Greening the church
“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psa. 24:1) a congregation declares in its worship service. In recognition of Earth Day on April 22, this issue of the magazine carries the feature, “Avoiding an environmental shipwreck” by Tim Wiebe-Neufeld. As part of Mennonite…
Prayer for the List of Coming Disasters
This is a prayer we are reluctant to pray because it is so hard to name what we fear out loud. We go through our days trying to pretend that life as normal will continue forever, but that is harder and harder to sustain. And so we need this prayer where we lay out the…
Why I care about climate change
My peace and reconciliation ministry is motivated ultimately by my love of the Creator, my service to Christ and my submission to the Comforter. Yet, I also have familial motivations for the vision, mission and activities to which I’m committed—they are my family, especially my grandchildren. What I’m doing now is a grandfather’s attempt to…
Reflections of creation
God’s creation is now facing unprecedented destruction brought on by human activity. Attentive hunters know this just as well as vegan environmentalists. Caring for the ecosystems that God created doesn’t need to be a divisive or partisan issue. Yet it has come to feel that way. Conversations related to energy have become especially contentious. This…
Lessons in the Kinderforest
About once a month, 24 students from the Goshen College Laboratory Kindergarten class—a partnership between the college’s education department and Goshen Community Schools—spend the day climbing trees, building shelters and making mud pies in Witmer Woods. While it may sound like the children are given a whole day of recess, they are actually participating in…
From anger to action
Shawn Klassen-Koop never thought he would write a book before his 30th birthday but that’s exactly what he’s done. The Winnipegger is the co-author, with Montana-based permaculture expert Paul Wheaton, of Building a Better World in Your Backyard Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys. Due out later this year, the 200-page book offers practical…
Rooted and Grounded speakers call for changed worldviews
As the floodwaters of Hurricane Florence crested in South Carolina in late September, three keynote speakers at this year’s Rooted and Grounded conference on land and Christian discipleship at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) told participants that shifts in the dominant western belief systems and priorities would be needed for people to live in right…
Creation care is a sacred trust
One plastic cup, one can, one disposable diaper at a time, Mennonite residents of B.C.’s Fraser Valley are trying to make a difference by cleaning up their environment. Crossroads Community Church of Chilliwack and Emmanuel Mennonite Church of Abbotsford are among those congregations that are supporting the Mennonite Creation Care Network through community cleanup initiatives.…
Care for creation and environmental justice
When Bob Lovelace, a chief of the Ardoch Algonquin of Northeastern Ontario, wrote about his people’s struggle over uranium exploration on their land, he did so from a Canadian maximum security prison. To protect their traditional territories from uranium exploration, the Ardoch Algonquin had set up roadblocks. For his part in the nonviolent resistance, the…
Removing Mountains
Mountaintop removal. Tar sands. Mass destruction of earth and creation for sake of getting at the coal and oil underground. While there are inevitably complexities for each community facing companies that look for energy sources in their neighbourhoods, and there are no simple stories, on an instinctive level I know it’s wrong. Why are societies…
