Creation care is resonating with churches worldwide. A leading pastor tells how the topic can engage the unchurched.

As every pastor knows, first-time home visits can be intimidating. You never know who or what you’ll run into. I’ve had some interesting ones, to say the least. But in July 2006, I found myself making perhaps the most intimidating home visit ever. Walking through the gardens of Prince Charles’ Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire, England, with the Bishop of Liverpool was surreal enough, but when we looked up to see our host arriving by helicopter, the adventure began. Before long, I was standing in a short line, as His Royal Highness greeted each of us personally and at length. As part of a small delegation of U.S. evangelical leaders, I had been invited to collaborate with (more accurately, to learn from) our counterparts in England on the subject of global warming.

The Prince, a long-time environmentalist, walked the receiving line and met the media, the Washington, D.C. representative of the National Association of Evangelicals, the leader of a major denomination, the head of the Evangelical Environmental Network, and, lastly, a representative pastor: me. After a gracious and personal greeting, he got straight to the point: “What is your role, as a pastor, in addressing this challenge?”

Consulting Scripture
Until about a year ago, I couldn’t have answered that question. Like most of us, I’d never thought much about environmental issues other than the typical vague idea that we probably ought to be doing a better job as stewards of God’s creation. In a broader sense, I had been challenging our congregation, Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla., to engage in the problems of the world so that we could actively “love thy neighbor.” But global warming? What did this hot-button (pardon the pun) issue have to do with the church?

Then one day, I received a letter asking me, as an “evangelical leader,” to sign with other leaders on an “Evangelical Climate Initiative.” Impressed with the signatories (including nationally known church leaders Jack Hayford, Brian McLaren and Rick Warren), I thought, What have I been missing? and began to research the essentials.

Of course, the Bible says nothing about global warming (the increase of gases caused especially by pollution that elevates the earth’s temperature), but it is pretty direct about our responsibility to care for and protect the earth. As recorded in Gen. 2:15, God commands Adam (Hebrew for “mankind”) to “till” (the root word means “serve,” not exploit) and “keep” (protect from that which could ruin) the earth. That is to say, we must not only be concerned with production, but also with the protection of God’s creation. Dominion is never given for the purpose of exploitation.

Other passages mention not only the goodness of creation connected to God (Gen. 1), but also His identification with creation and its renewal (Col. 1:15–17, Isa. 65:17, Rev. 21:1). In fact, Scripture references the earth 863 times, compared with 494 references to heaven and 537 to love.

Moreover, I thought of the numerous passages about our responsibility to the poor and disadvantaged, those who would most likely be impacted by the ravages of weather extremes—part of the implications of climate change.

Apparently, I’d missed quite a bit.

Fast Forward 2,000 Years
These days, you don’t have to look far to read or hear about global warming and what we are or aren’t doing to respond
to it. Our national media, indeed the world’s attention, has for the moment become preoccupied with these two words, often associated with a third word—“crisis.” In consistently breaking news, the most renowned scientific institutions in the world relay findings about the unprecedented climate change tied directly to human activity, mainly that of burning fossil fuels.

As church leaders, we must be discerning as we evaluate if or how to engage in any politically charged issue. Global warming is more useful to a pastor as a conversation-starter than as a focus. Those who do not believe it is happening, or that humans do not contribute to it and can’t fix it, or that there are no impending dangers connected with it, believe that because there is some evidence to support their argument. Those who do believe that global warming is real, that humans can be helpful in addressing the problem, and that it might well have some effects that are not gradual but currently volatile, also have evidence. Let’s encourage the debate! I’ve discovered that it initiates an opportunity to expand our spiritual leadership in church and culture. A few learnings:

• The global warming debate helps us expand our obedience to God by caring for the environment. No matter how you feel about it as a scientific theory or how you perceive the recent debates among evangelical groups, every Christian I know says we have a responsibility to be good stewards of creation. So we augment our leadership in teaching “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

• In a cultural atmosphere of polarization, caring for creation is a bridge issue. It enables us to work with other Christians, as well as non-Christians, for the benefit of all people. It concerns every major religion, and many secular citizens. In building this kind of cooperation, we’ll find that we’ve laid a foundation for further communication about moral issues and further service together.

• Creation care reunites Christians with the sciences. While pastors are not generally qualified to argue science, the church working with the scientific community for solutions to problems is, again, a foundation for further important conversations. Christians who want to be a witness for Christ must learn to engage people concerning the importance of creation (Rom. 1:20).

• Creation care will also show us how to work through controversial issues together, teaching us to tolerate those who don’t believe as we do and to cooperate with those who want to make a positive difference.

