environment | Tim Høiland

Archives For environment

Chris Wright on creation care and the gospel (The Lausanne Series, Part 4)

May 24, 2012 — Leave a comment

If you’ve been tracking with this series on the Lausanne Movement, you know that in the first three parts of the series, we took a look at three particularly groundbreaking presentations from the First Lausanne Congress in 1974 from René Padilla, Samuel Escobar, and Carl F.H. Henry, respectively. When I introduced the series in April, I quoted missiologist Al Tizon who argues these three presentations “laid the theological foundation for evangelicals to engage wholeheartedly in ministries of community development, justice for the poor, advocacy for the oppressed and the transformation of society, alongside ministries of evangelism, personal discipleship and church expansion.”

I want to add a fourth and final post to this series, adding a more recent layer that’s equally relevant to this blog’s focus on the intersections of faith, development, justice, and peace.

It comes from the Cape Town Commitment, the statement that came out of the Third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa in October 2010. It was a collaborative effort, taking into consideration the perspectives and passions of the 4,200 participants at the Congress, and was drafted by Chris Wright, who heads up the Lausanne Theology Working Group and directs Langham Partnership International.

The first part of the Cape Town Commitment, intended to lay the biblical foundation, is presented as a series of loves: We love because God first loved us; We love the living God; We love God the Father; We love God the Son; We love God the Holy Spirit; We love God’s Word; We love God’s world; We love the gospel of God; We love the people of God; and We love the mission of God. The second part of the Commitment is a call to action on the basis of those loves.

It’s a beautiful, remarkable document.

The section titled “We love God’s world” affirms a proper love of the world’s nations and cultures, with a particular emphasis on the poor and suffering, but also emphasizes the importance of creation care. Here’s an excerpt:

The earth is created, sustained and redeemed by Christ. We cannot claim to love God while abusing what belongs to Christ by right of creation, redemption and inheritance. We care for the earth and responsibly use its abundant resources, not according to the rationale of the secular world, but for the Lord’s sake. If Jesus is Lord of all the earth, we cannot separate our relationship to Christ from how we act in relation to the earth. For to proclaim the gospel that says ‘Jesus is Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel that includes the earth, since Christ’s Lordship is over all creation. Creation care is thus a gospel issue within the Lordship of Christ.

I’ve written before about how a concern for the poor and vulnerable must be connected to a concern for creation care, and in my story about a gold mine in Guatemala I reflected a bit on my theological understanding of stewardship in light of injustice and exploitation. Creation care cannot be reduced to an optional fad or the concern of a single political party.

I’d urge you to watch this talk Chris Wright recently gave at the Global Day of Prayer for Creation Care in Washington, DC. for a compelling theological basis for the importance of creation care, as well as its limits understood in light of scripture (delivered with a wonderful Irish accent).

[Photo credit: Muir Woods via MLeWallpapers.com]

In Culture, Gospel Chris Wright, creation care, environment, Lausanne

Fighting poverty, planting trees

April 19, 2012 — 1 Comment

When I started writing for magazines, I set out to tell stories about the poor, especially in places I had been in Latin America and elsewhere. As an advocacy journalist, I wanted to use the platform I had to amplify the voices of those on the margins, in hopes of making poverty a bit more personal for those who’d read my words, and of showing the real possibilities for transformational development, justice and peace.

But something unexpected happened. In story after story — a community in Guatemala grappling with an unwanted foreign gold mine; a community in Costa Rica recovering from an earthquake; poor rural farmers in Mexico and Haiti and Tanzania trying to feed their families; those living in low-income parts of Phoenix — I discovered an unavoidable environmental theme. Whether the threat was cyanide in the water, bulldozing for an unneeded road, deforestation at the hands of locals and foreigners, or officials turning a blind eye to the careless practices of toxic industries in an urban neighborhood, I couldn’t escape the realization that the well-being of the poor is directly tied to creation care.

Of course, all of us benefit from creation care, but whereas you and I can insulate ourselves from the worst effects of pollution and contaminated water and deforestation, in many cases the poor — and particularly the rural poor — don’t have that luxury.

This Sunday is Earth Day, and you don’t have to be a raging environmentalist (or even a liberal!) to give some thought to what it might mean to honor our Creator by caring for what he himself has declared good. Consider the psalmist, who joyfully declared, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” We are God’s handiwork, made in his image, but we’re also entrusted to cultivate and steward the rest of his good creation. I suspect Abraham Kuyper had this psalm in mind when he said his most famous words, “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ’This is mine! This belongs to me!’”

