This page is part of a range of resources designed to help you organise a day of fasting and prayer in your Church to highlight the dangers posed by climate change to the whole of Creation. The main page of this set can be found here or at www.operationnoah.org/node/256.

Forming an Operation Noah Group

Call to Action!

One of the most influential things that you can do as a supporter of Operation Noah is to set up an Operation Noah group. We urge you to consider setting up a group with other members of your church or broader community who would like to take action on climate change. Operation Noah is hoping that members of the campaign, Arkangels (paying members) and supporters in parishes and communities across the country will link up to form local groups.

Why Groups?

Group action is an extremely powerful method of campaigning for change. We all feel more empowered and less lonely when working with others towards a mutual goal. A group will have a bigger impact when, for example, you lobby your MP. And a group will have a status within the community which can help galvanise others to action. Of course, because there will be a number of people in the group, together you will have a broader network of contacts and potential recruits to the campaign. As well as all this, acting together in a group is stimulating and fun!

We see our work and the work of Operation Noah groups as collaborative. This means we welcome your group's ideas and suggestions for actions just as much as we hope that you will carry out some of the actions we propose, such as lobbying your MP about the Climate Change Bill. We can advertise your group's ideas through our website so that others can share them and resonate your actions across the country. And we will of course provide resources for Operation Noah groups to download for use in campaigning.

We would like to achieve a genuine dialogue between ourselves and all the Operation Noah groups. In this way we can forge community links, share expertise and genuinely power up the impact of the Operation Noah campaign.

Groups facilities on our website

Our website will be going live shortly with a new "Your Stories" section for Operation Noah groups. Here you will be able to set up a page for your group, which will tell other visitors to the site about where you are, what actions you have carried out and what you hope to achieve in future. You will be able to showcase your plans and achievements, and upload pictures and video clips to your area on the site. The content of your page will be written, managed and updated by you - it will be entirely your space. In addition, we will have a map on the website which will flag all our groups across the country, helping people to link up beyond their own community and to see how the campaign is growing over time.

Organising a group

We suggest you talk to other members of your church, to parents and teachers at your school, or to your friends to find out who would be interested in forming a group. You might also like to post an advertisement on your church noticeboard to encourage likeminded people to contact you.

In a similar way to a book group, your Operation Noah group might like to meet on a regular basis to discuss latest newspaper articles, books or evidence on climate change. We can help you access latest material which you might like to discuss as we will be posting information on our website.

Alternatively, you might prefer that your group meets on a more ad hoc basis to discuss specific campaigning ideas, such as lobbying your local council, organising a petition, joining a demonstration, or giving a talk on climate change within your community.

Practicalities:

• There are no minimum or maximum numbers needed to form a group.
• You might like to agree where the group will meet. This could be in your church meeting room, or at someone's house, or even in the pub.
• It is useful to appoint a coordinator for your group. This person can be the main contact for the group and can take responsibility for liaising with us through the website and for uploading content onto your group's "Your Stories" page. The coordinating role can of course rotate between members.
• It will be useful to set an agenda for each meeting, so that it is clear to people what you will be discussing or trying to agree on and achieve.
• It will be useful to keep a record of what you discuss and agree at each meeting so that you can look back and track your progress.

If you would like more information about setting up a group please contact us.