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Living sustainably in God's world

Bill Lee and Phil Scadden talk about their church's attitude towards environmental responsibility.

The first decade of the new millennium has catapulted environmental issues into the news. Our new vocabulary includes terms such as “peak oil”, “global warming”, “carbon trading”, and “sustainable living”. All over the world, prices for basic commodities such as food and fuel are increasing, and environmental costs associated with our unsustainable lifestyles are escalating. How do we as Christians respond to the challenges of living within environmental limits that may require us to radically change our lifestyles?

For the past year, our small group at Leith Valley Presbyterian Church in Dunedin has been exploring what it means to live sustainably in God’s world. We have undertaken studies on living simply, shared ideas about recycling and energy efficiency, completed an ecological footprint analysis of our church, and explored how we can adjust to the increasing environmental and commodity costs associated with living in New Zealand.

Our desire to go down this path was precipitated by several things. Although many Christian traditions have a long history of living simply with minimal possessions and resource needs, nowadays we are often linked to the materialistic lifestyle of many Western nations. Some historians even argue that Christians are responsible for global pollution and resource depletion because we appear to have little concern for the present and act as though we have a mandate to consume as much as we want. While the charge is poorly grounded both historically and Biblically, the sentiment is widely held. If we want to break out of this caricature, we have to demonstrate by the way we live in our local communities that we care for God’s Creation, and that we accept the need to share Earth with other creatures. Loving our neighbour means allowing people everywhere to have equal access to Earth’s resources for food, clothing and shelter.

Exploring environmental issues provides an impetus to rediscover authentic Christian living, based on a more reflective, gentle, and relaxed lifestyle. We need to engage with activities that bring us closer together as communities, and give us all more time for God.

Currently we are exceeding Earth’s capacity to provide for everyone on the same resource-use basis that we in the developed countries have achieved. We are all required to make lifestyle adjustments, beginning right now. For churches, these represent exciting opportunities to renew our focus on living simply, fostering community, and sharing with our neighbours. Already community gardens are emerging, and families are reordering priorities to cope with less travel, working locally, and strengthening involvement with activities nearer home. We can all participate in this - older generations have experience that we need to tap in to, and younger people are often motivated for change.

As Christians we share the hope of the Gospel that all of Creation will one day be renewed. Living sustainably within the Creation order is a restoration blessing for all.

Bill Lee is an ecologist and Phil Scadden is a geologist. Both worship at Leith Valley Presbyterian Church and both are employed by Crown Research Institutes, Dunedin.