An evangelical voice for the environmental crisis

Once upon a time we used to talk about the environmental crisis; slowly we have come to talk about crises. Global warming, pollution, overfishing, damage to ecosystems, invasive species and other matters are all topics of major concern.

As these crises multiply and start to reinforce each other, the engagement of Bible-believing Christians becomes increasingly urgent. This need is surely on both sides. The conservation world – overstretched, under resourced and frequently disheartened – cries out for our help, our enthusiasm and, perhaps most importantly, our hope.

The need on the Christian side is more subtle. Quite simply, we have to ask what sort of salt and light we are if, when God’s very creation is imperilled, we do nothing? Yet with exceptions, that engagement is widely strained or lacking. A gap exists.

The conservation organisation A Rocha was founded over 30 years ago in Portugal: A Rocha means ‘The Rock’ in Portuguese. Very early on, the operating principles of A Rocha were summarised as ‘the 5 Cs’: Christian, Conservation, Community, Cooperation, and Cross-Cultural.  A Rocha has since spread to 20 countries (including 7 in Europe: Portugal, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, the Czech Republic and the UK) and those Commitments still guide us, but projects are very varied. As befits an environmental organisation, it is an organic body that adapts to local needs rather than a top-down, one-size-fits-all solution. Nevertheless, one common feature has been the attempt to bridge the gap between the Christian and the secular conservation world.

One contribution to this gap is suspicion on both sides. And if there are five C’s that A Rocha stands for, you could say that there are also four C’s of concern that we stand against.

Let’s take the church side first. Many Christians worry that any interest in the environment will lead to spiritual corruption. A widespread fear lingers that to be concerned for nature is to take the first step to New-Age paganism or a gospel-less liberalism. A Rocha is getting alongside ministers and individual Christians and demonstrating that you can be committed to preservation of the natural world without losing any evangelical zeal. So, we encourage our team members to be involved in a church and have hosted church events at centres such as the spectacular Les Courmettes in France. There is also the anxiety of complexity. The multiplicity of environmental problems is frequently complex and rarely simple. Understandably, many Christians have found it easier to treat the environment with scepticism or silence. Here our response has been of education and support. A good illustration is that during the big COP21 climate conference in Paris, A Rocha France put together a very well attended day-long conference on the subject of climate change and its implications with excellent speakers well qualified in both theology and science.

Secular environmentalism has its own concerns. The first is that – to be blunt – we Christians are crazy. It’s not easy to allay such anxieties in an increasingly irreligious Europe but slow and persistent work in practical conservation has gone a long way to make friends and ease fears. There are many reasons for our commitment to a solid science base for conservation but this is an incidental benefit. So, for example, we have accumulated many years of excellent data collection from study centres in Portugal, France and the Czech Republic. Another relevant factor is the fact that almost everywhere we are heavily involved in educational programs. This is of profound importance at a time when children are increasingly urbanised and more in touch with the digital world than the natural world. That we conduct such programs with integrity and enthusiasm has helped in overcoming suspicion.

Another concern is that our interest in the environment is counterfeit. Helped by the widespread confusion between evangelical and evangelistic there is often a worry that our motivating interest is in making converts. There is no quick fix but persistent, sacrificial work within the community goes a long way to proving that such fears are unfounded. So A Rocha Portugal’s long and, for the moment, successful defence of the Alvor Estuary against the development that has blighted the rest of the Algarve has given the organisation well-earned credibility amongst environmentalists.

Overall, we sense a turning of the tide. As a previous generation of evangelicals realised that action against poverty was part of their discipleship, so a new generation is recognising that the defence of God’s creation is not just legitimate, but expected. Increasingly too, secular conservationists are realising that we are worth listening to. It’s not easy work, being in the middle of two suspicious parties and bringing them together, but then Jesus never promised his followers that discipleship would be easy. Not easy — but certainly worthwhile.

Dr Chris Walley A Rocha International / Mediterranean Science and Projects Coordinator, A Rocha France

Resourcing you:

Find out more about A Rocha’s community conservation projects at www.arocha.org

‘A Christian response to climate change’ www.arocha.org/COP21