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Faith environment and mission

Agriculture, Professional Life, Transformation

I’ve always loved the ocean.

I became a Christian when I was about 15.

It’s taken me almost 10 years to be able to understand and articulate how my love for God and my love for the environment go hand in hand.

I always knew they went together. I just couldn’t put words to it. Part of what made it difficult was that I didn’t see many other Christians around me taking the environment seriously. I started to make sense of this attitude when I moved to Tasmania to study Marine Science and Conservation. In order to do this I left a role in youth ministry. A lot of people, myself included, lamented that I would be leaving a ministry that I loved and that God has gifted me in. Why would I leave such an important role, discipling youth and bringing young people to Jesus, in order to go and save some fish?!

I now realise that many of these faithful Christians had the viewpoint (perhaps without even realising it) that creation is a temporary thing and there aren’t really eternal outcomes for it. This is not a criticism of them – I had the same understanding. I’m so grateful for my time in Tasmania. There, I had the opportunity to explore and come to an understanding that I believe is much more whole and much more grounded in God’s Word.

Matter matters. This statement blew me away! Matter matters. Have you ever asked why Jesus was resurrected in a physical form? Why not simply in a spirit form? Well, it’s because the physical is important. God makes a huge statement in the resurrection of Jesus that he cares about the physical. Matter matters. This statement has huge implications for ALL that God has created. Though we as humans are unique because we are made in the image and likeness of God, he has still conferred value on everything he has created.

Fast forward a few years and I started working at a mission agency. Once again I was stuck as to how my love for people, my passion for God’s mission and the environment could go together. I faced questions like: does caring for the environment have any relevance to mission? I‘ve slowly realised God’s mission is much bigger than I first thought. The question isn’t if these things are relevant, but how.

We also need to ask other important questions. How does the way we relate to the environment and use its resources affect the people and communities we long to see transformed by encountering Jesus?

Research shows that many commercial fisheries are currently not managed sustainably[1]. A large portion of the world’s poorest people rely on fishing as a form of employment, food security and nutrition. So suddenly the question about how much we should care about fish and the oceans becomes a question about how much we should care about the people who rely on these fish.

We all live in the context of relationships – with each other, with God, with ourselves and the world we live in. Sin breaks and distorts these relationships. Through Jesus Christ, reconciliation and redemption restores these relationships. Caring for creation should be life giving, drawing us closer to the Creator and helping us to practically and biblically love our neighbour. It’s all about restoration of right relationships. And isn’t that what God’s mission is?

Interservers are helping Central Asian communities build solar-heated, earthquake-resistant houses using local materials. They’re designing low-cost pumps to irrigate farmland in dry conditions. In South East Asia, Interserve business owners invited their staff out of the city to enjoy the rainforests and waterfalls for a day. For some Interservers, issues of environmental sustainability are core to their professional service. Others integrate these practices into their everyday life. Together, we’re all learning how to integrate our care for creation into wholistic mission… so that we can see lives and communities transformed.

Katherine is a mission mobiliser for Interserve. She has an Honours degree in Marine Conservation and Resource Sustainability, a Graduate Diploma in Divinity and loves to chat about mission and the environment! Get in touch at katherine@interserve.org.au

[1] The state of world fisheries and aquaculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2018. Accessed via www.fao.org/3/i9540en/i9540en.pdf

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Working for transformation

Community Development, Partner, Professional Life, Relationships, Transformation

“What do you do?” he asked, by and by.
“Well, I work”, answered I.
“What as?” he continued, with aplomb.
“I do my job …”
“Yes”, he said, “I see,
that this work is why you are here”.
“Yes, indeed”, with much in store,
waiting for a chance to tell him more,
Sharing with him about how much he is loved.

So, our identity is in our work. Rarely are we asked, “Why do you work?” and “What is your motivation?” Usually, it stops at “What do you do?” and that is enough to satisfy the curiosity of our host country, host organisation, local friends and complete strangers.

But isn’t our identity more than work? We are loved and completely accepted—isn’t that our identity? Hence, we often experience a tension in how we share our identity with those around us. What we do is less important than who we are. It’s easy to say that we work; indeed, it is expected. If not, then suspicions are raised—how can they really live here if they do not work? Or, if we say we are doing one thing but in fact are doing something else, we actually have a major problem with integrity. I define integrity as having just one story about who I am and I share the details of my story in a way my hearer will understand. But, what I say is what I do, because it usually is, in terms of my work.

Of course, work is not everything. Family, rest, sharing in communities … we all know the expression that no-one gets to their deathbed and says, “I wish I had spent more time at work”. The reverse is invariably the case. God rested, and so should we.

But identity is not the only function of work. One major function of work is relationship building. We have many opportunities to spend time with the people we work with. Indeed, I have found it easier and more natural than, for example, becoming friends with my local traffic policeman (as I did in my early language-learning days) and this is because we have more in common. Work relationships seem to last longer. And relationships are often key if we want to see transformation.

Transformation—yes, that is what we long for. Often the transformation, physically and spiritually, is through our work. When I see a community being empowered to take their own actions to address some of their limitations for health or education, then I can see transformation—and all this through work. When I see a social business being able to contribute significantly to a social cause through a business model, then I witness transformation.

What about when I don’t see transformation, though? Is my work less successful, or is it even wasted? How do I handle ‘bad days’ or even bad seasons? At various points in time I have thought about what makes success. Going back to the question of identity … if our identity is based on our success, we are setting ourselves up for a big problem.

Perhaps the end of the matter is to have a healthy attitude towards work. For most of us, that will be ordinary work. Ordinary people doing ordinary things. But we are enabled for our ordinary work to be achieving something quite out of the ordinary in kingdom terms. And, if anyone asks—yes, I am here to work; here to see transformation.

Robert has worked in community development in South East Asia for over 10 years.
Names have been changed.

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