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.

The vigil will be launched with an Ash Wednesday Church Service at St Johns Church, Waterloo and brought to a close with a service outside Downing Street.

When? Vigil starts Feb 14th at 2:30pm, Runs for 10 days, ending on the 24th Feb at 3pm.

Where? Carriage Gates, outside Parliament, Westminster, London.

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.

Once you’ve booked your slot, we advise that you join this facebook group, so that you can share tips and let other vigilers know if you’re running late for your slot.

People often find opting to hold vigil over-night to be a rewarding and spiritual thing to do, which can create an opportunity for a profound encounter with God. The experience can also be challenging. Christian Climate Action will be the main ones holding vigil during the nights, and so we encourage you to consider whether these times of the vigil (marked as purple on the rota) are slots that you feel able to sign up for.

If you struggle to use the sign-up rota, please contact christianclimateaction@gmail.com and we will try to help.

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, taking place at St Johns Church, Waterloo. Doors open at 11:30pm, with the service starting at 12:00 noon. The theme for prayers and worship will be lament, longing, love. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER YOUR PLACE

After this service, people will make their own way to outside Parliament, where the vigil starts at 2:30pm.

• Sunday 18th February: Multi-faith Gathering. Join people of different faiths coming together in mutual solidarity and respect, reflections and prayers from a variety of faith traditions will be followed by a meditation walk to join the vigil. Gather outside St John’s Church Waterloo at noon. We expect to join the vigil by about 1.30pm – This is a change to the previously announced end time. We’ve adapted the timings to allow for people who want to go on to the Christ under the Rubble event.

• 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. This will take place from 2 to 3pm.

Got More Questions?

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?

Can you help us fund the No Faith In Fossil Fuels Vigil?

Putting together an event of this size costs money. We want to make all your people-power, banner-power & prayer-power possible. Please donate if you can so we can make The No Faith In Fossil Fuels Vigil flourish.