People

Green Christian Trustees

George Dow (Green Christian Chair, Formation Group Convenor, Way of Life Co-ordinator and Arts Convenor)

George lives in Penzance, Cornwall and, having spent most of his life in London working in HR, has now embraced a retirement of sorts! Active in his local church, which is working towards an Eco Church  gold award, he also enjoys walking on the Penwith moors, abstract painting and, as a founder member of a local arts collective, writing and performing poems.

Barbara Echlin (Green Christian Vice-Chair, Administration Group Convenor)

Barbara lives on the south coast where she helps tend an organic fruit and vegetable garden and enjoys cooking and preserving the produce. She is actively involved with the local UNA and Global Justice Now, Bexhill and Rother District environmental groups and worships at the Saxon foundation parish church.

Andii Bowsher

Andii works as a chaplain at a university in northeast England and is ordained in the Church of England. “Since teenage years, I’ve been concerned that humanity as a whole is not living within our ecological means and I’ve become increasingly frustrated that the way that systems of provisioning are set up makes it hard for us to address that without concerted actions. My awakening into Christian faith came in part via an understanding that we need to address the greed and short-sightedness of the human heart to be good planetary neighbours. I’m currently interested in how we give expression liturgically and ritually to our lament for the earth and how we pray – including bodily – for environmental healing and the collective repentance that is needed -and speedily.”

Andrew Norman (Green Christian chaplain)

Andrew is an Anglican priest. He aims to live contemplatively and be a good listener, working as a therapeutic counsellor. As well as a member of the Green Christian Way of Life he is a Companion of Julian of Norwich and looks for ‘full catholic unity’ … now to be … ‘a fully holistic spirituality’. He is happily sustained by family life, listening to music, reading and walking in the Devon countryside.  

Ashley Ralston

Before he retired in 2003, Ashley was a chemical and plant engineer working in the pharmaceutical industry. Since then he has been a director of Community Interest Group on Waste Prevention in West Sussex. He is currently Chair of Social Action Commission for Diocese of Arundel and Brighton and Chair of National Justice Peace Network Environment group. He has been active in Justice and Peace for 35 years .

Deborah Tomkins

Deborah grows organic food in her city garden, and writes about climate and sustainability. She supports local initiatives such as food and transport, and is involved with her local Diocesan Environmental Group. After an undergraduate Honours degree in French & Linguistics, she worked as an EFL dictionary writer, and also gained a Certificate in Theology. She lives with her family in Bristol, where she runs Bristol Climate Writers.

Eleanor Orr (Treasurer)

Accountant – working for Christian Medical Fellowship.
Lives in Inner London
Cycle commuter

Jules Robinson

Jules is passionate about faith and creation care and has worked in journalism and creative communications for national and international media, wildlife and conservation charities for over 30 years. She also works in a voluntary capacity for various faith outreach and greening initiatives, serves in her local church, writes a monthly ‘Nature’ article for her parish magazine, hosts a website and is further kept on her toes by a flock of the ‘woolly’ variety!

Paul Bodenham (Borrowed Time Co-ordinator)

Paul is the officer for social concern for the (Roman Catholic) Diocese of Nottingham.  Prior to that he worked for 30 years in local and regional policy with councils and public bodies.  He is a member of a lay Franciscan community, and was Chair of Green Christian from 2004 until 2019 .

Phillip Attwood

Phillip spent his formative years in Zimbabwe and then came to Britain as a young man of twenty-four and taught for many years in a secondary school in West Yorkshire. While he now lives in Bournemouth and works part time as a relationship counsellor, he continues with his long-standing Ugandan connections. He and his wife have an informal partnership with a Church of Uganda Diocese in the rural southwest of Uganda and still return once a year, at the invitation of the Bishop, to take part in varied diocesan activities.
One of his passions is enabling people in the diocese to be engaged in the planting of indigenous tree saplings and delights in being able to observe each year just how much they have grown. He is excited at the prospect of being able, as a new trustee, to be involved in the work of the Green Christian organisation.

