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Guest column: Evangelical clergy say addressing climate change is pro-life
Guest column: Evangelical clergy say addressing climate change is pro-life
Guest column: Evangelical clergy say addressing climate change is pro-life
Posted: October 13, 2014 - 11:18am
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For us, being pro-life includes not only defending our unborn children but also the biblical mandate to care for all life.
While the threats may be different, the injunction to protect life is the same.
We are called to protect this seamless garment of life.
Toxins and other pollutants foul our water, air and soil, impacting the purity of life God intends.
FLORIDA IS GROUND ZERO
Children are especially vulnerable to many of these pollutants because their small bodies are still developing.
A few years ago, pro-life evangelicals spoke out on the impact of mercury on the unborn.
One in six children in the U.S. was born with too high levels of mercury in their blood.
Because of the efforts of pro-life evangelicals, the United States is taking a leadership role in reducing the impact of mercury on the unborn.
Another important issue is water.
As a recent USA Today op-ed put it, if you care about life, pay attention to what’s happening with water.
We believe climate change to be a profound pro-life issue.
And Florida is ground zero when it comes to climate change.
Cities across the state are already spending millions in taxpayer dollars to install new sea level pumps, bolster sea walls and protect from salt water intrusion.
While it is good to respond to current challenges, it is even more cost effective to spend funds ahead of time to prepare for present changes in the climate, including extreme weather events.
Let’s upgrade Florida’s water pumps and building codes today before we have to clean up a bigger mess tomorrow.
WE MUST BE GOOD STEWARDS
Given the dollars already being spent and the scale of the cost, if you care about taxpayer money and limited government, you should care about climate change.
We are also concerned about worsening air pollution under climate change.
Duval County alone has almost 18,000 cases of pediatric asthma.
That number would be dramatically lower if we were better stewards of God’s world.
When we see the present impacts, our pro-life ethic kicks in.
Let’s empower individuals to take the lead when it comes to entrepreneurial business solutions that create a cleaner environment.
We need to see climate not as an issue about politics or partisanship but as a moral concern.
God has given us all the tools to be good stewards of God’s creation.
TIME FOR A REAL PLAN
It’s time for Florida to come together to come up with a plan to address climate change.
The church in Florida is already starting to take the lead.
As the church starts to take on climate change more directly, it’s also time for clean businesses to take the lead.
The cost of solar has plummeted, yet Florida is still well behind where it could be when it comes to clean energy.
We need to do what we can to transition away from expensive fossil fuels and toward cheaper and healthier technologies.
These actions should include putting together a plan to play Florida’s part in achieving the Clean Power Plan.
And finding conservative solutions to addressing carbon pollution.
Our poor stewardship of God’s world is a reflection of how seriously we take God’s teaching.
That’s why creation-care remains integral to being pro-life.
■ The Rev. Joel Hunter is senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, Longwood, FL.
■ The Rev. Mitch Hescox is CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network.
■ Alexei Laushkin is vice president of the Evangelical Environmental Network.
Evangelical Clergy Say Addressing Climate Change Is Pro-Life
While the threats may be different, the injunction to protect life is the same.
We are called to protect this seamless garment of life.
Toxins and other pollutants foul our water, air and soil, impacting the purity of life God intends.
FLORIDA IS GROUND ZERO
Children are especially vulnerable to many of these pollutants because their small bodies are still developing.
A few years ago, pro-life evangelicals spoke out on the impact of mercury on the unborn.
One in six children in the U.S. was born with too high levels of mercury in their blood.
Because of the efforts of pro-life evangelicals, the United States is taking a leadership role in reducing the impact of mercury on the unborn.
Another important issue is water.
As a recent USA Today op-ed put it, if you care about life, pay attention to what’s happening with water.
We believe climate change to be a profound pro-life issue.
And Florida is ground zero when it comes to climate change.
Cities across the state are already spending millions in taxpayer dollars to install new sea level pumps, bolster sea walls and protect from salt water intrusion.
While it is good to respond to current challenges, it is even more cost effective to spend funds ahead of time to prepare for present changes in the climate, including extreme weather events.
Let’s upgrade Florida’s water pumps and building codes today before we have to clean up a bigger mess tomorrow.
WE MUST BE GOOD STEWARDS
Given the dollars already being spent and the scale of the cost, if you care about taxpayer money and limited government, you should care about climate change.
