What Does The Bible Say About The Environment?

What does the Bible say about the Environment_ Let's talk about climate change Matt: [00:00:00] Well, good evening and welcome to Crowd Church. My name is Matt Edmundson. It is great that you could join us. Yes, it is. Uh, wherever you are in the world, whatever you are doing right now, whether you're watching this on the live stream, uh, whether you're watching this on Catchup, it is great to see you. It's great to be with you. Uh, as we talk about the environment today. Yes, we are. Lemme just move that slightly. There we go. Uh, we are talking about all things environment, and let me tell you, when we scheduled to do this talk today, um, honestly, we had no idea about COP 26. It was like, I appreciate from the outside, it looks like we planned it this way. Uh, and I wish, I wish we could take the credit for that, but it's one of those God incidents things, you know, where you kinda, like, you do it, you schedule it in and it just seems to work, [00:01:00] which is absolutely fantastic. So, uh, it's great that you could be with us to talk about the environment. If you are watching live, feel free to say hi in the comments. We would love to hear from you. Uh, I know a few of you will be watching this on catch up just because the Liverpool game is on, uh, and you are watching that right now, so that's okay. Uh, but, uh, if you are watching live to say hi in the comments, uh, Sharon's in there. Hey Sharon. Matt, uh, is actually ducking out a little bit early, uh, in the comments he says. So, uh, thanks for coming on and telling us you were gonna duck out a little bit early. That's awesome. Anyway, uh, so lemme tell you what is going on, uh, in today's live stream. Uh, as you can see at the top, uh, of the screen here, we have, well, actually goes that way, doesn't it? We have the four items. Uh, we start off with just this sort of little welcome, which we're doing right now. Uh, and then we're gonna go into the talk, which is done by the beautifully talented, [00:02:00] uh, and just all around beautiful lady, which is Ellie Light, uh, talking about the environment. I've actually heard the talk, I heard it earlier for the first time, and I was blown away. Uh, I was genuinely blown away. I thought she did such a cracking jaw on that. Um, then we're gonna go into a brief time of worship and reflection after the talk, and then we are gonna go into Conversation Street where we get to talk a little bit more about the talk. Uh, hi, Tracy just noticed you in the comments. Sorry. Hello? Hello. I like the little wavy hand. Hello. Uh, I hope you're doing well. Uh, it's great to see you again. Um, so yes, uh, that is the, uh, outline for today, right? So we've got the talk. We're gonna do a little bit of worship and reflection, and then we're gonna get into Conversation Street where we talk about the talk in effect. Uh, we are gonna get into what Ellie says, what it means. Uh, and if you've got any questions as the talk is going on, why not put them in the comments? I know some of you have sent questions in already. Uh, it seems to be the trends these days. [00:03:00] Uh, questions do get sent in to us, um, uh, ahead of time, which is nice. Uh, I'd like to say we, we prepare well for them and we do. Uh, so, you know, you can ask your questions in the comments or if you like to prepare ahead of time and, and, and, and you know what's coming up, uh, by all means, send your questions in next week. Actually, lemme just tell you what is coming up next week, so, you know. Uh, it's Remembrance Sunday. So we've got Remembrance Sunday next week. Uh, Anna will be with me leading Remembrance Sunday. Uh, so yeah, it'll be myself and Anna hosting that next week, which I'm really looking forward to. Uh, Rach was supposed to be with me tonight. Uh, and I dunno where Rachel is. Rachel is just, uh, MIA. She's not, actually, that's entirely wrong, but she just can't be with us tonight. Um, so yes, uh, you are stuck with me, which, which is fine. We will do well, we'll enjoy it. So what we're gonna do is we are gonna play the talk. Now, for those of you who are new to the livestream, big warm welcome, um, [00:04:00] we are a digital church and online church for those that might not see the point of church, uh, for those that are maybe new to the Christian faith who are. On a journey or even, you know, if you're like me, you've been around a while, uh, wherever you are on the Christian journey, wherever you are on that faith journey, you are very, very welcome here. Uh, and you can ask questions, uh, at any point during the live stream. Uh, no question is too crazy as we like to say. But not every question will be answered on the live stream, if you know what I mean. Uh, so you can reach us, uh, and connect with us via the website, which you can see in the corner of the screen right here. Uh, www dot Crowd Church. Uh, there's some information on the website and whilst we're talking about websites, lemme tell you, uh, we've got a new website coming out soon, so we've been working heavily on that, which is why the current website's not as updated as, uh, maybe we should be doing that at the moment. So please bear with us. A new website's coming soon. It's starting to look really good. Uh, and, um, it's got a lot more information on there, which will be a [00:05:00] lot more helpful, like upcoming events and, and, and all you'll see, you'll see, uh, just stay connected with us and you'll see when the new uh, site comes out. You can also reach us via WhatsApp. So the WhatsApp number on the screen, uh, is our church WhatsApp number. You can reach us via that number. And we would love to hear from you. Uh, we have had a number of people, uh, WhatsApp is this week and get in touch. Uh, and it was great to connect with all of you. If any of you're watching the live, I do invite everybody. The WhatsApp is to join us on the live stream. If any of you're watching, it's great, uh, to sit. Well kind of see you, you can see me through the camera. Um, but it was great to talk to you. Great to chat with you this week, um, and connect with all kinds of amazingly new people, which is fantastic. Uh, so without further ado, we will get into the talk brief intro on what we're doing on this current series. We're doing a series called What does the