Tim Cooper

Tim was one of the founder members of Green Christian, in 1982, its first National Co-ordinator and is a former Chairman. His first book, Green Christianity, was published in 1990. Currently he is a professor at Nottingham Trent University. He is married with three (grown up) daughters, keeps chickens, and occasionally runs half marathons for the charity Action for ME.

Other important people

Ruth Jarman (Information Officer)

Ruth, a previous member of the old Steering Committee is now our Info Officer. Ruth is also a member of Christian Climate Action and Admin Officer for Operation Noah, which she helped Paul Bodenham set up in 2004.

Melanie Nazareth (Churches Project Officer)

Melanie lives in London with her family. She has a background in law but since 2019 her primary focus has been working to meet the climate and environmental crisis. She also works for Christian Climate Action.

Cat Jenkins (Food Project Officer)

Cat also helps with administration relating to Plenty!, a small-group study resource developed by the Joy in Enough team, as well as for the various Borrowed Time programmes. She lives in the Isle of Man, where she has set up a Green Christian themed group, and is a steward, at her local Methodist church. Cat has twin 17 year old daughters, and following a 25 year career in finance, now works for various UK-based NGOs on social and environmental justice. She’s also a cat-mum, which at its worst meant nine cats and kittens in the house but is now a much more manageable six.

Judith Allinson (Web Editor, Rainforest Fund Coordinator and Twitter @greenchristian_)

Judith is a Methodist in Settle, North Yorkshire. She is a botanist, currently into lichens, and enjoys taking people of all ages out to learn to identify the plants around us.

The website team also includes Colin Andrews, Ruth Jarman and Barbara Echlin.

Membership Secretary: Richard Kierton

Assists Nicky at the allotment, sings Bass in a church choir, his tastes in music are diverse. A lover of cricket, railway enthusiast and rambler, & continuing to research his family history.

Isobel Murdoch (Local Groups coordinator)

Isobel is a freelance writer and has recently set up Medley, an initiative exploring art, music and nature’s impacts on health and wellbeing. She enjoys drawing and painting and walking in the countryside 

John Payne (Joy in Enough co-ordinator)

Worked as a development project manager and country lead for the British Council in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East witnessing some of the impact climate change is having on the vulnerable poor. He is a grandfather, Churchwarden, Chair of Governors of the village school, trustee of a small village community organisation focusing on sustainability, and is mad about the operas of Richard Wagner.

Editorial Team, Green Christian Magazine

Clare Redfern (Commissioning Editor)

Clare has been Commissioning editor of Green Christian magazine since 2015. In the past she has been a doctor, school dinner lady, piano teacher and researcher. She likes gardening, walking (this photo is above the Wye Valley) and playing music.

Angie lives in the West Midlands with her family, and has a background in communications. She is a member of Christian Climate Action and is a member of her church’s eco group. She enjoys vegan cooking, nature walks and family time.  

Tanya Jones (book review editor)

Tanya lives in Dundee where she is researching for a PhD on the application of restorative justice to climate injustice, and is active in the Scottish Green Party, XR and as a Quaker attender.  She has written several novels, and books about chess, and now writes occasional short, mostly utopian, short stories and blog posts. Before coming to Scotland she was deputy leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland and has worked as a solicitor in Yorkshire and teacher in Italy and the Republic of Ireland.

Prayer Guide

Hi, I’m Emma, and I compile and send out the monthly prayer guide. I live in Leeds, am married and have a primary school aged daughter. I am part of a Baptist church and work as it’s administrator. I play the clarinet in a concert band, and like doing puzzles and reading.

Patrons

• Shilpita Mathews, environmental economist 
• Rt. Revd. James Jones, former bishop of Liverpool
• Fr. Sean McDonagh, Columban priest and eco-theologian
• Jonathon Porritt, writer and founder of Forum for the Future
• Prof. Sir Ghillean Prance, botanist and ecologist
• Dr. Elaine Storkey, philosopher, sociologist and theologian

Registered information

Charity Number : 328744
Company Number : 2445198
Registered Office : 35 Kitto Road, London SE14 5TW
(All general correspondence should go to Green Christian, 48 Morrab Road, Penzance, Cornwall
TR18 4EX

Green Christian is a registered trading name of Christian Ecology Link