On Saturday 1st March, Wild Card joined forces with the Climate Choir Movement to call on the Church Commissioners, the investment body of the Church of England, to commit to rewilding 30% of their 105,000 acre estate by 2030 – as part of our Rewild the Church campaign.

A 200-strong flash mob made up of 16 climate choirs from across the UK surprised visitors and churchgoers at St. Paul’s Cathedral by delivering a musical message highlighting the vital role that the Church must play in restoring nature.  

Holding a forest of images of native British species, each inscribed with the word ‘sacred’, Climate Choir members gathered underneath the iconic dome of the cathedral to sing ‘Does not Nature Cry Out” a reworked version of All Things Bright and Beautiful written by Sally Davies. The aim was to use the beautiful power of music to challenge the Church to consider Biblical teaching on the natural world and demonstrate greater consideration for wildlife – not just in words but also in deeds.

After singing to those gathered inside the Cathedral, the choir then processed outside and, at the bottom of St Paul’s steps, sang to passers-by. This time, the choir also sang the song ’Church of England Rewild Your Land’ which was written especially for the Wild Card Campaign by Climate Choir member Ruth Routledge.

Taking place ahead of the United Nations World Wildlife Day (March 3rd), the Climate Choir shone a spotlight on the poor state of nature in Britain and the role its biggest landowners need to play in turning this around. 

The UK is in the bottom 10% of nations globally for biodiversity and the Church Commissioners’ land is in a dire ecological state. Largely used for intensive farming, only 3% of its land is wooded – compared with the UK’s already dismal average of 10% – making it the lowest tree coverage of England’s top ten institutional landowners. 

Our Rewild the Church campaign calling on the Church Commissioners to rewild their land has generated significant support in the last few months, with over 100,000 members of the public backing the call so far, and many senior church members and church groups calling for change.

Last October, we held an event outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, in which TV presenter and conservationist, Chris Packham, unveiled a nine-metre long scroll containing a collection of powerful arguments detailing why the Church Commissioners should rewild some of their extensive landholdings. 

Contributions to the 95 Wild Theses (a twist on the original 95 Theses by Martin Luther that kick started the Protestant reformation) were gathered from nearly 100 leading public figures, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, former Secretary of State Michael Gove, broadcaster, actor and writer Stephen Fry, former chair of the IPBES and IPCC Sir Robert T Watson, chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas. The Theses were delivered to the offices of the Church Commissioners and Lambeth Palace.

The UK is signed up to the United Nations goal of restoring and protecting 30% of land and seas by 2030, but it cannot achieve this without action from the country’s largest landowners. This is where the Church can, and should, be showing leadership.  Restoring this amount of land would create an area of nature 90 times the size of Hyde Park.

Dave Mitchell, who sings with the choir and is a leading member of Christian Climate Action said:

“As Christians we are called by God to care for and nurture all of God’s beautiful creation, the wonderful diversity of life we long to see. The Bible is clear about humanity’s role, we are to work in harmony with nature. However the UK is amongst the most nature depleted areas in the world.”

Following the action, we saw the story shared across social media as well as hitting independent media and established press.

Unfortunately, Paul Jaffe’s response in the Church Times failed to respond to concerns that we have raised with him. (If only he would read our Frequently Answered Questions!) We continue to invite the Church Commissioners to meet with us to discuss the rewilding opportunities for their land (as we have done since 2022!) and we hope they accept our invite before too long!