Saving God’s Green Earth - Part 2
June 10, 2008
This post originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine. Part 1 appeared yesterday.
This book excerpt is used with permission from the author and is taken from the book Saving God’s Green Earth by Tri Robinson, the founding pastor of the Vineyard BoiseChurch. The book was published in 2006 by Ampelon Publishing (Atlanta, GA).
As our actions begin to back up our talk, the world will begin to see a clearer picture emerge about what it means to follow God. Our deeds will speak so much more than our words. We’ve all heard the saying, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” The church can quickly become the leader in this area because many environmental groups merely express a love for God’s creation without doing much about it.
Let’s face it: most Christians are scared to share their faith because of what might happen. “Will they ask a question I can’t answer? What if I don’t know how to respond? What if they laugh at me?” We can think of lists a mile long of reasons not to talk about our faith with other people. But when we feel most comfortable—and excited about what God is doing within us—is when someone asks us about our faith. Instead of trying to find some clever way to start the conversation (which Jesus didn’t do either, by the way—He was merely being who He was), the other person starts the conversation, and we get to simply tell about our faith.
While Christian t-shirts rarely spark a favorable response or line of questioning from other people, our reusable “green bags” (canvas bags used for shopping which eliminates the need for plastic bags) create a curiosity that people just can’t handle. They have to ask about the bags. “Where did you get those bags?” the stranger asks. “From my church,” is the surprising response. “Really? Your church sells those? Why?” fires off the inquiring mind. “Well, because we believe in being good stewards of the environment— and cutting down on the number of plastic or paper bags is one way to do that,” is the stunning rejoinder. (However, recycling plastic bags you get at the grocery store is also a good way to be friendly to the environment. Many stores will take your old plastic bags—and some will even pay a small amount for each bag.)
Before you can say “paper or plastic,” the questions start coming. Suddenly, an unsuspecting grocery shopper is arrested by the thought that a church in their city just might actually care about God’s creation as much as the shopper does. In Boise, a city that is known for its endless outdoor activities, people hold the environment as an important value, even though they may not be doing much about it themselves. So especially in our town, when people start seeing the church take the lead in caring for the environment, they are intrigued. And for some, the church’s lack of respect for the environment might be the reason why they always dismissed the idea of becoming part of a church community.
Caring for the environment opens so many doors on so many levels to take the love of Christ to others around the world. And caring for the earth is a crucial building block for us to show how much we, as Christians, love people. I have heard plenty of arguments that claim we should care for people above all else—and I agree. However, caring for people is not at odds with being good stewards of the earth. In fact, they go hand in hand.
Consider this staggering observation: Contaminated land is a problem in industrialized countries, but it is also a problem in developing countries where pesticides and nitrate-rich fertilizers damage the environment. When the land becomes infertile in a developing country, starvation is sure to follow. With such rampant poverty in some of these countries, a problem of this magnitude can seem insurmountable and lead to much hopelessness.
Sir John Houghton, one of the world’s leading environmental scientists, recently explained how caring for the environment in developing countries equates to truly caring for people: “Aid and debt relief are not the end of the story for Africa. Climate change will increase the continent’s problems very seriously, and already has. What is the point of taking steps to reduce poverty with one hand while, by ignoring climate change, increasing it with the other? The two problems are inseparable.”
That is why caring for the environment can become one of the most powerful tools for evangelism in the 21st Century. We can—and should— care for the sick as much as possible. But there will be far fewer sick people to help when the environment becomes more livable, through means such as clean water and nutrient-rich soil. Through caring for the environment, the church will be afforded access to areas that at one time were closed to Christians, much like medical missions opened many doors during the 20th Century.
However, we must take it one step farther and educate people on the dangers to their natural resources, equipping them with the knowledge to renew them and protect them from contaminants.
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