We have a Green Dream: for SMV to play its part in renewing the face of the earth by using resources responsibly, creatively and unselfishly. As individuals, and as a church, we will model care for the planet by cutting down our environmental footprint and seeking ways to promote environmental conscience in our city.

In January 2019, the Parochial Church Council established a Green Team. This environmental action group meets once a month to discuss how to bring the church into an awareness of all matters concerning the care of our environment. It has commissioned an energy audit for the church and we are beginning to identify a range of interventions in order to reduce our carbon footprint. At the same time, Julia Hollander and Charlotte Bannister-Parker have initiated a series of podcasts on Climate Change and Spirituality. If you would like to be involved in the Green Team, please contact Tess Blenkinsop via the parish office: admin@universitychurch.ox.ac.uk. [Updated 27 June 2020].

Families on low incomes have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis and foodbanks across the UK have been struggling to meet demand. Since 2013, we have collected gifts in kind for the Oxford Community Emergency Foodbank (CEF) after church every Sunday. With the suspension of in-person church services, this has ceased. At the same time CEF has stopped operating as a drop-in service, and now delivers food boxes to those in need. We have given £1,000 to CEF from the money set aside by the PCC for charitable giving this year. Our hope is that this sum could be matched by the congregation. If you would like to contribute, you can give directly to CEF at the link below. [Updated 25 April 2020] 

Jane Benyon, founder of the Oxford Community Emergency Foodbank (CEF), took part in a zoom conversation organised by the Faith in Action Group on 5 August. Referrals during the first three months of the pandemic were nearly three times those in the same period of 2019, she said. In April CEF supported over 500 families with food parcels. In March, when it became clear that a collection service was no longer safe, CEF switched to a delivery service. Within a period of two weeks, they found new volunteers to replace those who were shielding and to pack and deliver food parcels, and set up an electronic referral system. Demand is now easing off, but is expected to rise again in September and October, when people who have been furloughed may find they have lost their jobs. Listen to Jane’s talk and response to questions at the link below.

We believe that the most effective way to help poor communities in the developing world is through an established charity, which knows where the needs are greatest and can provide due diligence, accountability and feedback on the use of our donations. With this in mind, the committee have decided to support Christian Aid’s programme in South Sudan and are making contact with them to work out the best way of doing this.  

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to spike in Africa during the next six months and is already impeding the delivery of aid to the poorest communities. These people have limited access to clean water, food and hygiene, and the virus could have a devastating impact on them. We are giving £2,000 from the money set aside by the PCC for charitable giving to Christian Aid’s Emergency Coronavirus Appeal. Our hope is that this sum could be matched by the congregation. If you would like to contribute, you can give directly to the appeal at the link below. [Updated 31 May 2020]

The Faith in Action group has pledged to support Christian Aid’s Nandolo Farmers Association Pigeon Pea Programme in southern Malawi. More than 50 per cent of Malawians live below the poverty line: 80 per cent depend on farming.

Although unfamiliar in the UK, pigeon peas are widely eaten in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Malawi is one of the world’s top 10 exporters. But smallholder farmers find it hard to tap into this potential because they cannot get good prices, partly because they are unable to store their produce until prices rise. They also lack access to affordable credit.

Christian Aid’s Nandolo Project aims to help 3,000 farmers (70 per cent of them women) in the Mwanza District to break out of poverty. Through them, some 15,000 family members  will benefit. The project will help farmers’ cooperatives to access largescale buyers directly and negotiate fairer prices, and will promote organic farming and processes which enable pigeon peas to be stored. It will also set up 150 Village Savings and Loans Associations, each with 20 members, enabling farmers to diversify or to improve their farming methods.

Thanks to everyone’s generosity, we were able to send a first instalment of £5,000 to the programme in October 2021. In acknowledging our donation, Christian Aid wrote, 'One of the people you are helping is Lucy Gomani, who is married with four children. She has been stuggling to improve the welfare of her children and was often forced to work in other people’s fields to earn enough to buy food.’ Christian Aid trained her to make doughnuts using pigeon pea flour. Her profits from selling them have enabled her to buy household necessities and pay school fees. She is now saving to build a corrugated iron house.

If you would like to contribute, please download the donation form below.