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	<em><img alt="" src="{filedir_5}david-warners(1).jpg" style="width: 125px; height: 125px; float: right;" /><em>On January 31st, Au Sable will host a &#39;Missionary Earthkeeping&#39; conference to explore the connections with creation care and missions and development work. In connection with the conference, we are publishing the first of four posts by Dr. David Warners, Professor of Biology at Calvin College, on a framework for thinking about Christian environmental stewardship and its relationship to development.&nbsp;</em></em></p>
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	Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary defines stewardship as &lsquo;managing another&rsquo;s property&rsquo;. &nbsp;Although this term is used in a wide variety of contexts today, when used to describe creation care, the &lsquo;property&rsquo; is understood to be the creation and &lsquo;another&rsquo;s&rsquo; means God&rsquo;s. &nbsp;So the definition I will be working with is that stewardship is simply the managing of God&rsquo;s creation.&nbsp;</p>
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	It is important to note at this point that creation is an absolutely fundamental theme within scripture. &nbsp;The Bible opens with sweeping accounts of how God brought the creation into being. &nbsp;It ends with a beautiful vision of the coming new creation. &nbsp;The original creation and the new creation are like bookends to the whole of scripture. &nbsp;Furthermore, the redemption story itself gains much meaning and purpose when we consider it in light of the deep love God has for everything he has made. &nbsp;If our appreciation for the creation is weak, then our understanding of Christ&rsquo;s sacrifice will be incomplete. &nbsp;</p>
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	So how should we engage the creation &ndash; in our thoughts and in our actions? &nbsp;What is a proper, Biblical understanding of the creation and our responsibility as stewards of it? &nbsp;The scriptures abound with insights, among which I will draw upon five themes, the fifth of which will be further developed into five principles of creation care.&nbsp;</p>