Bible say about where we have taken the most common questions that are asked on Google? What does the Bible say about science, for example, we did a few weeks ago with Will. So [00:06:00] with which was an excellent talk. And if you have not seen it, definitely check it out. Uh, and that's why we're tackling today. What does the Bible say about the environment? So these are the questions placed to Google. They're also sent into words. We get asked an awful lot of questions, uh, every week, either via email or via WhatsApp. Um, and so we've started to collate those questions as well. Uh, and we're gonna get into a whole bunch of stuff, uh, around the questions that you do send in. So it's great that you send them in. It's great that we can answer your questions, uh, like what does the Bible say about the environment? So here we are. Here, uh, is an intro to the the talk. And then, uh, it will be Ellie and then I'll be back, uh, briefly after Ellie has finished speaking. So here we go.[00:07:00] Ellie: What does the Bible say about the environment? So I am pretty sure that my generation were amongst the first to be taught in school about climate change and about the state environ environment, that it's something that needs looking after. [00:08:00] Um, I remember very clearly learning about reduced reuse, recycle. Um, we were talking about the ozone layer, and I could remember, I could picture this great dome above the earth that had loads of holes in it. And those holes meant that the earth was heating up that was gonna melt the ice caps. The penguins would lose their homes, but that was about it. Maybe there'd be more water in the sea. I couldn't comprehend what that actually meant. Obviously, 10, 15 years down the line, since my primary education, um, we've all been witness to. The extreme weather conditions that have come as a consequence of this climate crisis. Um, we've seen floods and droughts and forest fires, um, and extreme temperatures uproot people's lives, um, and even take their lives. You know, it, we are constantly reminded of it, whether it's in the news as activists doing crazy things like gluing themselves to the M 25. Um, we're constantly reminded of how important this is as a topic. Um, by the time [00:09:00] that you guys are listening to this, we'll have had the COP 26 Climate Conference, um, up in Glasgow. Um, and we'll either have a really super positive response to that, where the government has made great big promises, big plans, and we're all filled with hope and positivity around this whole situation. Or potentially more realistically, based on previous examples. Of that, that kind of conference. Um, we might be feeling a little disappointed that the government aren't doing quite enough that these promises won't be fulfilled. Um, so we might be feeling a bit a bit down. Um, but anyway, believe it or not, I'm actually not actually here to, um, depress us further on this topic. Um, though I am really aware that this is something that comes with a lot of weight, a lot of anxiety to it, I know that personally I've spent many sleepless nights, um, thinking about where we are going in [00:10:00] terms of our climate, um, sort of sometimes feel like we are, um, accelerating towards, for want of a better word, destruction. Um, and that it's fairly unstoppable and impossible. Um, but when we come to an impossible situation, um, it brings us really nicely to looking back to God, um, because thankfully our God is a God of miracles and restoration and hope. So let's look to God in this. Let's look at what the Bible says. Let's look at what God says. Let's see how he can change our hearts so that we can change our actions. So how does the Bible describe the environment? Um, like I've just said, I think it's really important that we understand how the Bible talks about, um, the environment. It's so important to understand what God's purpose for it is, um, the reasons he brought it into being. Um, and the reason I want to [00:11:00] start with that is because if we can understand the why, if we can understand the heart of this as a topic, then we'll be inspired to make change. Um. But if we're kind of doing, if we're doing this out of a, a should or a must or someone's taught, even me telling you to do it, um, it's not gonna create a sustainable action, a sustainable change. So have that in the back of your mind as we're going through this. Think about what, what sits well with you, what doesn't, what creates an emotional response, what doesn't? Just keep that in the back of your mind. 'cause I think that's gonna be how we unlock this topic. Um, so let's get to it. Overall, how the Bible describes the environment, describes creation, is that It is good. It's good. So in the first chapter of the Bible, God says this seven times, first chapter of Genesis. Um, seven times. Yeah. So it is pretty constant. It's pretty. Much God makes something and he sees that it's good. He makes it. [00:12:00] He sees that it's good, he makes it. He sees that it's good. He says that seven times we get to the end of the chapter and God sees all of it. It says God saw all that he had made and it was very good. Um, this is a really poetic start to the love story of the Bible. And it begins with the goodness of creation. And we see that throughout the whole Bible. And you know, it's into the New Testament as well. One Timothy four, four, for everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received through Thanksgiving. So great, good creation is good. That's a, that's a good starting point. Um, another significant theme around, um, the environment and creation of how it's described in the Bible is this idea that nature reflects God's character. In the New Testament, Paul writes a letter to the Romans, and he puts it quite bluntly, as Paul often does. He says, um, for since the creation [00:13:00] of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and his divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse. That's Romans one 20, basically saying, you don't have an excuse. If you've never heard of Jesus. You've never heard of God. Because God is oozing from the world around us. He is in everything, his divine nature. His eternal power is in everything that's around us. That in itself is evangelism. Same again. If we look at Psalm 19, 1, 4, um, the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night, they display knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words, to the end of the world. Um, this passage is also showing us the beginning of [00:14:00] the idea that, um, not only does creation reflect God's nature, um, but it has a spirit of its own. You know, it's, it's even something really simple. Paul says again, back in Romans, um, about all of creation, groaning, um, with the pains of childbirth. Um, you know, creation groans and create creation kind of, um, celebrates God. How can it do that if it's not alive, if it's not in relationship with God? Um, this is backed up again in Psalms. Um, Psalm 96 shows us that creation is alive and lives in adoration of its creator. Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth be glad. Let the sea resound and all this is in it. Let the fields be jubilant and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy. They will sing before the Lord. Um, we're gonna jump to Job now, which is a potentially a slightly heavier part of the Bible. Um, but Job 38, [00:15:00] there is an incredibly powerful account of God justifying who he is to job. Um, he wants job to know his divinity, his majesty, his holiness, his otherness to us. Um, and he does that by talking about his creation. Um, I won't read all of it 'cause it's quite long, um, but do go to it again if you want to read it on 'cause it's beautiful. Um, so I'm gonna start at verse four. Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundations? Tell me if you understand who marked off its dimensions. Surely you know who stretched a measuring line across it on what were its footing sets. Or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy who shut up the sea behind doors when it's burst, when it burst forth from the womb. When I made clouds it. When I made the clouds, its garment and wrapped it [00:16:00] in thick darkness when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place. When I said this far, you may come and no further. Here is where your proud waves halt. Jumping to 16, have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the deep rest, deep recesses of the deep. Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of the death? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me if you know all this. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow? Just jump into 22 or seen the storehouses of the hail, which are reserved for times of trouble for days of war and battle. What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed or the place where the east winds are scattered over the air? Who cuts a channel for the Torrance of rain and a path for the thunderstorm to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass. That bit's particularly [00:17:00] interesting 'cause it's talking about God water in place where man doesn't even live. So shows his real care for creation apart from humans. Um, but I really love these chapters and it goes on. I really would encourage you to go and look at it. Um, that's job 38 and onwards. Um, yeah, because these chapters just begin to capture the vastness of God and does that through a description of creation. Um, because he's so beyond our comprehension, you know, that, that bit about, um. Marking off its dimensions, the dimensions of the universe, incredible. He's is enormous. Um, so as well as the vastness of God, it shows us that he is in control, that he's orchestrating this whole thing, that he has ownership of it. Psalm 24 says, the Earth is God's and everything in it. Um, [00:18:00] so God is this passionate artist who is full of love and pride for his work. He knows every inch of it inside and out, which again, becomes way more evident if you read, um, 38, 39, 40 of job. It's really great. Um, so we know that he is in control, that he is reflected in his nature. Um. And to top it all off, also in the Bible, in the gospels, um, we learned that all of creation has been made through Christ Jesus as well, that he was there in the beginning of it all, in John one, and also referenced in Colossians and and so on. There's, um, it says that everything was made through him, through Jesus. Um, all things were made through him and by him and for him. So that just kind of emphasizes again how important creation is, how important the environment is, that this world is really, really important to God, [00:19:00] that he loves it, and yet he entrusts it to us. Um, so what does the Bible say about the stewardship of the environment? Genesis 1 26, 28. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on earth. So everything that we've learned about creation and the environment, the, the beauty of it, the love behind it, the significance of it to God, um, and the fact that it is the one thing that people who don't know God and will find God in no other way, can look at, look at the environment and find God in it, um, and tending to that environment, looking after it and [00:20:00] making sure that it continues to be, that has been entrusted to us. That's, that's our job. That's our job now. Um. Yeah. And that is a really, really big deal. Um, a really huge deal actually. Um, and beyond that, I just want to touch on one more element of this before unpacking that stewardship just a little bit more. Is the area of all this that is potentially quite, again, quite heavy, quite hard to come face to face with. Um, and that is the death toll of the climate crisis. Um, so we know that this is important to us to look after because God's told us that in Genesis, um, we hear all about why, um, why it's important to God and therefore why it should be important to us. But a huge part of this is the human impact that it has. Um, and I don't want to [00:21:00] say this because I want us to feel guilty, um, but I wanna say this because it's really easy for us to forget it because here in the UK we live in a really privileged. Position of the climate crisis, not really knocking on our door in the same way. Obviously we've had floods and heat waves that have affected crops. Um, and people's homes have been flooded and people's lives have been uprooted. And there's, I don't wanna dismiss that, but comparatively across the globe, we have not had the same impact that is, is elsewhere. Um, and God calls us to look at the last, the least and the last, and we are not the last and the least in this situation. Um, so to put, give this some context with some numbers. Um, a study published earlier this year linked nearly 10%, that's 9.6%, and in 10% of all deaths globally since 2000 have [00:22:00] been linked to our changing climate. Um, that's quite significant. 