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Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it – Psalm 24
The bible calls us to be good stewards of creation because it’s God’s good gift to humanity, created by and for Jesus.
At St Andrew’s we take God’s call to care for creation seriously, recognising that it is one of the ‘five marks of mission.’
One way we’re doing this is by working with A Rocha to become an eco-church, making climate conscious improvements across five strands of our church’s shared life – teaching & Worship, Lifestyle, Community & Global Engagement, Land and Buildings.
As a result in September 2021 we officially became an ‘eco church’ by achieving an A-Rocha Bronze Award.
We host a Fairtrade stall on the last Sunday of the month. Contact marion@lyon.uk.com to find out more or to place an order.
We’ve had several small groups over the last few years whose members have taken an active role in promoting creation care, praying, making better choices and campaigning for change on a bigger scale. We have also rewilded our church lawn, providing food and habitat for insects and animals.
In May 2023 we launched our Creation Crew Missional Community.
A teaching series in November 2021 helped us to explore what God’s word has to teach us about caring for God’s world and this is mirrored across our children and youth work.
Our children have thought about what they can do at home or school to help look after the Earth and use resources wisely.
“We reuse things” – Phoebe (age 5)
“Recycle” – Kaleb (age 7)
“Don’t use much electricity” – James (age 7)
“Eat less meat” – Merryn (age 8)
“Take a water bottle rather than buying water in a plastic bottle” – Kerryn (age 8)
This term our youth have been answering the question ‘Is creation and the way we live really important to God?’
Here is their response on how we should care for the environment
Why not take stock of how you’re doing as individuals and families in caring for God’s world?
Register to take Creation Care’s simple lifestyle survey to find out how you’re doing and what targets you could set for you and your family.
I was interested to hear that Youth were going to be looking at care for creation, because I hadn’t realised the Bible said anything about it. I’d heard the creation story lots of times, but what I remembered was about how to behave and listening to God. So seeing how much God really cared about his creation, and the detail he put into it, linked into David Attenborough’s programmes and made me look again at how amazing nature was.
At school, looking after the environment was about not dropping litter, but we learnt how that fitted into bigger issues – about climate change, endangered plants and animals and especially how the poorest people, who used the least of the world’s resources, were already suffering from rising sea levels and unpredictable weather.
It has helped me understand how God must feel, looking at how we are living in the world he created and I wanted to do something to help. I’ve been serving on the Fairtrade stall each month and I’m finding out more about the people and places where the crops are produced, so I can talk about it. I know it’s only a start, but I’m pleased to be helping to make a difference.
Looking after the planet wasn’t something I’d given much thought to until I was recently asked to preach from Colossians 1:15-20. It tells us that everything was created by Jesus, and for him, and that he holds all things together. I guess it should have been obvious, but for the first time I thought deeply about the implications of those truths. If he made everything then HE cares for it – all of it.
He has a special relationship with the parts of creation that no man has ever seen. He loves and enjoys what he’s made. And because he’s given it to us to look after he expects us to care for it, love it, and enjoy it too. We also have hope that if he holds it together, we don’t need to fear.
We’ve spent most of our married life living in places with little or no garden. Now we have one and as I take care of it, I’ll remember who it really belongs to.
Many of my values were instilled in me during my upbringing on the island of Trinidad and Tobago. Teaching from church and especially the words and example of my Great-Grandmother played a pivotal role in building the woman I have become today – hard-working, caring and kind, a people person who embraces everyone, with a love for travel, observing nature’s changing seasons and looking after my evolving family. I was able to take plenty of inspiration from those learnings when it came to raising my two young ladies.
I’ve always enjoyed helping those in less fortunate circumstances and felt that I have received blessing as well as blessing others. My involvement in Christian Aid over the years has bolstered my love for supporting people from all walks of life. As a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic, my experiences have strengthened my faith and encouraged me to pursue God further.
I recently joined a small group in the church which has brought me a sense of belonging, along with a strong boost of hope, ironic as the group is called ‘seeds of hope’! This really has rung true for me as it has planted new hope, love and nourishment into my life as we have watched our seeds and young plants grow and mature.
A few years ago we saw a video about a girl who decided to go waste free. This zero waste challenge required sacrifice and conscious decisions about even the smallest day to day actions. Her journey inspired us to look at our own habits. God is a Creator and we believe that we have a responsibility to care for his creation. In South Africa, we started small by composting our food waste, finding recycling centres and choosing plastic free alternatives. Sometimes this was tough and we had to choose whether we really wanted to buy the ready-meal or take the extra effort to make something from scratch.
Coming to the UK we built on these habits. Some practical things we found and suggest are: getting travel coffee mugs, beeswax wraps to replace cling wrap, and local produce or milk deliveries (these come in reusable glass containers!)
When we spend time in creation, we experience first-hand God’s work. His canvas, full of the tiniest details for us to enjoy and discover. High Wycombe offers so many spots where we can each learn from our Creator and in turn understand His love for it and us. It is here where we also realise how it is our responsibility to take care of what He has given us.
It’s not always easy to care for something, but when we understand the importance of caring for what God gave us and experience the joy creation brings, these decisions become a no brainer.
Find out more about what you can do to care for God’s world
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