Environment

The following is a compilation of responses from three Dunedin people to the original posting, Climate Change and the Gospel.

From Greg Hughson:
Monday 12 October, 2009
My name is Greg Hughson. I have a Masters degree in Biological Science and a Bachelor of Divinity degree with Distinction in Practical Theology. I am an ordained Methodist Minister. I am Moderator for the EIDTS Licentiate of Theology Creation Spirituality Paper. I have been Ecumenical Chaplain at Otago University since 2000. Earlier this year I helped organise Walk for the Planet see http://www.walk4theplanet.org.nz/ (Walk for the Planet was an opportunity for people during Lent to express concern for the well-being of planet Earth, and to share hope for the future.)
Saturday 24 October will be an international day of Global action and awareness-raising in relation to climate change issues. Here in Dunedin, local Churches are being invited to ring our Church bells (if we have them) 350 times on that day to draw attention to the need to reduce the Carbon dioxide concentration in our planet's atmosphere down to a "safe" level of 350 parts per million . (It is currently 389ppm and rising) Please see www.350.org.nz for further information. Bill McKibben, a Christian (Methodist) Sunday School teacher, journalist and writer is one of the initiators...

New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon told an international press conference that the Anglican Communion should offer "moral leadership" in the campaign against global warming. Archbishop Moxon made the comments in Alexandria, Egypt, during a February meeting of the Anglican primates of the 34 Anglican provinces that make up the worldwide Anglican Communion. He had earlier led a special session on the impact of global warming on the environment. He was supported in his 90-minute address by Archbishop Paul Sarkar of Bangladesh, a country which faces dire consequences if sea levels rise. Archbishop Moxon later told a press conference that the gathered Anglican leaders were agreed that the Anglican Communion should offer "moral leadership" in the campaign against climate change. This, he suggested, was significantly a matter of setting an example. He spoke of the need for Anglicans to embrace lifestyle changes, and to cut back unnecessary or environmentally hazardous modes of travel. He also spoke of the need for Anglican leaders to encourage what he called "eco-friendly congregations and environmental projects". Archbishop Moxon told the media that the primates believed the church has a "Biblical, theological and practical role to play in every community" on the issue.
Anglicans needed to do what they could to prevent carbon emissions, and the "overcooking or choking of the planet". Such efforts, he said, should be seen as "an act of participation in God's creation and...

Glyn Carpenter, national director Visionnetwork, MA (Theol and Couns)
To mark this year's day of global action to raise awareness of climate change issues, several Dunedin churches co-ordinated a special bell-ringing session. This event led to a significant discussion among local ministers/pastors about climate change, scientific authority, and the gospel, which the people involved have volunteered to post below so others like yourself can join in.
Discussion rules - be respectful, address issues and arguments not people.  Please include name, job, relevant experience in the opening sentence.
Glyn

For a compilation of responses to this article, click here.

The following comes to you as one of a series of papers drawing from the chapters of the recently published Vision Congress ‘08 book New Vision New Zealand Volume III.
I am drafting these for use in the Baptist pastors clusters, New Zealand wide.
I have obtained permission for this from Vision Network.
They are freely available for use in other contexts also.
Lindsay Jones
Baptist National Consultant
2009 You will need to obtain a copy of the book to read the whole chapter for background.
Baptist churches can do so at a subsidised rate through This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Otherwise: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The indented words in italics below are direct quotes from the chapter. New Vision NEW ZEALAND Volume III (2008) Chapter 10 pgs 139-148 by Richard Storey and Nicola Hoggard Creegan 'Each month New Zealanders dispose of enough rubbish to fill a rugby field to 30 storeys high!' We live in a consumer society. Christians participate in this consumption as much as anyone. Is there a biblical responsibility with regard to consumerism and care for the earth? The degraded state of our natural environment today is primarily a result of the greed, selfishness and ignorance that are basic to human nature. However, in the western world a poor theology regarding the value of God's...

