Redland Park United Reformed Church in Bristol has such strong eco-credentials that politicians are flocking there to see how it’s done.

The church’s reputation for good green deeds began a year ago, when it installed 48 solar panels on its south-facing roof. The photo voltaic panels cost forty thousand pounds, and were paid for by a grant from the government’s low carbon building fund and match-funding from energy company EDF.

The measure made the church Bristol’s biggest micro-generation site, producing enough power for much of the church’s lighting or, over the year, to boil around 200,000 kettles.

Local MPs Stephen Williams and Kerry McCarthy climbed the roof to inspect the technology. Then, earlier this month, came the call from energy and climate minister Ed Miliband.

“The caretaker came and said, ‘we’ve got the government on the phone for you,” says minister the Revd Douglas Burnett. “It was Ed Miliband’s PA. She said, ‘Ed’s in Bristol tomorrow. Can he come and see you?”

The ministerial visit was the latest in a series of successes to have raised the church’s profile, which includes getting worldwide media coverage during the Copenhagen summit on United Nations Radio, and receiving a congratulatory letter from the Prime Minister during an Operation Noah event.

“I was in direct contact with Gordon,” says Douglas, who attended the same church as the Prime Minister - St Brycedale in Kirkcaldy - while the pair were growing up in Scotland. “Gordon as a teenager sat a few rows in front of us.”

But publicity and accolades from politicians are not the reason for Redland Park’s eco-approach. “I see climate change as a major mission issue,” he says, adding that “green themes” are built into much of the church’s activities. “It’s something which we share common purpose with the community around us, but we come at it from a faith perspective.”

“It’s massively enhanced the church’s credibility, because we’re seen as a church that’s doing something about the environment. Locally, we’ve become known as ‘the green church’.”

For more information about Redland Park Church, go to: http://www.redlandparkchurch.co.uk/