The Creation-caring Church of the future

In our confused world, the Church must demonstrate commitment and leadership in caring for our common home, says Marcus Zipperlen, Diocesan Creation Care and Sustainability Officer

Back in the nineties, one celebrated political scientist wrote about the End of History when he foresaw the majority of countries moving towards liberal democracy and international cooperation. These days there is a darker mood abroad, with the spread of authoritarian governments, go-it-alone politics, and natural systems on the brink of collapse, threatening a more catastrophic end of history.

It is complacent to think people will drift in the direction of justice and generosity; these goals must be actively pursued. Similarly, it would be complacent to think nations and people will just drift towards a greater care for creation, because this too is a good that has to be worked for with application and energy.

With this in mind the Church in Wales declared a climate emergency, committing to a pressing timetable to become a Zero-Carbon Church, contributing no new greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere (principally carbon dioxide, hence ‘zero carbon’). There is currently a powerful political backlash against addressing climate change by those who want freedom without responsibility, which makes it imperative we hold firm.

Being zero-carbon will mean reducing the energy we use in heating and travel, obtaining what power we do use from renewable sources, generating some renewable energy of our own, and probably supporting tree planting to soak up whatever carbon emissions we can’t avoid. It will require reordering our priorities and habits, yet in directions we are already becoming familiar with in everyday life. Becoming zero-carbon is a mammoth task for us as an institution and we will, in humility, need to accept help and advice from the secular world to get there.

The church of the future - hands-on with creation - during ‘Wild Church’ at St Justinians, Freystrop

But zero-carbon living isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of caring for our Earth. The Church has so much to offer the world in turn, through our understanding of the Earth as a gift, with ourselves as custodians not owners, with every one of God’s children essential to bringing forth the fulness of the Kingdom.

Similarly, through modelling, we delight in creation by care of the land we manage, creating mini-Edens to the glory of God and the refreshment of our souls; and through our recognition that the love of Jesus is the very energy behind all creation, the energy that moves the stars and drives evolution, indeed the goal to which creation moves (Col. 1: 15-18) and the way we are to get there. Let’s hope that in gaining credibility by setting our own house in order the Church’s voice will be heard more clearly.