Shirley Parish Church

That God through us will transform our community with the love of Jesus

Articles of Interest

Climate Change, Stewardship and Renewal

 Next week the UN is holding its annual climate conference. The HSBC Climate Partnership – which includes business and environmental groups – has just published the results of an opinion poll in 11 countries. These results, the organisers argue, amount to a ‘global mandate’ for action on climate change. About half the respondents wanted their governments to play a major role. Even in developing countries, where change would bite most deeply, a majority of people were willing to make ‘lifestyle changes’.

Where do we as Christians, and members of church communities, stand? Are we prepared to make sacrifices? Are we willing, at a time of economic insecurity, to press our government to take costly decisions for the future of the planet?

Jim Wallis, in his recent book Seven Ways to Change the World, ends a chapter on stewardship and renewal with this challenge:

‘Psalm 145:9 says: “The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” The implications of that Psalm are boundless. When climate change and ecological pressures threaten the survival of civilization… how do we reassert an ethic of environmental stewardship that is rooted in our …religious values? What does it mean to be good stewards of our endangered environment? And how do we integrate the need for economic growth, especially in the poorest nations, with the crucial need for environmental responsibility? ‘Energy transformation is the key – for personal renewal, social change, and political redemption. How can individuals and families really change their lives? How could religious congregations lead by example in practising model ecological behaviour… by environmentally transforming their own facilities with new conservation practices… and becoming a serious moral…force for political change? How could the ecological…refitting of the world also become a powerful engine of new jobs and economic sustainability? In particular, how could the religious community become the “tipping point” on a critical issue like global warming? All of that is now within our grasp if we make the deeply biblical commitment to be good stewards of God’s creation.’

The church in the UK may not have the political weight of the church in the US, but church communities can set an example; and every church member is part of a wider community. May we all, in our workplaces and communities, use all our influence to promote policies that reflect the Lord’s ‘compassion over all that he has made’.

Helen Parry LICC