Reach Out ¢ Missions Rev Dr Andrew Peh is a lecturer in missions and world religions at Trinity Theological College.
Y
ou may have read that the world is teetering on
There are evangelicals in the United States who contest the
the edge of certain extinction and that we are now
view that global warming and climate change is a direct
one minute from midnight on the Doomsday Clock.
consequence of human action. Environmental degradation
While the Covid-19 pandemic may have paused most human
and climate change are seen as the earth’s natural response
activity and provided a brief respite for the earth, the beauty
rather than a result of human consumerism and greed.
of a world where the peak of Everest is visible in Delhi, or the flourishing of some animal species and the lowering of air pollution all across the world are very quickly forgotten as we return to a post-pandemic (endemic) “normality”. Furthermore, the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine will likely further exacerbate the climate crisis. It may well be that amidst the gloom and doom, accompanied by a growing deficit of courage and fortitude among the world leaders to act decisively, the younger generation is seeing the need to rise up and challenge the
Evangelicals were generally tacit in their views and were complicit in discounting numerous efforts to begin to make conscious efforts in addressing and arresting the speed of global warming. Sadly, environmental ethics and caring for creation do not seem to have significance among Protestants. In our churches, there are many members who think that the bottom line is that we need only bother with saving souls and everything else is secondary, perhaps even unnecessary. It may well be that that “saving souls” is the chief end of the mission of the Church. But is that the chief end of the mission of God?
norms and hopefully bring about real change in responding to the climate crisis. I am increasingly convinced that
As I began researching on this particular area through a
evangelical Christianity is complicit in this apathy towards
survey of the Scriptures, I found that God’s word is replete
environmental stewardship.
with all these references where we cannot ignore creation simply because Christ’s work on the cross redeems not
For too long, evangelical Christianity has adopted a “default
only humanity but creation itself. We need to reread the
setting”, where it is all about us! We are at the centre of it
creation mandate in Genesis 1; to respond to the Psalmists
all, where the creation mandate is given for humanity to
call for creation (yes, in all of God’s splendid creativity) to
subdue and have dominion, and therefore gives us licence
praise the Lord; to recount as in Jonah 3 that God’s grace
to use (and abuse) all God has created. We believe that at
is extended impartially to the Ninevites as well as to the
the end of time, this “world will melt like snow” and will
animals, contrary to Jonah’s personal preconceptions. We
be no more and hence we should rightly be concerned only
cannot ignore passages in Romans 8, where Paul wrote that
with saving souls instead of saving whales or planting trees.
“in hope, that all creation, now groaning, will be liberated
METHODIST MESSAGE June 2022
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