The No Faith in Fossil Fuels Lent Vigil is a ten day event set to take place in Westminster – home of the UK Parliament. Christians from across the country will gather together from Ash Wednesday, holding vigil across ten days, day and night.
When? Starts Feb 14th 2024. Runs for 10 days, ending on the 24th Feb.
Where? Westminster, London. Locating our vigil outside Westminster, the home of the UK Parliament, we will bear witness to the impacts of the climate crisis and pray for the UK Government to take bold climate action.
Why? Around the world creation is crying out. Heatwaves, fires, droughts and floods are becoming more frequent, wrecking lives, land, and livelihoods. Meanwhile, the biggest polluters who have caused this crisis make vast profits from fossil fuels. As creation groans, the poorest, who have done the least to cause the problem, are paying the price.
As the climate crisis wreaks havoc in our world, we are drawn to our most ancient of traditions – prayer. We have faith that our prayers are heard and can bring transformation, even in the midst of injustice. Lent offers us space to lament our failure to address the climate emergency, and as we approach the Easter season of renewal, we hope and strive for climate justice. We endeavour for our prayers to be participatory – moving us into action and calling on our politicians to make the changes needed.
Join in the Vigil
The No Faith In Fossil Fuels Vigil will be a relay, where people take it in turns to hold vigil for a period of time across the ten days. Bring your congregation, your church group, your family and friends. Pray for an hour, pray for a day! Join the vigil as we declare, No Faith in Fossil Fuels.
DOWNLOAD THE VIGIL PARTICIPANT PACK HERE
The vigil is an opportunity for faith groups and individuals of different backgrounds and denominations to participate in something that reflects the Christian calling to be both prayerful and prophetic – acting in witness for those most impacted by climate change.
In Christian Climate Action, we have previous experience of this sort of vigil, and so we will form the majority of the people who hold vigil overnight. If you feel called to do this please get in touch. It is a powerful thing to do.
There are three services taking place during the vigil
- Wednesday 14th February: An Ash Wednesday inter-denominational Church service. The vigil will be launched with an Ash Wednesday Church service. The theme for prayers and worship will be love and lament.
- Saturday 17th or Sunday 18th February : Multi-faith Gathering. On either the 17th or 18th of February, there will be a multi-faith gathering planned, where people of different faiths come together in mutual solidarity and respect. More details on this event will be out shortly.
- Saturday 24th February: Outdoor Closing service, in front of Downing Street. To draw the ten day vigil to a close, we are holding an outdoor Christian service, right at the gates of power – Downing Street.
What Are We Asking For?
We believe that the UK government has a historic and current responsibility to take bold climate action, due to Britain being the world’s 8th biggest historical carbon emitter. At COP28, while we celebrated the Loss and Damage Fund becoming operational with support pledged for climate vulnerable countries, the UK’s financial commitments were well below what is possible, and came from existing climate funds. Meanwhile UK based fossil fuel companies are raking in billions of pounds a year.
As we vigil, as we pray, we call on the UK Government to:
- Make the UK’s biggest polluters pay for climate action.
- Deliver and build on the UK’s international climate finance pledges and pay into the UN’s Loss and Damage Fund.
- Ban new UK-based fossil fuel projects.
What Organisations Are Involved?
Salvation Army – Green Christian – Operation Noah – Christian Aid – A Rocha – Christian Climate Action – Tearfund
More information will be available here shortly, including a sign up rota and details of open calls on Zoom to answer any questions.