10%. Um. And annually that works out at around 5 million deaths per year. Um, and when that's broken down into areas of the world impacted, of those 5 million, only 50,000 of those are in the uk. Um, 2.6 million of them are in Asia, uh, 1.5 million in Africa. And obviously you have to take into, into account the population differences of the UK and all of Asia. Um, but even Australia, which has half the population of us, has three times the, uh, death toll that we do related to climate crisis here in the uk. Um, so this isn't gonna be something that hits us often in the UK right now, and it is the people that we don't see who are being affected by this. Um, and so it's really [00:23:00] important to remind us that this is. Not an abstract concept that is coming in the future and will affect our children and our children's children. It is killing people, um, right now. And it won't be the rich who pay for it. It won't be the privilege who pay for it. It will be the last, the least and the lost. Um, and Jesus calls us to do something about that. Um, so what, as what I mentioned earlier, the importance of, um, our emotional response to this, I just want us to take a little moment. Um, let's look at how we're feeling. Let, if this is, uh, making you feel overwhelmed or guilty or afraid or hopeless or a bit paralyzed. The paralyzing thing is the thing that really gets me, um, kind of when it all feels so big and so unstoppable. Um, it's really easy to just kind of. Block it all out. And again, 'cause we can [00:24:00] do that in the uk, we can go day to day without having to think about it. Um, when, yeah, when we get to those moments where we are so overwhelmed by the magnitude of this, that's when it's great to come back to God, um, to be reminded of what we said before, that here's a god of miracles and restoration and hope. Um, and he's the powerful creator and orchestral conductor of the environment. Um, and he is in control. And when it comes to life changing, world saving plans, um, he's quite good at those. And he does them in really unexpected ways. You know, when our world was drowning in sin, he didn't send a leader, a big world leader who made loads of big changes and punished the bad guys and looked after the good guys. He sent a baby, um, he became a baby. Um, and he put that baby in the hands of humans. So my point is God works really [00:25:00] unexpectedly and, and he uses us, um, in these impossible situations. So that's something we can have hope for, you know, in this impossible situation. Um, so our response then this, this role of stewardship, this role of looking after, um, this world we've been given to love, um, and protect those living in it as well. Um, I think our response response should be twofold. I think we need to, um, take action and also have hope. And I think both of those things start with Prayer. Um, with looking at the Bible, with meditating on reading over and over, those passages that we've just looked at, the ones that reflect God's glory reflect, um, the love story of creation. Um, and tell us why this is, this is a, a heart [00:26:00] issue. Um, and ask God to move our hearts and to remind us daily that this is something that we can do something about, to pray for hope and tenacity to keep going at this. Um, but it does take, it takes us and God working together, action and hope to make a change here. I'm also aware I've not given, um, practical actionable tips, um, so far and I don't particularly want to, um, not least because there are people who are far more qualified than me, who've made wonderful lists of ways you can. Make a difference in your life. Um, and if you just do a bit of Googling, if you look at Oxfam Tear Fund Greenpeace, there are so many websites with great, great examples of what you can do, what changes you can make. Um, but the one tip I will give is [00:27:00] to say, not necessarily start small, but start manageable. Um, if you can take what you, take, what you know you can take on. If that's just the smallest thing, great. Once you've got that, then what's the next thing you can bring into your life? What's the next lifestyle change you can make? And the next bit, and the next bit. But constantly throughout that process, it has to come back to God. It has to come back to that heart. Um, motivation for this because you are not gonna, these changes in our lives will probably be inconvenient. At times, you know, washing your recycling takes time. Um, but we're only gonna want to do them if we understand why we want to do them. Um, and there is one little catchphrase that I'm gonna leave you with, um, that someone said to me a little while ago in relation to something else, but it's applicable in lots of areas of your life, including this one. [00:28:00] Um, and that is, that something is better than nothing and more is better than less. So just do something, something is better than nothing, and more of that is better than less. So make a start and pray and have the right motivation. And if you don't care about any of this at all, let's look at why. Like, are you switched off to this? Why, why are you switched off this? Maybe you need to read some, um, personal accounts of the impact of climate change to, to stir your heart a little bit. Um. Yeah, hopefully that's given you all something to think about, something to talk about, something to pray about. Um, thank you for listening. Matt: Wow. That was an abrupt end, wasn't it? Sorry. Uh, what a great talk that was by Ellie and it's the first time Ellie's talked at Crowd and uh, I absolutely loved it. Uh, and there were very real reasons, I [00:29:00] think why Ellie was chosen to do the talk as you came across. And so I want to get into all of this because right at the start of the talk, Ellie said that she learned from school and she was of the generation where this was taught and I wasn't. And so there's some really interesting stuff to get into. But before we do, we are gonna go and have