Christians called to protect Earth, environmentalist tells students

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ABILENE—Concern for people created in God’s image demands care for the Earth where they live, missionary-environmentalist Ben Lowe told students at Hardin-Simmons University.

“When the land isn’t healthy, people aren’t healthy,” said Lowe, the author of Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation.

Growing up in Singapore as the son of missionary parents, he used to think his Christian faith demanded a singular focus on people rather than on the environment.

“What I have learned is that we can’t take care of people without taking care of the environment,” said Lowe, who earned a degree in environmental studies at Wheaton College, near Chicago.

Creation care is a moral issue, he insisted, and churches need to be involved. Citing the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, he emphasized humankind’s responsibility to serve as stewards of creation.

He is spokesman for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action and director of the Evangelical Environmental Network, a nonprofit organization that works to educate, inspire and mobilize Christians to care for and be faithful stewards of the Earth.

Lowe used to think pollution and climate change were the biggest environmental threats. “They’re not,” he insisted. “Selfishness, greed and pride—those are our biggest threats to the environment.”

Christians have a responsibility to care for creation, he emphasized.

“We can’t do everything, but we can do something,” Lowe said. “So, when it comes to the faithfulness of how we care for creation, ask yourself, ‘What is God calling me to do?’ Take those steps, and little by little, they will bring you to the throne of God.”


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