34 CREATION HOPE
Creation care as mission
by Dave Bookless
It was Bishop Stephen Neill , the eminent missiologist and church historian , who said , ‘ If everything is mission , then nothing is mission .’ This reflects a widespread concern that , by broadening the concept of Christian mission too far , we may lose the heart of the Gospel . So , in looking at ‘ creation care as mission ’, we need to start by defining ‘ mission ’. Is creation care part of the core mission of the Christian church , or is it an optional extra activity ?
Of course , the Latin root , missio , concerns being sent out and , in New Testament terms , mission arises from Jesus sending out his disciples , initially in twos and then , in the Great Commission ( Matthew 28:19-20 ), to ‘ go and make disciples of all nations ’. Several key points about mission are clear from this short passage ( and its echoes in the other Gospels and Acts ).
The church ’ s mission is God ’ s mission
Firstly , the church ’ s mission ( that of Jesus ’ disciples ) flows from the mission of God ( the Missio Dei ). Jesus is given ‘ all authority ’ by the Father , and commissions his followers to baptise ‘ in the name of the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit ’. The church ’ s mission is thus a subset of God ’ s mission . God ’ s mission may include things the church is not called to do , but everything we are called to do must fit within the big picture of the Missio Dei .
Clearly , God , as creator and sustainer , includes caring for creation in the
Missio Dei , but importantly , the very first task given to humanity is to reflect God ’ s image , through delegated responsibility for enabling the rest of creation to flourish . Genesis 1:26-28 is the very first Great Commission , given not only to believers but to all humanity , and thus a missional task we are born to , rather than baptised into . Furthermore , in today ’ s damaged world , there is a particular sense in which creation ‘ waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed ’ ( Romans 8:19 ). In other words , the church ( the ‘ children of God ’) should be setting the agenda for the rest of humanity in anticipating God ’ s restoring and redeeming work in creation . Perhaps this is why Mark ’ s version of the Great Commission has Jesus saying , ‘ Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation ’ ( Mark 16:15 ). Thus , God ’ s missional work in sustaining and renewing the earth should be reflected in the priorities of churches and individual Christians .
Jesus defines mission
Secondly , our mission must be Jesus-centred . It is he who calls and sends , and the content of the Gospel is summed up in the confession , ‘ Jesus is Lord ’. Stephen Neill ’ s fear that too broad an understanding of mission may dilute its content is addressed by keeping Jesus central . History is full of organisations set up by Christians with a passion for biblical mission , that have gradually watered down their Christian content . Their task , whether it be medicine , education , development , justice or whatever , has become detached from the vision of Christ ’ s Lordship that originally inspired it , and their ‘ social gospel ’ is devoid of spiritual content .
This should serve as a warning in terms of creation care . Environmental projects and climate justice are not a substitute for evangelism or discipling . Rather , creation care is an integral part of proclaiming ‘ Jesus is Lord ’. It should be earthed in worshipping , witnessing Christian community , rooted in scripture , and accompanied by care for the spiritual , physical and psychological needs of human beings , rather than set up in competition to them . The late Rob