some, uh, well, we're gonna have a time of worship and reflection. And this is the part of Livestream where we play, uh, a Christian hymn That might be an old hymn or modern hymn. It's a bit more modern, this one. Uh, and if you want to, you can sing along if it's safe to do so, uh, and, uh, engage in the worship. Uh, alternatively, uh, just let the words, uh, if you're not used to saying, just read the words, just think about them. Minister, think about Ellie's talk. And whilst this is going on, if you, if you also want to write down your response to Ellie's talk in the comments, we'd love to know what your takeaway was from that talk. And we're gonna get into that. And the questions that have come [00:30:00] up, and the questions that have been sent in, in Conversation Street. But first, we're gonna play this song, it's called The Lion and the Lamb, which sounds like a bit of an odd title for a song, doesn't it? Uh, if you're not used to church, if you've never been to church before, it's like, why are we singing about two animals? Um. And so let me explain. There's a very good reason, just quickly. The lion and the lamb refers to Jesus, uh, in sort of two different ways that Jesus was both the lion, the king. Uh, he's the king of the universe. And Ellie talked about how he's part of creation and nothing that was created on this in this universe was not created without him. So he's the lion. He's the king. Uh, but, uh, but the song talks about being a lamb and scripture talks about Christ being a lamb, uh, which talks more about the sacrifice of Christ and the fact that Christ died for us. Uh, and how it used to be that you would sacrifice a lamb on your behalf to take upon its, uh, to take the punishment upon it of the sin. Uh, but Christ died once and fallen took upon himself our sinner. [00:31:00] So that's what we're talking about when we're talking about the lamb. And so, uh, yeah, you'll see the song sort of contrasting these two ideas, uh, as it goes along. So we're gonna play that song now, it's called The Lion and the Lamb. After that song, we'll be back with Conversation Street. So, uh, enjoy this song, uh, and I'll be back in just a few minutes time. Video: He coming on the clouds, kings and kingdoms will bow down. Every chain [00:32:00] will break his broken hearts. Declare his praise for who can stop the Lord. Ight. Our God is the lion, the lion of juah. He's roaring with power and fighting. Every knee will bow before him. Our God is the lamb. The lamb with slay for the sin of the world. His blood breaks the chains and every knee will bow the lion and every open up. [00:33:00] The gates make way before the king. The God who comes to save is here to set the cap free for who can stop the Lord. Our God is the lion, the lion of He's roaring with power and fighting our battles. Every day will bow before him. Our God is the lamb for the of the world. His blood breaks the chains, and every knee will bow. Knee will bow.[00:34:00] The Lord. Who can stop the Lord? Who can stop? The Lord? Who can stop the Lord. Who can stop the lordy? Who can stop? The lordy? Who can stop the lordy. Who can stop? The Lord? Our God is the lion, the lion of juah. [00:35:00] He is roaring with power and fighting our battle every will bow be for our God is the lamb. The lamb for the His blood breaks, the chains, and every evil be the lamb.[00:36:00] Matt: Well, very good. And uh, sorry, just something flagged upon my computer there. I'm not quite sure what that was. Anyway. Let's, uh, carry on with this. Let's have a look at what's going on. So, Conversation Street. Let's get into this, shall we? So we've had some questions come in. Uh, Sharon's put a question in there, which is great. Uh, there's some stuff which came out of Ellie's talk, which I want to just touch on. And then I've got a, a whole bunch of questions here for Conversation Street. So, um, ordinarily I would have a wingman or a Wing woman at this stage as we go through them. Uh, so what I need you to do if you're on the live stream, is just join in with me on the comments and let you know. Uh, lemme know what you think to these questions. So, Sharon says here, uh, Ellie did a, in fact, I think I can put this, this is one from the comments. Uh, is that working? No, it's not coming up. Okay, let's not panic about that. Publish. There we go. [00:37:00] Now it's working. Awesome. So, Ellie did a great job, uh, talking about the creation of the world and about how we are responsible for looking after it. My question is, what does the Bible say about the future of the Earth? Uh, and I'm also wondering what things people do already to help look after the water. Okay. Well there's, that's some loaded questions right there, isn't there? So, um, what does the Bible say about the future of the Earth? That's a really interesting question, isn't it? Because ultimately the Bible says there's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth. And God's just going to redo the whole thing. Uh, and Dan actually touched on this in his, uh, when he kicked off the, what does the Bible say about series when he talked about what does the Bible say about the afterlife? He touched on that topic there. Um, oops da about there being a new heaven and a new Earth. And so God is just gonna recreate everything. But does that mean that we have a license to basically do whatever we like on the earth [00:38:00] now? I don't think it does at all. And I think, uh, actually you can, the only conclusion you can come away with from Ellie's talk is actually we've got some responsibility and we've got some stewardship, uh, issues going on here. And, um, one of the things, uh, well, one of the questions we have here, um, is what is the role of Christians in environmental activism? And it's a bit like, uh, Sharon's saying here, I'm wondering what things people do already to help look after the world. What is the role of Christians in environmental activism? That's such a great question, isn't it? Should we, should we partake in activism? I think we should, and I know that the people from Tier Fund and Christian Aid are doing a great job at the moment with Cop 26, and there's all kinds of things going on behind the scenes, which is fantastic, um, because we should steward the planet and I think we should actually, we should encourage people