Climate Justice: Bearing Witness service and vigil

Members of the Student Christian Movement (SCM) joined with Christian Aid, Tearfund and CAFOD for a day of workshops, worship and a vigil focusing on taking action against climate change on the eve of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

The event, Bearing Witness, included a series of workshops, from how to campaign to strengthen international regulations to reduce climate emissions. SCM students then joined with participants who had gathered in Manchester Cathedral for a service, which included an address from Christian activist and theologian Tinyiko Maluleke. Maluleke, the former President of the South African Council of Churches, explored how Christians can cultivate a theology of reverence for God’s creation which locates human beings within, rather than separate from, the natural world.

Following the service, participants joined a procession past the venue for the Conservative Party Conference, singing Christian hymns and holding placards which called on the Coalition Government to fulfil it’s pledge to be the ‘greenest government ever’.

SCM also participated in a Stop Climate Chaos Coalition afternoon of workshops and speakers which included campaigning with People and Planet and Practical Action.

SCM is a member of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, which is a network of over 100 organisations, from environment and development charities to unions, faith, community and women's groups dedicated to action on climate change and limiting its impact on the world’s poorest communities.