St Paul’s Barrow Commitment to Care for God’s Creation.
Created to Worship & Love
‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.’
These powerful words come from the first line of the Apostles’ Creed, one of the oldest summaries of the Christian faith. They remind us that the world around us is not an accident or meaningless matter, nor is it simply a stage for us to live out our individual lives with no regard for anything or anyone else. Throughout the Bible we see this is God’s good world, made with astounding orderliness, beauty and fruitfulness:
‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it’ (Psalm 24:1)
And so a natural outworking of our worship and love for God will be to care for what belongs to him. In fact, humanity has a unique purpose, being made to reflect God in his world as his image-bearers. One way we can do this is by demonstrating God’s loving oversight and reign through our stewardship and service:
‘The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.’
(Genesis 2:15)
Of course, not only do we care for the created world, but as those who are called by the Lord Jesus to love our fellow humanity as our ‘neighbours’, Christians have a duty to live in God’s world responsibly, generously and sacrificially, being mindful of all those who live in God’s world with us.
Turning from God’s Ways.
But sadly, we all fall short of this purpose for which we were created. The Bible describes this rebellion against God’s ways as ‘sin’. For example, too often we thoughtlessly collude with the toxic idolatry of individualism and wasteful consumerism, rather than living to worship God with all that we are. Too often our personal choices or societal policies have little regard for others living on this planet in less fortunate circumstances than ourselves. Too often we don’t think about carefully stewarding God’s world, and instead establish patterns of living that normalise exploitation and pollution. In sorrow, we recognise that God’s world is broken and damaged, groaning under the weight of the consequences of humanity’s actions.
But the wonder of the ‘good news’ of Christianity is that Jesus gave his life for our failures, and as we turn to him in faith and repentance, the Holy Spirit helps us to live lives of love whilst we wait for Jesus’ return and the establishing of his rule and reign in all its fullness.
Fruitful Purposes.
Therefore, as part of our calling to be Jesus’ followers, we want to play our part in caring for God’s world and loving our global neighbours, including through responsibly stewarding all that God has given us. Wonderfully this is not something we are left to do alone. We know that God’s transforming purposes for every Christian involves growing the fruit of his Spirit in our lives, forming us into people shaped by:
‘…love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Galatians 5:22-23).
Similarly, our Christian beliefs also shape how we frame our world’s predicament. We believe that our biggest problems in life cannot simply be reduced to the state of the physical world. Ultimately, we all need to see that human selfishness, greed and exploitation is an expression of a deeper problem: that of turning away from a good, just and holy God.
And so whilst our world needs responsible and wise stewardship, it also needs to hear of the only Saviour who can bring us forgiveness and hope, Jesus Christ, who will one day renew this world.
Here in Carlisle Diocese, we have expressed this commitment to care for God’s creation by stating that one of our four ‘God for All’ themes is to ‘Tread Gently’, alongside the need to ‘Follow Daily’, ‘Speak Boldly’, and ‘Care Deeply. We pray for God’s wisdom to help us be faithful & discerning disciples of Jesus, who love God and love others in this broken world.
The Church of England as a whole has expressed a commitment to have net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and has an environment programme that aims to support, encourage, and enable the whole Church to pray, speak and act prophetically on environmental issues which threaten the flourishing of the whole of creation.
Here at St Paul’s, we have formed a small ‘working group’ to help our church community play its part in caring for God’s creation and loving those people threatened by our misuse of it. Since 2022 we have been part of the ‘Eco Church’ scheme run by A Rocha UK, a Christian charity that equips churches to help care for God’s creation through their worship, buildings, land, community engagement and lifestyle. In November 2022 we were awarded the ‘Bronze’ Eco Church certificate in recognition for the progress we have made in this area, but we are aware this is a journey rather than a one-off accomplishment.
And this is a journey we can all be a part of, regardless of our age, employment status, or economic situation.
What can you do?
- Keep an eye out for more news on the church bulletin, website, or social media.
- Have a look at the ecochurch.arocha.org.uk website.
- Get in touch with our Eco Church Working Group, via the church office.
- You can also complete a free Lifestyle Audit as an individual, family, or household, via the Creation Care website. This helps us see what we're each already doing in this area, as well as explore small changes we may be able to make.