The good folks at Plant With Purpose (whose work I covered last summer for Prism) are curating a page over at the snazzy new World Vision ACT:S site for their Earth Day Challenge, providing resources and creative challenges for being more involved. It’s one of a number of campaigns PWP is part of this month, actually. I’d encourage you to check out the Earth Day Challenge and consider what it might look like to honor the Creator and to love our neighbors this Earth Day.

(Not to sway you or anything, but I really like the Trees Please! campaign.)

[Photo credit: Plant With Purpose]

In Justice creation care, deforestation, Earth Day, environment, Plant With Purpose, pollution, poverty, rural poor, stewardship, toxic, trees, World Vision ACT:S

Repaso: Voting questions; Latinos & the environment; conservatives & immigration; evangelicals overseas; Lancaster, PA

March 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

1. Four important voting questions
Gideon Strauss suggests four questions that gospel-motivated citizens should consider when voting, but that his 11-year-old self wouldn’t have considered: Will this candidate help rehumanize American political life? Will this candidate help Americans of differing convictions to coexist more peaceably? Will this candidate help American communities and institutions toward a more symphonic justice? How does this candidate talk? These are important considerations in an election year.

2. Latinos and environmental stewardship
A Fox News Latino article takes a look at Latino support for legislation related to climate change, indicating that in addition to immigration, education and jobs, Latinos are also very concerned about environmental issues:

A 2010 study by Yale and George Mason universities found 66 percent of Latinos considered climate change a “high” or “very high” priority for the president and Congress to address, compared to 48 percent of non-Latino whites… Latinos viewed several forms of environmental damage, including air pollution and toxic waste, as a more pressing issue than whites did… Quintero said Latinos are less likely to question climate change because they have more contact with countries in Latin America that lie closer to the equator, where the repercussions are more evident. “The reason that Latinos believe and see the reality of climate change is because they live it,” Quintero said. “These impacts are very real and they’re costing lives and they’re costing jobs.”

3. Conservative evangelicals and immigration
Ali Noorani writes for CNN about a recent conference in Alabama focused on immigration from a biblical perspective and changes taking place among ordinary conservatives and evangelicals:

If you think all conservatives support a deportation-only approach to immigration, think again. Last week, hundreds of conservative evangelicals gathered in Alabama to engage in a reasonable, respectful discourse on immigration. You read that right. Less than a year after Alabama enacted the strictest immigration law in the land, evangelical students, pastors and national faith leaders gathered at Samford University in Birmingham for “a Christ-centered conversation on immigration” called the G92 South Immigration Conference… A fundamental shift is occurring among conservatives toward a new consensus on immigrants and America. These are the early steps in a march by Americans of all political stripes fed up with partisan attacks on immigrants and immigration — a groundswell ready and willing to skewer political extremism from either side of the aisle.

4. U.S. evangelicals’ overseas focus
Karl Zinsmeister writes in Philanthropy Magazine about how evangelicals in the U.S. are becoming more and more actively involved in overseas ministry, looking at different denominations and faith-based NGOs. The piece covers a lot of interesting ground, but here’s an interesting blurb:

While smart government agencies and secular NGOs often hire local workers to help them navigate crucial cultural nuances, Christian aid generally takes place in close partnership with indigenous church members. Those partners, who are both local and motivated by religious conviction, are especially good at opening doors, establishing trust, and mobilizing communities. That’s why AIDS care, health clinics, schooling, and similar assistance provided by Christian philanthropists and volunteers is frequently more transformational than aid delivered by other organizations. (Recognizing this advantage, some governments and NGOs seek out partnerships with religious philanthropies—as happened with AIDS assistance during the Bush administration.)

5. Lancaster, PA does it again
Yep, a new study shows that well-being is higher in the Lancaster metro area than in any other metro area in the country. Though I no longer live there, that finding makes me happy. It really is a great little city. Daniel Klotz has good analysis at his Lancaster, PA Blog.

Repaso is intended as a thought-provoking compilation of news and commentary from the past week related to the intersections of faith, development, justice and peace. As always, I welcome your thoughts on any of the links and ideas in this roundup!