To Whom It May Concern
I recently did an interview about global warming that was published in a free local paper popular with area college kids. The reader response was overwhelming.

I had young people stop me in the hallways of the church and say how encouraged they were that I had taken that stance. I had e-mails from several to that effect also, and our communications director who is “blog savvy” showed me several blogs that mentioned how surprised and pleased the authors were that an evangelical pastor would pay attention to environmental issues.

Evidently, for every traditional Christian curmudgeon who’s ready to yell at you because “this creation care stuff is just a bunch of liberal tripe,” several younger Christians are waiting for the Church to take the lead in issues that make sense to their generation. If younger and/or more secular people were going to be interested in church for the traditional reasons, they’d already be with us. This post-Christian generation is waiting for Christians and churches to expand their concerns to the biblical issues they resonate with: the environment (Gen. 2:15), the poor (Deut. 15:11–18), justice issues (Isa. 61:8), peace (Matt. 5:9) and human rights, including religious liberty (Gen. 1:26–27).

The global warming issue also gives us a chance to expand the Western version of Christianity—focused on personal morality and congregational survival—to a much wider version focused on serving and impacting all people. This matter of loving your neighbor as you love yourself calls for a global response in today’s world. When we save energy or restrain pollution, the whole world benefits, not just our affinity group. A few weeks after I appeared in a TV spot about global warming, a friend from Sri Lanka called to tell me he’d seen it. He was both excited and surprised to see that an American Christian cared about this issue and was taking action.

Opportunity Instead of Issue
After some discussion with the governing elders at my church, I secured permission to show the made-for-TV movie The Great Warming (thegreatwarming.com) on a Friday night in our sanctuary. As congregational leaders, they asked the natural question: “Is this what we should be attending to, or is this a distraction from the church’s main focus?” I responded with what I believe to be a good approach to ministry: “Engaging in the issues our culture is debating is a good way to explain what Scripture would have us believe and do, as well as an attractive way to invite those who care about the issues into the church discussion.” They agreed.

About 400 people showed up, including many non-members, and most stayed for the pastor-moderated discussion afterward. The elders’ risk resulted in several benefits: We learned what many people were thinking, both pro and con, concerning global warming and the environment. Opening with a caution that all opinions would be treated respectfully in the discussion following the film, we had a civilized and, at times, educational dialogue.

Some participants saw deception, even conspiracy, in “the global warming hype.” Others were pleased and excited that the Church was addressing the issue. Typical reactions ranged from: We shouldn’t take any action until we know more (the stance of those who believe the science is not conclusive and government regulations could hurt the economy, including the poor) to We must take full responsibility and act immediately.

The follow-up letters we received indicated that many congregants were ready to lead the church into a plan of action. Because every post-movie comment began with an implied “Of course, we all have a responsibility to care for creation ...” some are volunteering to outline a grassroots practical approach to planet protection, feeling as though they have a moral mandate. So we got a new cadre of church leadership from this one initiating event.

We distributed initial lists of practical actions steps with more easy-to-do suggestions in progress. The great thing about this issue is that you can contribute as an individual, and it will usually even save you money! People love to tell their friends about these ideas, and your church gets highlighted in that process.

We clarified that global warming would not detour the church from its main business. Especially for the more suspicious or fearful among us, we used the time after the screening to reiterate that creation care is an additional way we could expand our obedience to Scripture.

The opportunity for the church to lead the culture in such a key area is now. We live in an open window of time when the church has the opportunity to take leadership in “outside” matters.

Most Christians are among the world’s wealthiest citizens, and they are under pastoral leadership. So it’s pastors who have the opportunity to make a significant impact. And it’s the pastor who takes the lead in mobilizing his or her congregation to care for matters outside the church—issues that non-Christians also care about. Let’s face it, they’re not expecting the church to be concerned about the environment, much less take visible action. When we surprise them, like I surprised my Sri Lankan friend, often they take notice—of our church, and ultimately, of Christ.

After all, someday we might be asked by the Prince (of Peace, not Wales): “What was your role, as a pastor, in addressing this challenge?”

9 Ways to Care for Creation »

Shades of Green »

Joel C. Hunter is founding and senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla. Hunter serves on the boards of directors for the Global Pastors Network and the World Evangelical Alliance. He also wrote Right Wing, Wrong Bird (Distributed Church Press) to address how the Church can engage in hot-button issues, such as global warming.

 
This feature first appeared in Outreach magazine, May/June 2007. Each issue of Outreach is designed to bring you the ideas, innovations and resources that will help you reach your community and change the world.