to steward this planet. Well, I think for [00:39:00] me, the thing that it comes down to, uh, is this, I think it's good to encourage people to steward the planet world and we should. Um, but I don't think we. We do that independent of the gospel. Now what I mean by this is if you're new to the, the, if you're new to churches, I think for me, environmental activism and the good news, the gospel go hand in hand. They're not two separate things. Um, and they go hand in hand. And just as God can restore the world and he can restore humanity, uh, and I think we need both. Um, but I think Christians should be involved in environmental activism, in whatever that is and what that looks like. I don't think that means we have to tie ourselves to motorway bridges, uh, or freeway bridges if you are outside of the uk. Um, but I, I do think it means that we have to be proactive, uh, in, in environmental issues. Now, I'm saying this as a bit of a Luddite, as someone who has had to undo a lot of. Preconceived [00:40:00] ideas and assumptions that I had growing up. Right? So I grew up in the seventies and the eighties. Um, and you know, there's one phrase you would use to describe the eighties. It would be consumerism, wouldn't it? I mean, it's not really got that any better, to be fair, but it was like, you know, everything was sick and we just didn't care. But what was interesting was in the 1918, late 1970s and 1980s, the Fair Trade Movement started by Christians again, actually by Christian Charities, um, like Christian aids, uh, tier Fund, um, and a few others sort of coming together, um, trade craft. Uh, I was on the board for Trade Craft and they came together and they started the Fair Trade Movement because they realized actually this consumerism, this insatiable need that the West had for goods and services was actually causing a lot of damage, uh, in third world countries. And a lot of people were being treated unfairly because. They weren't getting what they [00:41:00] needed. Right? They, they, they would, we wanted, we wanted low prices. That meant the guy that was farming stuff in Africa, basically, he got nothing. Uh, and we didn't know about it in the uk, nor did we care. We kind of have our blinkers on, don't we? It's like, it doesn't, doesn't matter. We fast. Fashion, I think is another, another massive problem that we have to tackle, um, as people and as a community. And I, I'm saying this not as someone who understands everything, you understand, I'm saying this as somebody who's going, actually there are consequences. And Ellie touched on this, the amount of deaths that are happening because of environmental change. So the fair trade movement grew out the seventies and eighties, and we've expanded that as well to actually be, now we need to care about people and we need to care about the planet. And so now. We see things like B Corp is absolutely taken off, which is a certification that companies get, uh, when they are doing things fairly for people and fairly for the planet and [00:42:00] their profits take into account both people and planet. Uh, and I, I'm, I'm really excited by that. So, and a lot of this, I'm not saying all of it, a lot of this is happening because of Christian environmental activism. Fair trade was started because of Christian activism and going, there's something wrong. We need to do something different. Uh, and, and getting involved with that. So I, I really like that. Um, so I hope that answers the question. Just going back to Sharon's question, what things do people do already to help look after the world? Uh, that's, that's a really interesting question, isn't it? So for me, I'm trying, you try all the simple things, don't you? Like, turn the heating down a notch, wear an extra jumper, you know, 'cause I think that has a big impact. Less, uh, using less plastic. One of the companies that I run, I've, we've just halted actually, um, a, a, a big production of, uh, of, of recycled plastic. Uh, because we just, we wanna assess the environmental impact a little bit [00:43:00] more and a little bit better. So I think it's, um, we we're all doing stuff and I like what Ellie said at the end there, let's do what we can do and do more of that and increase a little bit of a time. Uh, I think that's really important. So, um, what else have we got going in here? Uh, what does the Bible say about stewardship of the environment? Well, Ellie touched on that, so you can definitely go back and have a look at that. She, she covered stewardship. I think fundamentally, one of the things that I took away from Ellie's talk, when God created the world, the first job he gave to man, he created man, he created Adam. There's Adam and Eve in the garden being the first thing. He tells him to do is to steward the planet. He's like, you've gotta take care of this bud. Here's the planet. Rule over it, subdue it. All these fancy words basically can mean steward it, look after it. Well, and I have to be honest, like Sharon said in the comments, I'm not sure we've been doing a particularly [00:44:00] good job. Uh, and so, uh, from someone who grew up in a decade where we'd never talked about it in the environment, I, I just, just didn't, as a kid, it never occurred to us. I think we, you know, it, it's good that changes are happening. That's the, that's put what's James put here. Check out phase four, change.org uk. Let me put that on there. I've not checked that website, Jamie, so I'm guessing that is, um, I'm guessing that is, uh, a website around it, um, around this kind of stuff, I'm guessing. Uh, so if you wanna know more, check out that website. Um. Uh, Sharon says, we've made a lot of little change at home, but we have a long way to go. Yeah. Do you remember the star, uh, fish story? Um, there's a book actually called Starfish. Um, I feel a little bit like that guy, you know, and he's, he's sort of, there's a guy walking down to the beach and he sees on the beach there's thousands of starfish who will die 'cause they're out of the water. And there's a young lad who is picking them up [00:45:00] and throwing them back into the sea. And the young and the chap goes to the young guys go, why are you doing that? Because there are thousands of these staff fish. You, you can't get them all back in the ocean and really you are only gonna get one or two. And the young lad said, well, I'm making a difference to the one or two. Uh, and I think it's very much that attitude. It's like the problem is great and colossal and it's good. The world leaders are meeting in Cop 26. It's good we're having open discussions. Yes, I think they could do more, but I'm very keen that we go, don't go down the political, uh, agenda too much in a church podcast. Uh, podcast live stream. Um, so it's great that they're meeting, yes, they could do more. Um, but we can't leave it up to just the government. I think a lot of this comes down to being like that little lad on the beach or doing a little bit, a little bit. Are we another question, are we just fooling ourselves? Have we been conned by, [00:46:00] uh, by governments, by people? And there's no such thing as environmental issues. The environmental issues we're facing are just natural changes anyway. 