We are also concerned about worsening air pollution under climate change.
Duval County alone has almost 18,000 cases of pediatric asthma.
That number would be dramatically lower if we were better stewards of God’s world.
When we see the present impacts, our pro-life ethic kicks in.
Let’s empower individuals to take the lead when it comes to entrepreneurial business solutions that create a cleaner environment.
We need to see climate not as an issue about politics or partisanship but as a moral concern.
God has given us all the tools to be good stewards of God’s creation.
TIME FOR A REAL PLAN
It’s time for Florida to come together to come up with a plan to address climate change.
The church in Florida is already starting to take the lead.
As the church starts to take on climate change more directly, it’s also time for clean businesses to take the lead.
The cost of solar has plummeted, yet Florida is still well behind where it could be when it comes to clean energy.
We need to do what we can to transition away from expensive fossil fuels and toward cheaper and healthier technologies.
These actions should include putting together a plan to play Florida’s part in achieving the Clean Power Plan.
And finding conservative solutions to addressing carbon pollution.
Our poor stewardship of God’s world is a reflection of how seriously we take God’s teaching.
That’s why creation-care remains integral to being pro-life.
■ The Rev. Joel Hunter is senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, Longwood, FL.
■ The Rev. Mitch Hescox is CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network.
■ Alexei Laushkin is vice president of the Evangelical Environmental Network.
Christians and Climate Change
Dr. Joel C. Hunter talks about the visible impacts of climate change with Dr. Scott C. Hagen, director of CHAMPS Lab and professor at the University of Central Florida, and Rev. Mitch Hescox, president of The Evangelical Environmental Network.
Evangelicals in Florida turn to climate change and call on Gov. Scott to act
Evangelicals in Florida turn to climate change and call on Gov. Scott to act
Evangelicals in Florida turn to climate change and call on Gov. Scott to act
Evangelical leaders in Florida have taken on climate change as a cause and are trying to increase pressure on Gov. Rick Scott to take action, while criticizing Sen. Marco Rubio’s stance on the issue.
“He’s smarter than that,” Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland church in Longwood, said in an interview.
This evening, Hunter will moderate a discussion at his church on why Christians should care about climate change. Among the panelists is the Rev. Mich Hescox, president of the Evangelical Environmental Network, who wrote a letter to Rubio about his widely publicized comments doubting man’s contribution to climate change.
Hescox is also gathering signatures for a petition aimed at Scott.
“As Christians, we believe that God's grace empowers us to honestly confront the challenges we face and change for the better,” it reads. “We are failing to keep our air and water clean for our children, contributing to a changing climate that most hurts the world's poor, and putting Floridians at risk as temperatures and sea levels continue to rise. To meet these challenges, we need leaders who understand our duty to God’s creation and future generations. That's why we are calling on Gov. Rick Scott to create a plan to reduce carbon pollution and confront the impacts of a changing climate.”
Hunter, who is a spiritual advisor to President Obama, says he’s taken to urging congregants to do their part: Turning off lights that aren’t needed, setting air conditioning at a reasonable temperature, keeping car tires properly inflated.
He said he was neither panicked nor preoccupied with the issue. “But this is part of what I think is the moral responsibility of the church to lead in areas that can benefit and protect people.”
Asked about Rubio’s comments, he said: “There are certain aspects of this where qualified scientists could disagree, but not with the overwhelming conclusion. I don’t doubt his sincerity, but I understand his political constituency and so does he.”
Rubio lashed out at liberal critics by saying they won’t accept the settled science that life begins at conception.
“I”m pro life so everything about it, I’m in,” Hunter said. “But even if that’s true, two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s not like you can prove the validity of your stance by saying the other side has a wrong stand. That’s not logical.”
Joel Hunter launches multi-faith effort on climate change
Joel Hunter launches multi-faith effort on climate change
Pastor Joel Hunter announced Wednesday that he is launching an inter-faith initiative to raise awareness and action regarding climate change.
The iniative, called Blessed Tomorrow, brings together Muslim, Jewish, Catholic and Protestant faith leaders who have pledged to work with their congregations and communities in response to climate change.
“Faith leaders and their communities have been at the forefront of moving America forward throughout our nation’s history. From abolition to human rights, we have been there to answer our call to care for all of God’s creation. Blessed Tomorrow builds on that tradition by bringing together a diverse group of leaders from across the country who are committed to making an impact on one of the greatest moral imperatives of our time — climate change,” said Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, a Church Distributed in Longwood.
