Creation Care for People and Planet
Creation Care for People and Planet
What if your passion for preserving the natural world could translate into front line mission to the unreached?
When it comes to global mission, most of us think about the poor, the vulnerable, the unreached of our world long before we think about global warming or rising sea levels. Growing numbers of us, however, are coming to believe that our care for the poor, vulnerable and unreached is inextricably tied to our care for the natural world.
All over the globe, people who are passionate for God and his creation – both people and planet – are engaged in ministry that seeks to bring the lost to faith in Christ while also benefitting the natural world around them.
John is a team leader in the dry, rural northeastern corner of Kenya. Just outside his town sits the largest refugee camp in the world, where 200,000+ refugees and displaced people suffer in drought conditions under a blazing sun. There is never enough water and rarely enough food.
John and his team are passionate about sharing the love of Jesus with the people around them. They work hard to meet their spiritual and physical needs in any way they can. And one of those ways is caring for the environment through reforestation. They plant about 500 trees a month and have plans to start a tree nursery which they’ll use to bless their community.
“When we started this journey,” says John, “it was a burden of faith in our hearts. We believed that nothing was impossible with God and that we could even command the desert to be green if we changed our mindset. And today we see God’s hand. This is planting God’s way.”
The team is developing plans for pairing their discipleship training sessions, evangelism and church planting activities with environmental awareness training and agricultural initiatives.
Their passion for the preservation of the natural world and their passion for Christ’s name to be known and glorified among the peoples of northern Kenya are working in harmony to bring real and lasting change.
John and his team aren’t the only Pioneers who are meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the poor and vulnerable through creation care. Pioneers teams in many parts of the world are looking after God’s world and His people at the same time. From water engineers to agriculturalists to beekeepers, our Pioneers are always finding new ways to share the love of Jesus with those who most need to hear it.
Why not join them?
Your gifts, skills and passions could make a profound difference in God’s world. We’d love to help you figure out how. Get in touch with one of our mission mentors to find out more.
As you might expect, it helps if you’re willing to get your hands dirty. “We’re looking for adventurous spirits excited to travel in the rain and wind, sleep on the floor and eat whatever we’re given,” says a team partnering with believers in Southeast Asia.
The call hasn’t changed in the two thousand years that separate us from the first mission sending church and their missionaries, Saul and Barnabas. We are still called to Give, Pray, Send and Go. The question we must each ask ourselves if we’re really serious about following in Jesus’ footsteps is, "Which part of ‘Go ye therefore and make disciples’ am I meant to fulfil?"
God has a way of speaking to me about himself through his creation, and my aloe plant is no exception. I was minding my own business, thinking I only had one aloe plant. I looked after it as best as I knew how, but all the while, under the surface, things were happening that I couldn’t have imagined.