Fri 21- Mon 24 - The Big One! Family-Friendly Climate Protest

When: Friday 21st - Monday 24th April 2023
Where: Various Central London Locations
Further details: https://christianclimateaction.org/2022/10/22/the-big-one/ and https://greenchristian.org.uk/the-big-one/


Green Christian is joining forces with many other charities in supporting The Big One climate protest in Westminster on Friday 21 April.

Our ask is our prayer: No more fossil fuels. Amen.

If you do one thing for God’s Creation this year, this is it – just be there. And bring your churches, family, friends with you.
 

What will happen at The Big One?

Here’s a taster of some of the things that CCA and others are planning:

• On Friday 21st April we are gathering at St John’s Church, Waterloo at 11am, for worship at noon led together with some of the Christian NGO’s mentioned above. This will be followed by a pilgrimage to the protest outside Parliament.
   
• On Saturday 22nd April, we are gathering at the protest at Parliament at 11am, for worship at noon focused on racial and climate justice, led by our friends from Black Majority Churches. There will also be a Catholic mass at 3pm.
   
• On Sunday 23rd April we are gathering at the protest at Parliament at 11am, for worship at noon led by young people whose future is in the balance. There will also be an Anglican Eucharist at 3pm.
   
• On Monday 24th April we are gathering at the protest at Parliament at 11am for worship at noon led by Christian Climate Action looking to the future.
• Each day there will be community and creativity, prayer and song and care for Creation

The family-friendly protest continues over the weekend (21-24 April, ending at 6pm each day). Christian Climate Action is holding a prayer vigil throughout and organising different activities for public worship. See Christian Climate Action’s website for the latest plan.

This is the moment for ordinary, law-abiding people to come out in support of what groups like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil are saying about how serious the situation is, but without resorting to their methods. The science is clear – the head of the UN says we are “firmly on track toward an unliveable world”. The International Energy Agency has said there can be no new oil and gas development. Yet our government is opening new oil, gas, and even coal mines. As Christians it is our job to care about this, to be prophetic, to call out our government’s flagrant dereliction of duty and to demand action. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said:

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.