Blessed Tomorrow expands Hunter's advocacy among evangelicals that care of the planet is founded in the Scriptures, and not the exclusive domain of liberals and environmentalists.
Blessed Tomorrow provides simple, proven resources faith leaders can use to empower their members and communities. Congregations are urged to create a Path to Positive plan, which will guide them to be better stewards of God’s creation for the sake of future generations.
Learn more about how people of faith and congregations can create their own Path to Positive:(http://blessedtomorrow.org/path-to-positive)
MegaChange: 10 Trends Reshaping the American Megachurch
Today, megachurches (with attendance of 2,000 or more) are not only growing, they are growing in certain notable ways. To start, they are getting younger and more ethnically diverse, and they’re attracting more singles.
Not only are they growing numerically, but the combined number of them in America is growing as well; from 150 in 1980, 350 in 1990, 600 in 2000 and about 1,600 today. Fifty percent of churchgoers attend one, though megachurches account for only 10 percent of American congregations. The latest research by The Hartford Institute and Leadership Network reports that “the stated average attendance for these churches grew from 2,604 in 2005 to 3,597 in 2010.” Big churches are getting even bigger.
Fifteen years ago, business expert Peter Drucker referred in Forbes magazine to the rise in the megachurch movement as “the most important social phenomenon in American society in the last 30 years.” Of course, the movement has grown significantly since he wrote those words.
In their book Beyond Megachurch Myths, Scott Thumma and Dave Travis write that “megachurches, their practices and their leaders are the most influential contemporary dynamic in American religion.” This influence has now superseded that of denominations, seminaries and religious publishing, they say. These older and established institutions are, no doubt, wrestling with these new realities.
Whether or not these claims are overstated, the influence of megachurches undoubtedly continues to grow. Among the evangelical church world today, these megachurches are the prime influencers of leadership development, worship styles and ministry innovation. The pastors who lead them are writing the books most pastors are reading and keynoting the conferences most of them are attending.
While megachurches continue to experience mega-growth, the question emerges: How are they adapting as the culture changes and the megachurch movement matures? What are the megatrends?
1. Timothys on the Rise
In the 1970s and ‘80s in America, with the number of large churches much smaller than today, big church pulpits were even more coveted and selectively filled. Denominations tended to reserve those opportunities for their most “seasoned” pastors—those who were older and had “paid their dues” in ministry.
That trend has changed. The average age of lead pastors in megachurches is getting younger. Today, 25 megachurch pastors range in age from 30 to 37. As of last year, the average age of the lead pastor at the largest 100 churches in America was 47.
Along with this growing number of Timothys has come aging Pauls who are recognizing that the thing their congregation may need the most is for them to make room for younger leaders.
At last year’s general council of the Assemblies of God in Orlando, Fla., J. Don George (long-time megachurch pastor of Irving, Texas’, Calvary Church) talked about making a place for Timothys. When he faced an 18-year-long “plateau” of 3,000 attendees, George said, “God showed me that my church was too old. When I looked in the mirror, I knew it was true. So I told God I would spend the rest of my life making a place for young leaders to emerge.” Today the church is replete with numerous NextGen leaders. Calvary Church is much younger on average and running more than 9,000 in attendance.
2. A Spiritual Formation Reformation
Megachurches are often accused by outsiders of being shallow. Some say: “It’s true they are big, but they are 1,000 miles wide and about one inch deep!” The implication is that while sizeable, megachurches are just not that spiritual.
But, there are clear signs of megachurches digging deeper. Joel Hunter, pastor of Orlando, Fla., megachurch Northland, A Church Distributed, says, “It is slowly sinking in to many megachurches that we live in a culture similar to first century Christianity, where the gospel was advanced in a non-Christian, often hostile environment by making disciples within relational networks.” Spiritual growth is happening in “new” ways, and many megachurches are finding ways to nurture it.
The approaches are moving away from podiums and classrooms to cafés and living rooms. According to Hunter, “The modern institutional paradigm in the West is waning in favor of simpler generic gospel evangelism and discipleship groups.” Programs are out; mentoring is in.