Vision Network position paper on the Environment by Dr  Richard Storey and Dr Nicola Hoggard-Creegan. Human activities, particularly over the last 150 years, have resulted in rapid and widespread loss of species and degradation of ecological processes. These disturbing trends have caused Christians to re-examine the Bible and re-discover the relationship God intended between humankind and the created world. Rather than allowing degradation of the creation, the Bible declares that God considers the earth as God's own and maintains an active interest in its wellbeing. Humans, therefore, have been given the solemn duty of caring for the earth and presenting it back to the Creator, fruitful and abundant. Although the creation has been scarred as a result of human sin, God's plan is to restore its full beauty and restore humans' relationship with it through the saving work of Christ. God calls on humans to join the work of restoration, and therefore we call on the churches of New Zealand to: Educate their members about the biblical reasons to care for all creation. Encourage their members to live in a way that minimises harm to the earth and its creatures. Support the development of a New Zealand Christian environmental organisation that can provide resources and practical opportunities for Christians to engage in creation care. Authors: Dr. Richard Storey, biologist, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Dr. Nicola Hoggard-Creegan, lecturer in theology,...

In May 2008, the Anglican Church of NZ passed a motion that committed the Church to develop its mission, and particularly address the fifth mark of its mission: "To safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the earth." The motion was drafted and presented by the Anglican Social Justice Commissioner, Anthony Dancer Now that the motion is passed, Anthony is seeking to develop an environmental and sustainability audit tool for use primarily in the church's ministry units in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Clearly, if Christians are going to speak up on behalf of the environment, we must first make our own church life environmentally sustainable, and to do that we must start by measuring how we are performing at present.
Anthony is looking for people with suitable passion and knowledge to help with this task. He envisages the work will involve drawing upon audit tools already in existence, and adapt their insights for our own unique context.
This is an exciting opportunity for the Christian community of NZ to truly begin living out the ideas we have discussed on caring for God's earth! Although this project is beginning within the Anglican Church, people of any denomination are invited to be involved, and we hope the results will spread across all denominations. If this sounds as exciting to you as it does to us and you would like to make a contribution or simply find out more, then please click here to contact Anthony Dancer. He'd love to hear from...

December 17, 2007 The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has welcomed the landmark global agreement on climate change struck at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, but warned that its success may be jeopardized if world governments fail to agree firm targets for reducing emissions by the time of the next major gathering in 2009.
A last minute compromise from the US cleared the way for agreement to be reached between the more than 180 countries gathered in Bali over the last two weeks charged with launching negotiations on a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
The new deal commits the US and China to global greenhouse goals for the first time, as well as a two-year process to negotiate further emissions cuts, to culminate in the adoption of a new agreement in Copenhagen in 2009.

On the weekend of September 16-17, 2006, the A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand initiative committee met for the first time to pray, brainstorm and seek a vision for an A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand project. A Rocha is a Christian nature conservation organisation that is working to show God’s love for all creation, and now operates projects in 16 countries across 5 continents (see www.arocha.org for details). The NZ initiative committee, a group of 12 scientists, theologians, business people and educators, is working to adapt the A Rocha vision to our own local context. During the weekend we discussed the needs and opportunities for an A Rocha project in NZ, and identified several goals that will provide the focus for our activities. Among them were: 1) to encourage and resource the Church in NZ to adopt creation-care and ecological thinking as a biblical, essential and integral part of the Christian message. 2) to become actively engaged in one or more environmental restoration projects based on sound scientific research. 3) to help a wide range of people re-connect with God’s creation. 4) To establish (an) A Rocha NZ field centre(s) as a place where people from all walks of life can contribute to relevant research, education, and conservation projects, while living in a Christian community where sustainable living is fundamental. 5) to develop our vision, guiding kaupapa and all activities in true partnership with Tangata Whenua. 6)...

 The name "A Rocha" comes from the Portuguese word for ‘The Rock'.  The first A Rocha project was established in Portugal by two British Christians who were keen on birdlife and who wanted to create a place where people involved in practical conservation projects, scientific research and environmental education could experience God's love for all He has made. A Rocha projects are now established in 16 countries around the world, and we plan to establish a local branch (soon to be incorporated as a charitable trust) in Aotearoa-NZ.  A Rocha projects have a community emphasis, bringing together people from widely differing backgrounds to work together towards common goals. A Rocha Aotearoa-NZ seeks to reach out to both the church and un-churched in their mission to care for the World that God made ("Demonstrating God's love for the earth"). We recognise that there is a biblical mandate for Christians to participate in Creation care, but that at present conservation is not emphasised by the churches, even though New Zealanders in general are environmentally aware and have a sense of being connected to the world and care of creation.

Dr Richard Storey preached this sermon to West Hamilton Anglican Parish in June at the end of a seven-week series on caring for God's creation - a journey that traversed ecology, economics, history and theology. Here he addresses the question, ‘How then shall we live?'