politics & policy
Christians & green politics
James Mildred
Date posted: 1 Dec 2021
I do not think the world will end because of climate change. I do think Christians have a responsibility to care for God’s creation, as good stewards. I’m both a sceptic about some of what’s predicted, and yet also acknowledge that the climate has, is and does change.
Speaking at the start of COP26, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said we were at ‘one minute to midnight’ and it was time for action. The Archbishop of Canterbury clearly felt he needed to raise the stakes when he drew a comparison between inaction over climate change and what happened in Germany when the Nazis took over. Of course, he quickly apologised for that one.
COP26: Christians demand action
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
Evangelicals are prominent among church
leaders demanding change in the run-up to
the COP26 climate change conference. This
will take place in Glasgow from 31 October
to 12 November and will be attended by
190 world leaders.
At COP21 in Paris in 2015, for the first
time, every country agreed to work together
to limit global warming to, ideally, 1.5 degrees;
to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate
and to make money available to do so. Under
this Paris Agreement they were mandated
to present how they would achieve this at
COP26.
earth watch
Climate justice: for the good of all creation
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Jul 2021
‘What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!’
People seeking justice of one kind or another rarely seem to be out of the news these days. Christians should be discerning about which causes we support, but ultimately God is a God who loves justice and who wants us to do the same. As the prophet Micah says: ‘What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ (Mic.6: 8). We should love, care for and support anyone suffering from genuine injustice.
earth watch
Record-breaking climate
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
The British are notorious for talking about the weather. It’s little wonder given that we live on an island which is subject to constantly changing weather systems. In last month’s column I talked about how ready the UK is for a changing climate, and how we are already experiencing hotter, drier summers but also more intense summer rainfall.
No sooner had I emailed my article to en than the world experienced a series of weather extremes which perfectly illustrated this point, so I make no apologies for returning to the subject.
Blind spots of our day
Date posted: 1 Jul 2021
Dear Editor,
I was grateful to read the provocation from John Stevens (Comment, May en) about what the blind spot of our day might be. He mentioned two possibilities in particular: abortion and global warming. It will come as no surprise to those who are aware of our ministry that I will be placing my vote with the former, but allow me to offer four objective reasons – nothing to do with my ‘passion’ or ‘calling’ – as to why, if we were to pick one (and I am not saying there is only one), it would have to be abortion, hands down.
news in brief
Eternal Wall prayer drive
Inspired by Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall, ‘Eternal Wall: 52 Days of Prayer, Fasting and Worship’ is underway.
It began on 3 September in support of a crowdfunding campaign for the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, a Christian landmark planned for the West Midlands, UK in 2023. It is to include 75,000 ‘heritage bricks’ celebrating answered prayer as far back as 600 AD. The 52 days of prayer is a flexible prayer schedule that can be followed daily – either individually or in a small group, or in a church or organisation. For more information visit eternalwall.org
earth watch
Are you ready for the future?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Aug 2021
Are you ready for the future? Pose that question to a Christian and I guess they will immediately start thinking of getting ready for the return of the Lord Jesus – a good reaction to have, but not quite what I had in mind. Let me put it this way: before that day comes, are you ready for the planet’s future?
I work in nature conservation, but I’m also a chartered town planner (yes, it is a slightly weird combination, but that’s another story). Town planners are in the business of looking to the future. They make plans for ten or 20 years ahead and even longer. It’s an uncertain endeavour. They have to carefully look at the evidence before making decisions, but also build in flexibility and regular review.
Evangelicals speak out at COP26
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Dec 2021
Christians have made their presence felt at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Many young evangelicals were among the thousands who marched through the city as part of the Fridays For Future movement, inspired by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was at the rally. Churches were behind a special handing-in of petition signatures and paper ‘prayer boats’ to the COP presidency.
John Stott’s ‘new’ book: a heartfelt environmental plea
Thomas Creedy
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
In 2011 IVP published what was intended by the author to be his final book – summing up decades of prayer, study and ministry. John Stott’s The Radical Disciple, ten years on, continues to provoke, encourage and inspire.
Stott’s own purpose in that book was ‘to consider eight characteristics of Christian discipleship which are often neglected and yet deserve to be taken seriously’. One of these was ‘creation care’, an issue which is increasingly coming to our attention and the focus of the world. With the Stott centenary running from April 2021 to April 2022, IVP took the decision to publish John Stott on Creation Care, a definitive collection of Stott’s writings on the topic, carefully compiled from throughout his ministry. Sam Berry and Laura Yoder, in their own way, have carefully curated tens of thousands of Stott’s own words, adding interpretation and context, to produce a vital new book.
en expert warns on climate
en staff
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
The latest international report on global climate change is ‘a stark warning of the crisis facing the planet,’ according to an expert who writes for Evangelicals Now.
Simon Marsh (see photo), who has expertise in geography, environmental assessment and regional planning, and who works for the RSPB, was speaking after the release of the news delivered by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of scientists whose findings are endorsed by the world’s governments.