3. The Growing Ethnic Church
Time magazine recently featured a cover story that cited such a significant growth in the influence of Latino evangelicals that it titled the story, “The Latino Reformation: Inside the New Hispanic Church Transforming Religion in America.” The article featured a story on a Latino megachurch in Chicago, New Life Covenant Church, which in 2000 had just 100 members and today has more than 17,000, making it the largest Assemblies of God church in the country.
Wilfredo “Choco” De Jesús, the pastor of New Life Covenant Church, succeeded his Spanish-speaking father-in-law 14 years ago.
De Jesús sees one of his decisions as strategic to the church’s growth: "We started doing English services to reach third-generation Hispanics who love their culture, but prefer to hear a sermon in English. I started doing that, and the church started growing."
Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren also saw an opportunity in the Latino emergence several years ago. In the last 10 years he has helped start 35 Spanish-speaking congregations throughout Orange County, Calif., where Saddleback is based.
Black megachurches similarly are on the rise in the United States. In her book The Black Megachurch: Theology, Gender and the Politics of Public Engagement, Tamelyn Tucker-Worgs describes her early encounters with black churches in the D.C. area: “I was simply amazed by the numbers of extremely large black churches that dotted D.C. and its surrounding suburbs. These churches were different from those I had attended back home. … They seemed to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they seemed to have ‘ministries’ that fulfilled every need one could possibly imagine. … The ministers [preach on] relevant topics from one’s love life to one’s pocketbook. … I was surprised to find that the congregations consisted of young people—young families and single people.”
Twenty years ago the majority of black churches were in urban settings. Today, they are just as frequently found in suburban ones.
4. A Team Culture
Collaboration has become the skill of the age. Many megachurches are no longer simply trying to get people within the church to work together in teams. Now they’re developing what I call teaming cultures.
Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv sees teaming culture as “essential to everything we do to fulfill our mission.”
But do the ingredients of a great ministry team change as churches grow? Are smaller church teams different than megachurch ones? Although LifeChurch.tv has grown from a handful to some 30,000 attendees today, Groeschel says, “The principles of team don’t change based on the size. The only difference now is we are one big team [made up of] many smaller teams.”
Paid megachurch teams today are leaner than they were 10 years ago. And since the recession of 2008, they have learned to accomplish more with less by assigning multiple roles and more efficiently utilizing volunteer teams.
5. Celebrity Pastor or Celebrating the Faithful?
Like many megachurch critics, Wilmer MacNair says in his book, Unraveling the Megachurch: True Faith or False Promises? “The megachurch features a regal pastor who is the church’s head minister and is totally in charge and in control.” However, research shows that the average megachurch pastor, although strong in his leadership gifts, has surrounded himself with a strong team of elders and staff members.
While leading so many people might make celebrity status inevitable, many megachurch pastors are moving the spotlight away from themselves and onto their church’s individual members—often through stories of faith and service, creatively and beautifully told with video and other media. These stories are proving powerfully effective as focal points for nurturing faithfulness and engagement in the entire congregation.
6. Leveraging Church Resources for Social Transformation
Today, many megachurch pastors are discovering the power of helping hundreds as their churches put systems in place to help create social transformation. One example is the Los Angeles Dream Center, affiliated with Angelus Temple and led by Matthew Barnett.
The L.A. Dream Center is housed in the abandoned 15-story, 400,000-square-foot Queen of Angels Hospital building. There are currently over 850 residents living in the facility, people with various life needs and of those who minister to them.
“God is raising up a younger generation of churches that recognize that Sunday is not the destination point,” Barnett says. “It is the launching point to get the church mobilized Monday through Friday.
“Pastors used to believe that what they really needed to succeed was a bigger building than other churches. Now they are rediscovering what a shallow view this was and that the real ministry is among the needs of the people of their communities.”
The Dream Center strategy of holistic ministry has been replicated across the country many times over. Some 7,000 leaders each year come to the Dream Center in L.A. to observe, volunteer and learn. As a result, there are now 200 Dream Centers across the country.
“We are finding out just how simple it can be to live out the gospel,” Barnett says. “We are moving from social justice to social transformation. Social justice is awareness; social transformation is doing something about it.”
7. The Quest for Better Metrics
“We are so over counting ‘nickels and noses,’” says Northland’s Joel Hunter. “Church attendance and finances tell little of how many in the congregation are actually living as disciples and making other disciples on a weekly basis. We are coming up with better surveys like: How many of us belong to a spiritual small group? How many of us have a ministry or area of service for Christ? How many of us have brought someone else to Jesus?"
