The Diocese of Lichfield is edging closer to being able to apply for Fairtrade Diocese status after an additional 38 churches declared they had registered as Fairtrade Churches.

In order to achieve the status, the diocese needs at least half of its 581 churches to register with the Fairtrade Foundation and agree to serve Fairtrade refreshments and promote Fairtrade products. Currently 219 of the diocese’s churches (38 per cent) are known to have achieved the status.

As a result of an internal push to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight, which has just concluded, seven of the diocese’s 28 deaneries (Edgmond & Shifnal, Hodnet, Leek, Lichfield, Newcastle, Shrewsbury and Wem & Whitchurch) now have at least half of their churches with Fairtrade Status and the Deanery of Wrockwardine is 100 per cent Fairtrade Status.

Commenting on the latest figures, the Rev Philip Swan, Director of World Mission for the Diocese of Lichfield, said: “Five years ago the Diocesan Synod expressed its desire that Lichfield should seek Fairtrade Diocese status. It has taken a long time to get where we are now but we still have a long way to go.

“We know that many churches use Fairtrade refreshments but do not see the need to seek official Fairtrade Status; but the reality is that by making this extra commitment we send a message to our congregations and the wider communities we serve that Fairtrade is the way to go.

“This isn’t about putting on a badge and saying: ‘look at us, aren’t we good’, it’s about something simple that we can do here to make a real difference to tackling poverty in the third world; and ensuring a fair deal for the producers – the people who make the coffee and tea we drink, the chocolate we eat and the clothes we wear.”

The Diocese of Lichfield has a regularly updated public list of Fairtrade Status churches. It is encouraging congregation members of churches which are not listed to ask their clergy and church council members why not. The list can be downloaded from lichfield.anglican.org/fairtrade.