Posted: August 5, 2024
The environmental crisis and our mandate to care for creation
A word of encouragement from the MWC Faith & Life Commission and the Creation Care Task Force.
Part 1 of 2
“Creation care” is taking on ever-increasing urgency.
The news reminds us daily of alarming changes in our climate. As the Creation Care Task Force’s survey shows, our sisters and brothers in our global family of faith suffer drought, floods, destructive storms, fire, famine and the devastation brought by war. Wildlife Diverse species are endangered or even going extinct.
We are witnessing terrible violence against God’s beloved creation. And we are increasingly aware of how much we share in the harm, both as sinners and as sinned-against.
How do we respond?
Our answers will surely vary depending on where we live, on our resources, the depth of our faith, our theology and on our willingness to respond to the call of the moment. However, respond we must, whether we live in the Global North, which bears a disproportionate share of responsibility for the crisis, or in the Global South, which bears a disproportionate share of its impact.
We live in a world that has borne the effects of human sinfulness since Eden. It has broken our relationship with God, with each other, and with creation in all its diversity. But we also live in a world in which the gracious and liberating Spirit of God is bringing about “new creation” in and through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What is that Spirit saying to us at this time?
The Shared Convictions and Creation Care
One way the Spirit speaks to us is by reminding us of our MWC Shared Convictions. With all our many differences, they remind us that we already share a basis for us to respond as a family of faith to the environmental crisis.
Here are some implications of the convictions we share:
Shared Conviction #1: God is known to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Creator who seeks to restore fallen humanity by calling a people to be faithful in fellowship, worship, service and witness.
The Bible invites us to extend Conviction #1 beyond God seeking to “restore fallen humanity” to include “all things in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 1:10), including ecosystems that are suffering from the effects of our fallenness.
Indeed, God desires to save us from our callous and violent abuse of God’s beloved creation, so we can join God in truly caring for creation in distress. We will not be saved by our work as stewards of creation; but we are “saved by grace” for the good work that includes care of creation (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Shared Conviction #2: Jesus is the Son of God. Through his life and teachings, his cross and resurrection, he showed us how to be faithful disciples, redeemed the world, and offers eternal life.
When Conviction #2 speaks of Jesus Christ “redeeming the world,” it is a “world” that includes all of creation. It is because God loves the cosmos (John 3:16) that God is in Christ “gathering up all things” in heaven and on earth (Ephesians 1:10). It is this cosmos-loving Jesus who teaches us how to be cosmos-loving disciples.
Shared Conviction #3: As a church, we are a community of those whom God's Spirit calls to turn from sin, acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, receive baptism upon confession of faith, and follow Christ in life.
We hear the Spirit calling us to respond to the suffering of creation by repenting, by turning from greed and selfish ambition. To acknowledge the lordship of Christ is a rock-solid basis for our missionary calling to care for creation.
Because Christ is Lord, the entire cosmos is the field of God’s mission to reclaim, redeem and recreate. To follow Christ in life is to join in on that mission, living simply, reducing the impact of our consumerism on our environment, advocating for those most vulnerable, and responding practically to their suffering.
Shared Conviction #4: As a faith community, we accept the Bible as our authority for faith and life, interpreting it together under Holy Spirit guidance, in the light of Jesus Christ to discern God’s will for our obedience.
The Jesus Christ we meet in the Bible is the one through whom all things are created – everything, not just people (John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16). He is indeed the “light of the cosmos” (John 9:12). That profound mystery must shape our discipleship (John 3:21).
Shared Conviction #5: The Spirit of Jesus empowers us to trust God in all areas of life so we become peacemakers who renounce violence, love our enemies, seek justice, and share our possessions with those in need.
We recognize that violence is an implicit part of the exploitation of natural resources, where the powerful lay claim to land and resources, seeking to silence voices raised in opposition. Those who protect and defend the environment are being persecuted and killed in unprecedented numbers all around the world.
Care for creation in our day calls for us as the body of Christ to call out injustice and violence in solidarity with the vulnerable. Creation care and seeking justice are inseparable.
Shared Conviction #7: As a worldwide community of faith and life we transcend boundaries of nationality, race, class, gender and language. We seek to live in the world without conforming to the powers of evil, witnessing to God's grace by serving others, caring for creation, and inviting all people to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
In this conviction we together clearly state that creation care is at the very heart of the church’s mission to “witness to God’s grace.” Moreover, as a “worldwide community of faith and life,” transcending boundaries of geography, politics, and economic resources, we are presented with countless opportunities to collaborate in responding to the critical need for creation care.
We give thanks for the collaboration already taking place.
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it. Psalm 24:1
- Thomas R Yoder Neufeld, chair of the Faith and Life Commission, is a member of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada;
- Anicka Fast, secretary of the Faith & Life Commission, is a member of Doopsgezind Gemeente Bussum-Naarden, Netherlands;
- Doug Graber Neufeld, chair of the Creation Care Task Force, is a member of Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA;
- with the members of the Faith & Life Commission and Creation Care Task Force.
Look for Part 2 next month: “Faithfulness in action”
Find Season of Creation resources from Mennonite churches:
- “Creation” – Algemene Doopsgezind Nederland
https://doopsgezinden.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Kopie-van-vierbrief-240812.pdf
- To Hope and Act with Creation – Mennonite Church USA and Canada
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