'cause we can track natural changes in the environment. I don't know is the honest answer. I don't know if we stop producing plastic and oil and all that sort of stuff today. If we stop the deforestation, if we reduce the mean gay, all the things that scientists tell us to, I don't know what would happen to the planet in some respects. Personally, I don't. I don't think that's the, the big question. The big question for us as Christians is, are we stewarding the resources that God has given as well? And I don't think we are. I think we are over consuming. And I think the knock on effect, and let's remember this, 'cause this for me is one of the key points that Ellie was talking about, that knock on effect of this, is that there are millions of people who die as a result. People's lives are very at, at a very real risk on decisions that we make, certainly in the West. [00:47:00] And we don't, like Ellie said, we don't tend to feel it as much in the uk. We just don't. We don't, we don't. In fact, you know, you often hear comments like, actually global warming is gonna be good for the uk 'cause at least it'll be a little bit warmer. Right? And we can joke about it, but the consequences we don't feel, but other people around the world do. And I think we have to think about others. I think we have to steward our resources, our planet well. We have to give an account before God of what we've done. So I hope that answers that question. How can I make my faith more environmentally friendly in my everyday life? That's a really good question. I think, again, it just comes down to steward and are we steward in what God has done? Uh, what Ellie said and what Sharon said here in the comments about making lots of little changes about just the desire to do better, uh, and improve. Uh, Nicola said, I can't do much, but recycle as much as I can. Uh, so I try and fix things instead of rushing out to buy new things. [00:48:00] That's a great one right there, Nicola. Um, that's a great one right there. Um, I, I, I totally agree. Uh, fixing, uh, these are practical things, aren't they? I mean, share your practical tips on, on, you know, being environmental and not using plastic and, and, and all this sort of, uh, stuff. Interestingly, I, I mean, I'm not involved in it anymore because, uh, we sold the company, but we were involved in a beauty business. And actually one of the biggest problems that we have, I think, is a beauty industry personally, just with the sheer amount of, um, plastic they consume, it's, uh, it's quite extraordinary. Uh, what is some additional reading, uh, that Christians can take on the environment? Uh, I'm gonna defer back to James' website here, which I'll put back on there. Uh, which is, um, let me get rid of this. Uh, you can see it better. So check out that website, have a look at that. I'm sure that if James posted that, that's gonna start off some good conversations. I would also look at websites like Tier Fund. Um, I know they [00:49:00] do some great stuff, uh, around that. And also Christian eight. Um, and, uh, I think start there. Um, and that will lead to, they'll lead to the rabbit trails. Uh, let me tell you. Um, what's your church doing, uh, where the environment is concerned? That's a great question, isn't it? Um, what are we doing? Are we carbon neutral? Um, I suppose for me, uh, if I can be a little bit biased, one of the great things about digital churches, people aren't getting in cars to come and join it. Um, I mean, it's one of the downsides. You're not actually meeting with physical people. Um, but I think, yeah, the church that we're a part of the system that we're a part of, uh, have some great environmental policies. And this is one of the interesting things. Actually, more and more, uh, people are wanting to see your environmental policy and I think it's great. I almost wonder, I almost wonder, I dunno what you think, I'm just tightly off the top of my head. Should you, or if you're part of a, uh, you know, if you're married with kids or whatever, sit down as a family, or if it's just you, [00:50:00] you don't need to be a business. What is your environmental policy? What do you feel like God is saying to you? You know, obviously you're not gonna put it on a website like we have to do for, for the company, but just write it down. This is my environmental policy, this is what I am gonna do and I think I could do this and then I'm gonna review it, uh, and try and get, uh, get further along and make it better. I think that would be quite an interesting one. Um, what other questions? Why does this matter? Uh, I think Ellie answered that question quite well. Um, and actually I thought it was quite interesting what she was saying. Um, excuse me. Understanding the why that God creates the whole Earth. And he goes, this is great. This is very good. Now mankind, look after it, steward it well because this is beautiful. This speaks about me. This has got me all over it and I've created this for you. Therefore, steward it well, I think that's a pretty good [00:51:00] reason right there. Why it matters. It matters to God. And I think, again, just touching back on what Ellie said, it matters because. People's lives, uh, you know, paying fair prices for things. Fair trade makes a difference. It does, it genuinely does. I'm not, I'm, I think, you know, that you could argue that actually it causes some problems. I'm not saying it's a perfect