| Cheryl Johns, Pentecostals, and Creation Care |
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Pentecostal Peace Fellowship member Cheryl Johns encourages other pentecostals to care for creation.
from Charisma News Service Sept. 7, 2004 A small but growing number of believers are beginning to view "environmental stewardship" as part of their Christian responsibility, even though issues concerning the Earth haven't been high on the list of social concerns for many evangelicals in the past. In June, about 30 ministry leaders - including representatives from the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), World Vision, Southern Baptist Convention, Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and "Charisma" magazine - convened at the Sandy Cove Christian Retreat Center outside Baltimore for a "creation care" conference aimed at raising awareness about pressing environmental issues such as global warming, air and water pollution and species extinction. Read more Several participants were hopeful that Christians would one day reclaim biblical environmental stewardship from radical extremists who have been accused of valuing trees and birds over humans. "Many people believe that in order to be concerned about the environment, you have to embrace liberal politics," NAE president Ted Haggard told "Charisma" in the September issue, out now. The full report on creation care can be found in the magazine. "That is not true, and we need to reverse that stereotype," Haggard added. Organized largely by the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN, www.creationcare.org), the invitation-only meeting included presentations from Sir John Houghton, an evangelical British physicist who is widely considered to be a leading authority on global warming; Howard Snyder, an Asbury Theological Seminary professor who discusses developing a theology that embraces creation care; and Larry Schweiger, a Christian who was recently named president of the National Wildlife Federation. The three-day conference ended with participants agreeing to give further study to environmental issues, to educate their constituents about them and to develop a formal position on global warming within a year. For people like the Rev. Jim Ball, who has been trying to mobilize Christians around environmental causes for 10 years, the meeting was an encouraging sign. "This [conference] was to reach out to those key leaders who really hadn't thought about [the environment] much," said Ball, EEN's executive director. "This is what we were hoping to achieve, that they would be open to listening to what other evangelical leaders were saying about this issue." Last year, Ball organized the What Would Jesus Drive? campaign to challenge Christians to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles. It is widely believed that fuel emissions from cars are raising the level of carbon in the atmosphere, which some, such as Houghton, say is causing the earth to grow dangerously warmer. Other scientists say the warming trend is part of a natural weather cycle. Cheryl Johns, professor of church formation at the Church of God Theological Seminary and a participant in the Sandy Cove meeting, said Christians have a unique responsibility toward the environment. "I think most Pentecostals and charismatics understand that Jesus saves, but He also heals," she said. "God is at work restoring and bringing healing. ... To care for creation, I think, is to participate in healing."
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