New technologies are making it easier to examine spiritual fruit in the lives of believers. They are revising how churches lead and serve their members and how they evaluate their level of effectiveness—no longer just from year to year, but from day to day.
“The win is being redefined,” says Ben Cachiaras, pastor of Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Md. “Attendance, buildings and cash are still worth counting, but now you hear churches getting excited about the changes they feel called to make in their community, as neighborhoods and cities are transformed by the gospel. …These are new metrics.”
8. The Big Church Search for Small Church Intimacy
One of the myths about megachurches is that they are generally distant, aloof, political and impersonal. This is usually true only for those who loosely affiliate with the church, slipping in and out of worship services.
Still, for a big church to become truly strong, it needs to develop lots of smaller “churches” within it, which is why 82 percent say small groups are now essential to their spiritual formation strategies. And many are restructuring to create smaller church experiences within the context of large. This is the case at National Community Church in Washington, D.C. This megachurch, pastored by best-selling author Mark Batterson, consists of six multisite congregations that average about 350 attendees per worship service.
Stewardship of facilities is becoming more desirous, while large buildings occupied for only a few hours a week are becoming old school. This means more churches are becoming multisite. In fact, half of all megachurches today are multisite, and another 20 percent are considering it. Multisite megachurches have also grown faster than single-site megachurches over the past five years.
9. The New Collaborations
Megachurches have begun to form mega-collaborations. While churches have traditionally affiliated along denominational and geographical lines, today more megachurches are affiliating via other networks, and along lines of affinity. Connection points include various summits held across the nation and globally among pastors of larger congregations for interaction, support, fellowship and strategic thinking.
Northland, for instance, has joined an association with other church-based and parachurch organizations, like Campus Crusade for Christ, to plant 5 million churches in the next 10 years. Other groups are partnering around causes like human trafficking, poverty and the need for water wells in developing countries.
Another collaborative trend of the past 10 years is churches affiliating with megachurches. In some cases this is a loose affiliation, like Willow Creek Association, Saddleback’s Purpose Driven Network or LifeChurch.tv. In others, it is a full-fledged incorporation and merger with the megachurch. 10. The Shifting Shape of the Virtual Church
LifeChurch.tv has long been noted for its innovative use of technology. The YouVersion Bible app it created has surpassed 100 million downloads. And you can join the LifeChurch.tv worship experience anywhere via laptop or desktop computer, tablet or mobile phone. Instead of the church you go to, it’s the church that comes to you.
Today LifeChurch.tv literally has thousands of churches in many different languages doing church online, and some 4,000 churches have signed up to use its free Church Online Platform (ChurchOnlinePlatform.com) to host their services. Pastor and Innovation Leader Bobby Gruenewald of LifeChurch.tv notes the growth in the connected church: “Things have definitely changed from when we started. We continue to be passionate about doing ministry in this context and have hundreds of volunteers who invest themselves each week in making it possible. It is a vibrant ministry that is reaching many people who may not have otherwise heard the gospel or been able to connect with a physical church. We see online church as very much a part of our future and believe it is a continuing trend in the global church.”
Also passionate about online ministry, Northland was the first local church to do international concurrent worship in the 1990s via video, at that time connecting Orlando and the Republic of Namibia, in Africa. The church continues to engage worship internationally and concurrently every weekend. However, according to Hunter, “We are seeing now that unless we can plant actual churches in all these sites, the worship we do together will be merely a common experience and not a missional advancement.” Hunter goes on to explain that such “building” is not about physical structures but small groups of people who care for each other spiritually and serve their communities together.
One momentous event in Northland’s concurrent worship model occurred the weekend after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. At that time, one of the churches worshipping with Northland via video was located in Cairo, Egypt. Hunter recalls, “I will never forget the bond created by their [real time] prayers and from our hearing directly from their pastor that our Middle Eastern family was with us in spirit and heart.”
SOURCE: Robert Crosby, Outreach Magazine
Northland Film Builds Bridge Between Evangelicals and Environmentalists
SOURCE: Jeff Kunerth, Orlando Sentinel It's not easy turning an evangelical into an environmentalist.
But a new documentary from Northland, A Church Distributed aims to do just that by focusing on Scripture instead of science, faith instead of logic.
In "Our Father's World," Northland pastor Joel Hunter makes the argument to conservative Christians that saving energy, recycling waste and reducing your carbon footprint are all based on Scripture.
