, introduced the event and shared the environmental commitments of the cathedral and college.

Bishop Olivia, the Bishop of Reading, delivered a keynote speech. Speaking about the Christian response to the current environmental crisis and state of play, Bishop Olivia said:

“We’re here as complex social creatures. We are citizens; we are consumers making choices, we are parents and grandparents of the generations which will inherit this challenge. And we are people of faith. And the environmental challenges which affect us, all of them, are at heart spiritual issues.

“In the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, we read of a call to live in balance with God’s creation, in a way which protects the natural world.  We are acutely aware that the profound disruption of the world’s ecosystems, pollution, environmental degradation, species loss, viral pandemic, and so on are not the way that God intends for us to be and for God’s world to be. We have a responsibility to work to restore the balance between people and nature.”

Representatives from other faiths spoke about the environment, nature, and creation from the different faith perspectives and led a group session exploring scriptural reasoning and sacred texts – Imam Monawar Hussein, Founder of the Oxford Foundation, Rabbi Judith Rosen-Berry, Member of the Oxford Three Faiths Encounter, and Dr Arvinder Singh, Director of the Wellbeing Centre, Ashoka University.  

Hannah Mann, Environment Programme Manager for the Diocese of Oxford, shared an overview of the work of the diocese on working towards net zero and tackling the climate crises, and offered advice on how others can act to create change for the environment.

Attendees had the opportunity to take part in creative workshops on poetry, art and technology, walking, and wellbeing during the day. Esther de Waal, an esteemed writer and scholar in Celtic spirituality, led a ‘walking with attentiveness’ session in Christ Church Meadow, and David Sparrow from Art Beyond Belief, led an art session using triptych art techniques.

The Revd Charlotte Bannister-Parker, Founder of Hope4Creation, closed the conference with a reminder of the 10 Spiritual Principles for Climate Repentance from the Elijah Interfaith Institute and encouragement to keep the issues of the day first and foremost in people’s minds as we seek to care for our environment and creation in a better way.