Posts in category: Church in Action

There is a growing interest in Creation care in our church, after talking amongst the congregation over several years what it means to live out the biblical commands to show God’s love to all Creation, and how it relates to our discipleship in Jesus Christ. Blank stares and some hard discussions became, over time, recognition that the bible clearly teaches that God cares about how we treat His world, including when we are at church.

We have established a recycling scheme, swapped to 100% FSC-certified recycled copy paper for the printer, switched our energy provider and are preparing for solar power. We have started installing a community garden thanks to a water conservation grant from Hunter Water Corporation.

We covered the new garden with old newspapers and then spread bark chips to conserve soil moisture and deter weeds. On a very rainy morning we planted 113 native Australian plants, plus five citrus trees and a couple of passionfruit vines nearby.

Many people walking along the busy footpath stopped to ask what we were doing, and this allowed us to talk about why God cares for His Creation.

We will also build a raised vegetable garden bed, install the water tank and build a couple of bench seats. Our goal is for a small group of church members to tend the community garden, and invite people from our neighbourhood to also be involved, share in harvesting the food and hearing why our church is involved in Creation care.

Contributed by Stuart Blanch. To read the full article, see p11-12 of the Spring 2021 Enews.

Our church is located in the Adelaide Hills on a large steeply sloping block, with native vegetation (large eucalypts) in some areas, and small flower beds and grassy slopes in others.

Many years ago, a small group raised awareness of basic elements of Creation Care and Fair Trade. A split bin system was introduced and new tea and coffee suppliers sourced.

In 2022 a more formal Creation Care group was formed, meeting fortnightly and watching a series of videos put out by A Rocha International (the Lausanne Global Classroom) – providing much food for thought and discussion.

Some group members have been involved in a local project, controlling weeds and revegetating after a devastating local bushfire.  It is so important for locals to see Christians in this space. Others have participated in some of the A Rocha revegetation projects in South Australia, including working with Indigenous elders to restore their traditional lands.

Contributed by Karen Moseley. To read the full article, see p12-13 of the Summer 2023-24 Enews.

Our church is over 120 years old, inhabiting a heritage-overlay building in one of the poshest bits of Melbourne’s inner East. It’s tough for a church in the area to survive in this context of individualism, self-sufficiency, status-seeking and devotion to consumerism.

Eight years ago the environment department of the local council entered into a project with us to establish the first community garden in the municipality, bringing $20,000 and a staff worker one day a week for a year. The garden has a membership who gather monthly to make decisions about the garden, have a working bee together and then people tend the garden during the month according to the time they can offer. We harvest together and share out the produce, with any leftover distributed to people with low food security.

Christians have largely been trained to think that serving means doing something for someone, but this garden has been a great opportunity to learn that we are called to do life with people.

Contributed by Jude Waldron. To read the full article, see p10-11 of the Summer 2023-24 Enews.

The creation group functions not only to create awareness, but also to affirm biblical creation care – important as many in the church may regard the issue as important, but are ‘unsure what it looks like’.

We have a newsletter, where articles that describe the functional beauty of God’s creation, and also good news stories relating to conservation are the focus.

We have presentations on creation care, generally  at the inter-church scale with an apologetic focus.

We have 1-2 field trips per year. We have nature reserves nearby as well as Christian farmers in the church with a conservation bent. Families are attracted by ‘a tech-free day in nature’. We have a walk, make observations and have a short creation care devotion.

Creation care activities can build the community of the church in special ways.

Contributed by Rob Scriven. To read the full article, see p8-9 of the Summer 2023-24 Enews.

We have had a Creation Care Committee since 2015. The committee has engaged in various activities and organised events for the church, including:

• Information sessions on topics such as recycling, climate change and native birds.
• Taking part in tree planting days with the local Landcare group and Charles Sturt University.
• Guided bushwalks and a bike ride at locations in the local environment, with prayer.
• Installing solar panels on the church roof and setting up recycling.
• Annual Aussie Bird Counts – we state our organisation as Wagga Wagga Baptist Church in the online form.
• Clean-up Australia days.

Our church is located very close to the Murrumbidgee River and its riparian River Red Gum forest. A number of our creation care activities have occurred at sites adjacent to the river and its wetlands.

Contributed by Reuben Robinson. To read the full article, see p6-7 of the Summer 2023-24 Enews.