Living sustainably in a way that loves the planet that God has given to us to look after, and helps us consider our neighbours globally is important to us at Christchurch.
Here is a statement we made in October 2021
Climate and Environmental Emergency Recognition
As Christchurch Baptist, we publicly recognise the Climate and Environmental Emergency facing us.
The world is facing a severe crisis of climate change and environmental
degradation already causing a rise in sea levels, increase in ocean acidity, and an increase in extreme weather events and droughts. Climate change is a contributor to rising hunger globally and is already making storms, floods, fires and droughts more severe and more frequent. The main cause of the crisis is human activity, and the effects will get worse unless we make significant changes.
As Christians we believe that God has entrusted creation to our care. It is a gift that should enable all life to flourish – people, plants, animals, earth, sea, and sky.
Loving our neighbours includes our siblings around the world, and future generations.
In the context of climate crisis, caring for creation and loving our neighbours means living responsibility, acting for the common good, and challenging injustice. It also involves speaking up, calling on our leaders to rise to this moment and look beyond short-term interests to protect the future of the planet.
We are called to love others and speak truth. We are also called to act with hope, refusing the temptation to despair. Our witness of love is a witness to the power and freedom of the gospel.
Our actions seem small compared to the scale of the crisis, but each part of our response matters to God. Therefore, we commit ourselves to:
1. Pray – we need God’s help as we seek to love his world better, and find our way out of this crisis.
2. Examine our lives individually and corporately in relation to this crisis, and seeking to live faithfully to God;
3. Encourage each other to make relevant lifestyle changes;
4. Speak – Using whatever influence we may have to bring about positive actions by local and national government and by corporations.
5. Plan – using A Rocha’s Ecochurch scheme, with input from other organisations, we will put together an action plan in order to look at what we can do practically as a church. This will mean looking at our buildings, our worship, our lifestyle, and community engagement, and make relevant changes over the next year and beyond.
Look at our plan here
