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	<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. In Part 1, Warners explored&nbsp;<a href="http://ausable.org/news_and_resources/blog/the_five_themes_of_stewardship_by_david_warners#.UQbX2yf7KuI">five themes of Christian environmental stewardship</a>. In Part 2, he explores&nbsp;<a href="http://ausable.org/news_and_resources/blog/the_five_principles_of_environmental_stewardship#.UQgerCf7KuI">five principles that should guide our role as stewards</a>&nbsp;of God&#39;s creation. In Part 3, he discusses how creation fits within the <a href="/news_and_resources/blog/part_3_shalom_and_creation_by_david_warners#.UQmPlL80V8E">biblical vision of shalom</a>. In this last installment, Warners&nbsp;weaves together the reasons why development and stewardship are so critically intertwined.</em></p>
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	Just recently I heard a colleague say that her church has not been very involved in stewardship issues because they are an urban church and they are met with more pressing needs like crime and low income families. &nbsp;I suspect in many areas around the world this perspective may be voiced in similar fashion: &nbsp;We don&rsquo;t have time to get involved with stewardship because there are so many hungry and hurting people that demand our attention. &nbsp;Before I end this talk I want to offer three points in response to this type of thinking.</p>
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	My first response to this challenge is to simply report that God has commanded us to care for the Creation. &nbsp;This is a fundamental command, present before the Ten Commandments and is no more optional than they are. &nbsp;I simply see no evidence in the scriptures suggesting that when we focus on human needs we are absolved from caring for the broader creation. &nbsp;There is no support for a Biblically-based &lsquo;stewardship amnesty&rsquo;. &nbsp;I personally do not find this response completely satisfying, but there is an aspect of simple obedience here that we need to recognize. &nbsp;</p>
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	My second response is that if we are modeling our lives after Christ &ndash; who gave up his life for &lsquo;all things&rsquo; and who is the Prince of Shalom &ndash; then proper Christian living will show concern for the whole of creation as well. &nbsp;Taking on the mind and the heart of our Savior is to develop compassion and deep empathy for the downtrodden and degraded elements of Creation, which certainly includes yet also extends far beyond human beings. &nbsp;I personally think the best reason for Christians to engage in creation care is because of their love for Jesus and their desire to live lives that promote his Kingdom. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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	My third response is more immediately practical, yet at the same time I think it suggests a divine purpose behind the stewardship mandate. &nbsp;If we are concerned about the welfare of our fellow human beings (physical welfare, emotional welfare, spiritual welfare, etc.), then we will be concerned about the quality of the environment in which they live. &nbsp;We human beings do not live in a vacuum &ndash; we are embedded within and dependent upon the natural world in which we exist. &nbsp;If the natural world fails to thrive, people will fail to thrive. &nbsp;The best development work that is done not only addresses the immediate needs of impoverished people, but also works to insure that once these needs are met, they can continually be met by a fruitful and flourishing creation.</p>
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	A few years ago, I remember reading a news story from the Philippines, where an entire village was recently swallowed up in a mudslide. &nbsp;Hundreds to thousands of lives have been lost in this immense tragedy. &nbsp;Yet, what is seldom referenced in these news reports is that this horrific event was preceded by intense deforestation in the mountains where this mudslide originated. &nbsp;The message is all too clear - if we do not pay attention to the degradation of the creation, we will indirectly promote occasions like this that lead to intense human suffering. &nbsp;I believe God&rsquo;s command to care for the creation is at least partially borne out of his deep desire for human beings to live and prosper. &nbsp;A flourishing creation supports flourishing human communities.</p>
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	One final comment &ndash; I want to be clear that I do recognize many people today live in destitute conditions. &nbsp;To speak to someone dying of hunger about the need to care for their natural surroundings is both callous and cruel. &nbsp;A great deal of effort must be extended today by the global community to address basic subsistence needs of our most impoverished brothers and sisters. &nbsp;Yet at the same time, work must be engaged that simultaneously addresses the impoverished conditions of the broader creation in which people live. &nbsp;And I deeply believe that development works best when these two approaches are done together. &nbsp;To significantly move people from impoverished living to their God-intended existence of flourishing, we must engage in efforts that promote the flourishing of &lsquo;all things&rsquo;.&nbsp;</p>
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	We find ourselves today living in an unprecedented time. &nbsp;Never before has the earth been populated by so many members of the human race. &nbsp;Never before have we observed environmental degradation on the global scale that we see today. &nbsp;And never before has the entire creation groaned as loudly as it groans today (Romans 8:22). &nbsp;Our task as compassionate Christians is to respond to Jesus&rsquo; command to &ldquo;Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation&rdquo; (Mark 16:15). &nbsp;What is the good news to all creation? &nbsp;What is the good news for polar bears? &nbsp;Is it, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re sorry but the ice caps are going to melt because we need to burn our fossil fuels? &nbsp;What is the good news for African lions? &nbsp;Is it, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re sorry but your numbers will have to continue to decline because we need more of your habitat for our growing human population? &nbsp;No, clearly these are not items of good news for the creation. &nbsp;Instead, the good news we have to offer to the creation is that the Prince of Shalom has come, that God is making all things new, and that today we live in the hope and reality of his coming shalom.</p>
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	An appropriate thought on which to close comes from the Sermon on the Mount. &nbsp;In Matthew 5:9 Jesus declares,</p>
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	<em>Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.</em></p>
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	While the New Testament was written in Greek, the Greek language suffers the same limitations for translating the term, &lsquo;shalom&rsquo;. &nbsp;Yet Jesus spoke in Aramaic, which is a derivation of the Hebrew language. &nbsp;So the best interpretation of what Jesus actually spoke in this passage is, &ldquo;Blessed are the &lsquo;shalom-makers&rsquo;&rdquo;. &nbsp;Here we have the child of God, the Prince of Shalom saying &ldquo;Blessed are the &lsquo;shalom-makers&rsquo; for they will (also) be called children of God&rdquo;. &nbsp;When we are engaged in activities that promote shalom, we are being Christ-like, and we are considered true children of God. &nbsp;With this backdrop, Paul&rsquo;s writing from Romans 8:19 takes on a hopeful tone of challenge,</p>
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	<em>The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed </em>(Romans 8:19)</p>
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	Let us all commit ourselves to leading lives that reveal this, our true identity as God&rsquo;s children.</p>