‘People are suffering, are dying, how dare you?’
Date posted: 1 Feb 2021
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing the helpful article, ‘Caring for God’s earth’ by Simon Marsh (en, January 2021). He referred to the injustice of our consumption of more than our fair share of the world’s resources, but we should also remember the terrible damage being done to the lives of the poor by climate change, right now, as a result of our combustion of fossil fuels. As Greta Thunberg put it, at the UN in September 2019: ‘People are suffering, people are dying. how dare you?’
earth watch
After COP26: eco-anxiety?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2021
What keeps you awake at night? Perhaps it’s the threat of coronavirus. When I was a teenager, it was the threat of nuclear armageddon that made me anxious.
These days it’s ‘eco-anxiety’ that’s likely to be a worry, especially for children and young people. Eco-anxiety is the chronic fear of environmental doom; it’s not a medical diagnosis, but according to the British Medical Journal, reported in the Guardian, recognition of eco-anxiety and its complex psychological effects is increasing, as is its disproportionate impact on children and young people. According to the same report, a 2020 survey of child psychiatrists in England showed that more than half (57%) are seeing children and young people distressed about the climate crisis and the state of the environment.
Afghanistan: Christians flee from cities
Iain Taylor, Release International
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
The latest reports from Afghanistan reveal
that Christians have been fleeing
the
cities, moving to remote areas to escape
the Taliban. Many Christians who remain
are trapped inside the country, unable to
leave via its now-sealed borders. Some have
received death threats.
Although many Christians managed
to
get out ahead of the Taliban advance, there
are still thought to be several thousand in
Afghanistan. Even if they wanted to leave
they could not, as the borders are strictly
controlled by the Taliban.
defending our faith
Job, a witness for today
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
In the midst of Covid, brutal murders,
energy crises, and the impact of climate
change, no doubt many of us are drawn to
the Book of Job as a work that expresses
what it means to live in a world of sorrow.
For apologetics and sermons it provides
a context to deal honestly and directly with
tragedy and pain.
earth watch
Would you break the law?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
Have you ever been on a protest march?
I’m not a natural protester, although there have been a couple of occasions when I joined a climate march. Most recently (before the pandemic) it was in support of a youth climate march in Cambridge. It ended on King’s Parade where many of the marchers lay down on the lawn in front of King’s College. I confess that my respect for authority was such that I kept off the grass.
Teenagers, mental health and the gospel
Eleanor
Date posted: 1 Feb 2021
If you ask any teenager today to summarise in a word what they think of the state of the world, I doubt you would get one positive answer in a thousand.
Recently, in my sixth form PSHCE class, the teacher started the lesson off with that question, and sure enough the answers were immensely depressing. ‘Racist’, ‘Sexist’, ‘Classist’, ‘Empty’, ‘Dying’, ‘Pointless’ – by the end, the teacher seemed slightly taken aback at the dark direction his ‘think about the world’ exercise had taken!
defending our faith
The Schaeffer paradox
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
If you have any interest at all in apologetics
– the defence of the faith – you will have
come across the work of Francis Schaeffer
(1912-1984).
It
is hard
to over-estimate his great
influence on thoughtful evangelicalism. His
range of writings, from climate change to
postmodern art, reflect a rare calling as a
missionary to culture. There were weaknesses
in
his ministry,
oversimplifications
of
philosophical
theory
and
a
perilous
partnership with secular political power, but
contemporary apologetics is enormously in
his debt.
news in brief
New EA event held
Christians
from around
the UK
tuned
in to the Evangelical Alliance’s first ever
leadership conference last week.
The online
event was organised
after
the movement
said
it wanted Christians
in leadership, both within the church and
outside, ‘to share insight and pray into what is
happening in the UK and what God is saying’.
The evening was a mixture of
interviews,
worship, prayer and talks, hosted by Gavin
Calver, CEO of the EA, and Jo Frost, director
of communications and engagement, with
contributions from UK evangelical leaders.
2021: LOOKING AHEAD
A variety of evangelicals reflect on what might lie ahead in the next 12 months
Innovative evangelism? Adrian Reynolds, Associate National Director FIEC
I hope and I pray that 2021 will see churches give evangelism its appropriate focus. In general terms, the lockdown has held us back: churches have often succumbed (understandably) to survival mode – let’s just keep going! Others have seen opportunities, but have not really known how to make the most of them. Others still have not known how to adapt to a changing environment and have simply mourned what they cannot do rather than explore what they can.
COP 26 and the Great Commission
Climate science is a sophisticated business, so it is a sitting target for sceptics and climate change deniers. But you don’t need computer modelling to sense that something is not right with nature.
Southern species are moving northwards. I picked up two ticks this year walking in the north of Scotland. You can now find hummingbird hawk moths in Derbyshire. And if you want to climb down to the Mer de Glace, a mighty glacier near Mont Blanc, you must abseil 300 feet further than when I first did that descent in 1974; the glacier is shrinking!