Resource and Provision

The first thing we must understand is that environmental stewardship views nature as a resource and provision. More extreme environmentalists tend to contradict this idea because they don’t have a biblical worldview. God has given us His creation not to abuse or to worship, but to use.

The fruit of the land sustains human existence. It’s a way God shows care for us through what he has created. Our day-to-day choices— how we manage the land with our crops, how we treat animals, and how we take care of our natural resources such as water and air is important because they are part of God’s great plan of providing for his creation.

Accountability

There must be a balance between the use and protection of the creation. God has given us the responsibility for life on all sides. One thing that stands out to me while reading through the Old Testament, especially when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, is that God called Moses to be a game warden of sorts and protect the balance of creation.⁵ God calls people to be responsible in terms of game loss and make sure the harvesting of animals is done in a responsible way. An animal that becomes endangered because of human abuse is unacceptable. We must be accountable for the way we handle the delicate balance of nature.

Blessing

An environmental stewardship view looks at God’s creation as a blessing—something sacred. Whenever we see the splendor of God’s creation, we stand in awe, mouth agape at the beauty in a sunset or the creativity in a mountain range or the pure serenity surrounding a pond hidden away in the woods. It’s in these moments that we realize how sacred these places are. God’s creation is a sanctuary—a place where plants, animals, and people should be able to live together in harmony. And we should treat creation with such regard, showing reverence toward the One who created it by making sure others have the opportunity to experience the unspoiled wonders as we have.

Passing it Down

Stewardship is a value to be passed from generation to generation, emphasizing the great importance of caring for God’s creation. Most of the values we adopt from our parents are “caught,” actions and behavior we observe and absorb. What our parents say to us is important, but what they do leaves an indelible mark on who we are as we grow up and mature.

MISLED BY FEAR

Since the components of environmental stewardship seem simple enough and make sense, why has the church in the Western world today refused to embrace these simple values? I believe many Christian leaders have been fearful of what might happen if we advocate something that has been decisively tagged as a value that belongs to those who oppose many Christian values. In our fear, we have been unfaithful to our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation.

Because of my desire to stay bi-partisan, I stayed away from the issue altogether for many years, viewing environmental conservation as a political hot button. In the political landscape of the United States, environmentalism is connected with a liberal perspective on the world. I did not want to attach myself to the many other things “liberals” supported. Since I shared many of the ideals of “conservatives,” I viewed the environment as one issue that I could let slide. That began to change when I realized I couldn’t let political affiliation dissuade my higher allegiance to God’s Kingdom. And part of my charge as a member of His Kingdom is to be a good steward of God’s creation.

In recent election years, this issue struck close to home when we had political discussions with our grown children. As a result of the way they were raised by us, they have a strong love for nature. While I found choosing a political candidate to vote for relatively simple, they were conflicted. On one hand, they sided with candidates who stood for human rights and the right for all people to live, including the unborn. But on the other hand, they also strongly agreed with those who were dedicated to protecting the environment from destruction for the purpose of economic gain. And while most evangelical Christians in the United States would probably deem human life more important than plant and animal life (and rightly so), God still values both people and nature. This tension was keenly felt by both of our children and raised the question: “Why do we have to choose? Why can’t the Body of Christ be for both?” After all, God is for both.

In one sense, it’s hard to blame Christians who experienced the environmental movement of the 1960s. We saw hypocrisy in the “earth first” approach and it seemed meaningless. The whole “mother earth” theology took no one to God—and this had the effect of polarizing us from our neighbors who expressed any kind of ecological concern, blinding us from theologically sound and practically balanced approaches. However, it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore the signs that the earth is under siege by gross human mismanagement. We can’t afford to let those who care for creation for the wrong reasons stop us from caring for creation for the right reasons.

Over and over again, evil has a way of stealing things out of God’s camp, values that the church is called to champion. As a result of the Western church’s apathy toward the environment, much of the world perceives the church as championing a way of life that is destructive to the planet. One environmentalist remarked in obvious irony: “It’s interesting that conservatives are the least likely to support conservation.” I believe it’s time Christians begin to rediscover the values we have lost and be on the leading edge of promoting environmental stewardship with practical instruction on how to implement these ideals in our daily lives.

GETTING INVOLVED

Implementing environmental stewardship in my own thought and life as well as in the life of my church required a plan. Just like any new vision and direction, we needed a strategic process. Here are the highlights of our strategy that are transforming our church culture as well as influencing our community.

Brainstorming

When we recognize something as God’s leading, we can’t drag our feet about it. We must begin devising a plan to arrive at the destination God is calling us to.

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