Global Interaction
M
Going Green
edia constantly
bombards us with the
environmental crisis
of climate change. There are
scary predictions of the effects
of sea-level rises, temperature
changes and increased storm
activity that cause concern in all
regions of the world. We often
hear debate about how much of
the climate crisis is caused by
human activity and the accuracy
of predictions, however, these
days few would argue that the
phenomenon is real. As people
of faith, I would argue that
even if human induced climate
change is not real, the biblical
mandate to care for creation is
real. In Genesis 2:15, God gives
humanity the responsibility to
tend and care for His creation.
In Australia, we have the ability
to make personal choices and
influence national decisions that
have some bearing on climate
change. Over 10 years ago, as
an Environmental Planner, I
had access to sea-level rise data
and storm surge predictions
that enabled me, as a decision-
maker, to know if coastal
developments were appropriate.
However, in many of the
locations Global Interaction
works across Asia and Africa,
countries and regions are not
prepared for the emerging
effects of climate change. Some
of our cross-cultural workers
observe seasonal shifts causing
problems in agriculture, and
heat in urban areas is creating
challenges for human health.
So what does this mean for
Global interaction?
For starters, we concur with
the Lausanne Movement,
a global movement that
mobilises evangelical leaders
to collaborate for world
evangelisation.
Global Interaction · Page 5
They say:
“If Jesus is Lord of all the
earth, we cannot separate
our relationship to Christ
from how we act in relation
to the earth. For to proclaim
the gospel that says ‘Jesus is
Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel
that includes the earth, since
Christ’s Lordship is over all
Creation. Creation care is
thus a gospel issue within the
Lordship of Christ.”
Lausanne Movement, Cape
Town Commitment (2012)
Global Interaction has been at
the forefront of implementing
this commitment in South
East Asia. Working in a Muslim
context, where there is a
similar creation story to our
own recorded in Genesis, we
are engaging with hundreds
of thousands of people in our