"The Bible provides a direct mandate to be caretakers of the garden," Hunter says in the documentary. "While creation still belongs to God, he has graciously entrusted it to our care and stewardship."
But the film also points out that evangelical Christians have abdicated the care of God's creation to the New Age and secular environmentalists. To become an evangelical environmentalist is to be associated with the tree-huggers, pagan nature worshippers and liberals.
"What has happened is the environmental movement has been generally championed by the liberal wing of the church, which appeals to logic and science," said Tony Campolo, a Pennsylvanian pastor who appears in the Northland film. "They make their case brilliantly, but they don't understand that evangelicals will not take seriously any case that is not based on the Bible."
In advocating for Bible-based environmentalism, Hunter gets pushback from both sides.
"We get shut out of the conversation with scientists because of our faith, but we also get a lot of flak from the fearful people in the religious community who think environmentalism is something pagan," Hunter said. "This is right where we want to be. If you aren't getting it from both sides, there's no need for a bridge."
Building a bridge of common ground between the faith and secular communities is starting to work, said the Rev. Andy Bell, executive director of Sunshine State Interfaith Power and Light, a St. Petersburg faith-based environmental group created in 2010.
"The secular environmentalists say, 'Welcome, we've been waiting for you guys,' '' said Bell, a United Methodist minister whose group includes Northland and 14 other Central Florida religious organizations.
It's a natural alliance because most people who care about saving the earth are spiritual, if not religious, said Frank Jackalone, senior organizing manager for the Sierra Club in St. Petersburg. The love of nature and the determination to prevent its destruction speak to the soul of mankind, he said.
"Most environmentalists see the protection of the planet as a spiritual expression no matter what their faith," Jackalone said.
What the evangelicals bring to the movement is more than just a spiritual love of nature, said Sister Patricia Siemen, a nun and environmental activist. It's a moral and ethical argument that comes with a religious conviction.
"Evangelical Christians bring a lot of passion and moral force to climate change," said Siemen, director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence at Barry University School of Law in Orlando. "I think their leadership is very important. I hope they can go shoulder to shoulder with other environmentalists, whether spiritual or not."
In the documentary, Hunter makes the point that protecting the environment and saving Earth from destruction do not belong to one group or faith. He states that every major religion has tenets for taking care of Earth and all its living things.
"One of the things I love about living in this age is God is giving us problems so big no one faith community can really solve them," he said. "Therefore, we need to work together and we need to find common ground both with believers of other religions and with those who believe in no religion."
If faith leaders such as Hunter can marshal the legions of evangelicals to join the environmental movement, it could have a profound impact on climate change, Bell said.
"The game changer for climate change will be people of faith," he said. "The secular environmentalists were ahead of us because we dropped the ball. We let things get out of hand without raising the moral questions related to our ability to care for the Earth."
"Our Father's World" is available to view and download for free at ourfathersworldfilm.com.
jkunerth@tribune.com or 407-420-5392
What they believe
Evangelical environmentalists believe:
They will be held accountable by God if they harm or destroy the environment.
They are obligated by Scripture to be good stewards of Earth.
They are called by God to sacrifice, and conservation requires sacrifice.
They have a moral, ethical and religious responsibility to protect Earth.
Mankind does not own Earth, which belongs to God.
Sources: Our Father's World, Sentinel research
Copyright © 2013, Orlando Sentinel
Fox News Radio Interview With Alan Colmes
Pastor Joel talks with Alan Colmes about the new creation care documentary, Our Father's World (www.ourfathersworldfilm.com).
Joel Hunter's 'Our Father's World' Documentary: Christians Must Stop Neglecting Environment
Our Father's World from Northland Church on Vimeo.
Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of the 15,000-member Northland church in Florida, has released a new documentary titled "Our Father's World," where he reminds Christians that God made people stewards, not owners of the planet, and that environmental issues are Christian issues.
"Scientific evidence now is very much backing up the Scriptural mandate that we need to take care of this Earth. All of the credible scientific organizations of the world are showing the degree to which the environment is being harmed by our pollution, by the disobedience to the first commandment that He (God) gave us," Hunter says.
The 26-minute long documentary is available for viewing and download free online, and includes interviews with leading evangelical scholars, including Bill and Lynne Hybels, Tony Campolo, James Merritt and Mark Liederbach.