system. I don't think there's a perfect system outside of God really, because men are, men are involved and we screw things up royally at every level. Let's just be real, right? Um, but I think there are better systems than doing nothing. And I think that's fair trade right there. Um, I think that's caring for the environment. I think that's, uh, reducing your plastic amount. I think it's avoiding things like fast fashion personally. Um, I, you know, I, I think it's really helpful. Uh, Sharon says. Ooh, let me put this on here. So I sometimes look at, good on you. Do eco. Uh, good on [00:52:00] you. Uh, they're reviews of which clothing companies treat people and the environment well, there you go. There's another resource you can use to check stuff out. Uh, thank you for that. I think that's great. Um, what does the Bible say about climate change? That's a really interesting question. I don't, actually, don't think, I don't know the answer. I, I can tell you that it tells us to steward what we have. Um, I'm sure there's cleverer people than me that will be able to answer that question, so I'm gonna defer to them. And that may be something you just put into Google or look at sites like, um, the sites they brought up, uh, face for Change or, um, Christian aids, something like that. Uh, I'm sure maybe they've got a better answer. Um, I'm just going down your, uh, questions here. Uh, five. Yeah, I'm not gonna do that question 'cause I don't actually know the answer to it. Um, so thank you very much for your questions. Thanks for sending them in. Thanks for your comments. Um, I feel like, [00:53:00] uh, this is a very on point topic, um, and I think that as Christians we should absolutely take the lead, um, because we understand creation, uh, and all of God's beauty and glory. Uh, we've done it in the past, we've done it in um, medicine, we've done it in science and I think we should do it in environmental issues as well. I think, uh, I think, I think that's important. Um, but I also think that being militant about things, it's probably. Probably, you know, not necessarily how God would do it. How would, how do we do this with joy and with peace and with righteousness and with love? That I think is probably a bigger, bigger question. Uh, so start with something manageable. I'm just going, I took pages of notes here actually from Ellie's little talk, um, everything at, at the end, lemme just close with this. Everything comes back to God. [00:54:00] And I think for me, I have gone through various ways of thinking about the environment as more and more stuff has come up. Do you know what I mean? It's a conspiracy theory. Oh, it's real. Oh, it's a cons. Do you know what I mean? And I've, and I've, I've had to learn and unpicked, like I say, a lot of thinking because I'm, I'm just of a different generation. But fundamentally, I think following today's talk, I've now heard it twice. And going through these questions and the, and the comments and stuff like that, I feel like God's changed my heart a little bit on this. And I think, yes, I, I can do more. I really can and I should do more. Uh, and wherever I can, I should steward this properly, uh, and steward it, steward this planet properly. So I think the takeaway from this is what's God saying to you? Uh, the two big questions. What's God saying? What are you gonna do about it? So have a think about that. Um, I hope you enjoyed today's conversation. I've really, I've got a lot out of it. Very practical. Um, uh, very timely and very, very [00:55:00] useful. Uh, and I think let's just pray for the world leaders because I think with Cop 26, that's quite important. So we're just gonna close in Prayer. Uh, Lord, I wanna thank you that you created this planet. I wanna thank you that you created, uh, everything that we see and it was good. Lord, would you help us steward this planet properly? Would you speak to each of us about changes that we can and should make? And Lord, would you, uh, bless our world leaders, would you guide conversations and would you help us all to make the changes that we need to make in Jesus' name? Amen. Thank you so much for being with us next week. As I said at the start of the live stream, we are going into Remembrance Sunday. So for those of you outside of the uk, remembrance Sunday is Memorial Day Veterans Day. Uh, different countries have different names for it. It's, uh, it's to honor the memory and to remember those that have [00:56:00] fallen and that have sacrificed and given their lives. Uh, in times of, well, in times of war and peace really. So, uh, do join us for Remembrance Sunday. It's gonna be a little bit different as a service. Um, and, but we do do a Remembrance Sunday service and we'll explain more about why we do it next week. So do come and join us for that. The week after that, we are jumping straight back into what does the Bible say about, um. And I'm desperately looking on my computer here to try and figure out which topic it's gonna be, and I genuinely can't remember. Anyway, we're gonna jump back into it. I know we've got James and Hannah coming on talking about what does the Bible say about money and work. I know we've got John Harding talking about what does the Bible say about relationships and marriage. So we have got some juicy topics, let me tell you, coming up and you are not going to want to miss them. So make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube or on Facebook. Uh, I see in the last 30 days, the subscriptions, um, our YouTube subscriptions have kind of slowly increased, uh, but in the last 30 days we've [00:57:00] had hundreds of people subscribe, which has been phenomenal. So, uh, it's great that you've done that. So make sure you subscribe so you can join us on the live stream, join in the conversation, or watch us on Catchup, as I know many of you do. That's it from me. Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church. It's been. It's been a revelation. I've loved it. I've really properly enjoyed this one, and I hope you have too. We are gonna close out with another worship song. The live stream will end automatically, uh, after this is finished. So again, either join in with the singing, uh, or just think about the words. Uh, that's it from me. We will see you next week. Have a great week. God bless. And bye for now.