[Photo credit: storiesofusa.com]

Repaso: Portland, OR; meaning of Lent; rocking the boat; immigration & biblical justice; creation care & mission; judging faith commitments

February 24, 2012 — Leave a comment

Today and tomorrow, Katie and I are at The Justice Conference in Portland. Look for blog updates of some sort, if not over the weekend, then early(ish) next week.

1. The meaning of Lent
I’m grateful that Katie and I are able to observe Lent this year as part of Christchurch Mesa:

The Christian calendar season of Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church. The ancient church that wrote, collected and canonized the New Testament also observed Lent, actually believing it to be a commandment from the apostles. The season has traditionally served as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. Therefore, Lent has always been a season of soul-searching and repentance – for reflection and taking stock.

2. Rocking the boat
Tom Becker, who lives in Lancaster and heads up The Row House (“nothing is not sacred”), writes for Catapult Magazine on the dangers of being, of all things… nice:

[W]hy should debate be considered taboo? Why are we so uncomfortable with those who rock the boat, even if they are motivated by love? I’m going out on a limb here, but maybe we Pennsylvania Dutch tend be just plain cowards. Cowardice is a sin of omission I find myself confessing regularly. I create so many missed opportunities to speak truth lovingly. Guilty as charged.

3. Immigration and biblical justice
Tyler Johnson, one of the pastors at Redemption Church here in Phoenix, had a great essay on the issue of immigration “through the eyes of biblical justice” in last week’s Capital Commentary:

[As] Christians we must acknowledge that our current approach to immigration does not honor God or advance justice. We must confess that God’s command to love our neighbors includes loving people who don’t look like we do, who don’t speak English, and who weren’t born in the United States. And we must work together as leaders and citizens to develop a plan that brings together and commits to uphold the biblical mandates to love our neighbor.

4. Chris Wright on creation care
Chris Wright, whose talk on faith in the marketplace I summarized here, was interviewed by Jim Ball at the Evangelical Environmental Network about creation care and how it relates to Wright’s work with the Lausanne Movement:

5. Franklin Graham’s comments on politics and faith
This week Franklin Graham, head of Samaritan’s Purse and son of the world’s most famous evangelist, made some unfortunate comments speculating on the authenticity of various political figures’ identities as Christians. Peter Wehner, who was part of the Bush administration and is co-author of the excellent City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era (which I blogged about here), writes wisely:

The problem here is Graham is judging President Obama’s faith commitment based on a political, not a theological, basis. What Graham seems to be arguing is that Obama is a liberal, he’s wrong on “moral issues,” and so a question mark has to be put over the faith of the president, who has spoken in moving terms about his own journey to Christianity.This is dangerous territory for Graham to reside in. For one thing, it sounds as if the Reverend Graham is questioning whether one can be a political liberal and a Christian at the same time. Of course one can be and to suggest otherwise is offensive. (I’m tempted to say some of my closest friends are Christians who are politically liberal.)

[Photo credit: oregontravelcenter.com]

Sustainability in the Valley of the Sun

February 2, 2012 — 3 Comments

When Andrew Ross first came to the Phoenix, he was interested in learning what local artists were doing to revitalize downtown, a desert city with an urban core that, to many urbanists, leaves much to be desired. No city exists in a vacuum, however, and Ross soon came to the conclusion that to understand Phoenix he had to understand the story of the other cities and sprawling suburbs throughout the valley. It was through this research that he concluded that the Phoenix metro area — which includes nine cities with populations of 100,000 or more — was, as he puts it in the subtitle, “the world’s least sustainable city.”

Some may take issue with that claim, but Phoenix’s problem is evident: a sprawling population of four million and counting in a sun-scorched desert certainly poses significant sustainability challenges. Further, as Ross argues, a prevailing culture of rugged individualism and a widespread aversion to all forms of regulation have only exacerbated the sustainability challenges.

As a relative newcomer to Phoenix, I was particularly interested to learn what is being done to make Phoenix more sustainable, and what obstacles stand in the way. According to the book, the obstacles have for the most part gotten the upper hand. But with a heightened awareness of the need for more sustainable living across the country and around the world, Ross believes that Phoenix can point the way to the future, for better or worse…

Read my full review of Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City (Oxford University Press) at Englewood Review of Books.

In Culture Andrew Ross, Bird on Fire, book, Englewood Review of Books, environment, green, Lessons From the World's Least Sustainable City, Oxford, Phoenix, review, stewardship, sustainability