One of the main points made in the film is that many Christians seem turned off by the environmental movement because they believe it has been hijacked by political ideals.
"Many Christians still see environmental stewardship as a political issue, rather than seeing it as a biblical issue. Scripture clearly teaches us to be good stewards of our finances, time, talents and relationships, and the church is beginning to realize there is another form of stewardship that we have neglected to embrace," says Raymond Randall, leader of Northland's Creation Care Team.
Caring for the planet is one of the very first commandments God gave to man, Pastor Hunter reminds viewers.
"This was our first calling, recorded early on in Genesis 1 and 2, and we remain God's caretakers over all creation today," Hunter explains.
The documentary reminds viewers that the Earth, its creatures and its resources do not belong to people – they belong to God, and humans are called to be stewards of creation and to protect it, not exploit it and destroy it.
"I don't know why this issue is so complicated from a biblical standpoint. Those of us who are Christians believe that God created the Earth. We don't believe that the Bible is a book of science, it doesn't exactly tell us how He created it but certainly throughout the Bible, we read of God's relationship with creation, that he was that life force that brought it all into being in the beginning, that He said it was good," says Hybels, co-founder of Ten for Congo, an advocate group spreading awareness about the hardships people face in Congo.
"He called us to have dominion, to rule, to subdue it, to till it, to work it, and a lot of people have taken that to mean that we can dominate and rule in a harsh way."
Despite God's clear message to believers, many people today have chosen to ignore or dismiss that calling, the film says, which has led to huge environmental problems, including deforestation, the destruction of habitats and the extinction and endangerment of many species.
Bob Giguere, the Emmy and Telly award-winning director of "Our Father's World," insists that environmental issues are not a concern only for the secular world, a message that the film drives forward hard.
"I know many Christians who commonly mistake environmental responsibility as a task for the secular world," Giguere says. "Upon seeing this film, it should be obvious that the Christian walk can be a very green path."
Apathy toward the environment does not simply impact wildlife and nature; poor communities around the world are hit hard when they lose access to natural resources that they greatly depend on to survive.
"A growing number of evangelical Christians worldwide are uniting in their belief that environmentalism is not merely a moral obligation. It's a matter of justice for the poor and for the generations to come," Giguere stresses.
In "Our Father's World," Hunter calls on Christians and people of all faiths and backgrounds to unite and take meaningful steps to truly become stewards of the planet.
"God has given us problems so big, that not one faith community can solve on its own. Therefore, we need to work together, and we need to find common ground, both with believers of other religions and with those who believe in no religion," the Northland pastor urges.
"Biblical justice is social justice, and it calls for interfaith cooperation."
"Our Father's World" is "ideally suited for presentation at churches and study groups," a press release noted.
Joel Hunter’s environmental documentary seeks to inspire Christians, avoid controversy
Evangelical mega-church pastor Joel Hunter has never been afraid of controversy. He’s taken bold positions on a range of topics throughout the years and has been attacked by some for serving as a spiritual advisor to President Obama. But as he and his media team release a new documentary urging Christians to care for creation, they seek to sidestep the scandal and opt instead for inspiration.
The film is titled “Our Father’s World” and features a wide range of evangelical influencers including, Tony Campolo, Bill and Lynne Hybels, Matthew Sleeth, and Mark Liederbach, a Southern Baptist seminary professor. The video was carefully developed over several years, and you’ll notice that a younger version of me and my father, James Merritt, even make a couple of appearances throughout. At the time, I had just released my own book on the matter–Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet.
But the sweeping array of voices featured is not the only attempt to unify. The film takes particular care to avoid more divisive topics, such as climate change. Instead, the film makes the case for Christians to reengage an issue that, according to the Bible, is their God-given responsibility.
“One of the things that evangelicals are very afraid of, and legitimately so, is that in our reticence, we have allowed the New Age movement to hijack the environmentalist movement and make it their own. The result is that the minute we start talking about environmentalism, evangelicals begin to say, ‘Hey you sound like a New Ager,’” Tony Campolo says in the film. “The fact that the New Age people have committed themselves to some thing that really belongs to the church does not mean that the church should not be involved in this.”
By Jonathan Merritt.
Find this article at: http://jonathanmerritt.religionnews.com/2013/03/20/joel-hunters-environmental-documentary-seeks-to-inspire-christians-avoid-controversy/
