Learning to love God's creation

By Audrey Martin

THE BEST KIND of fun is also educational. And what could be better educational fun than learning how to love and care for God's creation?

A Rocha Canada does just that -- for all members of the family. A Rocha was originally founded in Portugal (A Rocha is Portuguese for 'the rock') It is an international conservation organization whose stated mission is "working to care for God's world."

A Rocha delivers its Explore Outdoors! and Explore Nature! summer day camps for kids and teens around the Lower Mainland -- and also at its new Field Studies and Ecology Centre in South Surrey.

These programs are unique to A Rocha Canada within the international family of A Rocha, and provide environmental education programs to 1,000 youth each summer.

In addition, lectures and other events for the entire family throughout the summer including a presentation on A Rocha in Kenya July 17, a workshop on sketching birds July 24 and a 'Kid's Activity Day' July 29.

Volunteers are still needed for several programs, and new program initiatives are being developed for school and churches.

'The Created Life: A Weekend Celebrating Creation, Community and Creativity' will take place on the Labour Day weekend, September 3 -- 5.

A Rocha will combine with Imago's Vancouver Arts Network for a weekend of celebration of creation and the creative arts, rooted in contemplative Christian spirituality.

Peter Harris, who co-founded A Rocha International with his wife Miranda, says it is important for families to become aware of how they can care for their local environment -- and to include that in their everyday devotional life.

"The first thing is to realize that, wherever you live -- whether in the inner city, or the suburbs -- you're living in God's creation," he told BCCN. "We must learn to receive that as a gift."

The Harrises spent several weeks in Vancouver last month, teaching a Regent College course in 'Redeeming Creation' -- exploring the relation between Christian mission and environmental issues. They also assisted with the $1.3 million capital campaign to pay for the South Surrey property.

Many Christians are starting to "get it" when it comes to environmental issues, Harris said. He gave the example of a gathering of Christian leaders from various NGOs and denominations, which took place at the World Bank in March 2003.

"My impression was not that they needed to be persuaded," he said, "but that they needed guidance on how to proceed. They wanted to see what environmental stewardship is like in practice."

He added that there is now an "absolute consensus" among evangelical theologians that environmentalism has a biblical basis.

"The ministry of Jesus leads us to believe that God cares about his whole creation. The healing ministry of Jesus makes no sense if we are not meant to care for creation. We should care for creation because it's biblical to do so. You can't say you love God, and trash his creation."

The environmental movement, he said, "is led by Christian leaders in the poorer world, where environmental degradation is having its principal impact," Harris said.

"Christian compassion is making people care about the effect of these problems on the poor."

On the other hand, he contended, "the real issue for Western Christians is consumerism." Many, he said, are "trying to defend a consumer lifestyle. If you touch their lifestyle, you're touching the Golden Calf."

Romans 8, he declared, "talks about the birth pangs of creation, not its death throes. If we believe in the resurrection of the body, we should believe in the renewal of creation."

Contact: ARocha.org/Canada

-- additional reporting by David F. Dawes