On April 22, we will celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of Earth Day. This year, all living things around the planet will have a new ally: Evangelical Christians. What will this partner be like? Will Evangelicals collaborate with traditional environmentalists? Will they celebrate Earth Day?

It is only fair to tell you I belong to a no-nonsense Methodist church; I believe that Jesus walked on water—and not because he couldn’t swim. I drive a hybrid car, hang my clothes on the line, and use one-quarter of the electricity and one-third of the fuel that I did five years ago. These changes came about when I opened my heart and mind to what God has to say about environmentalism. Eventually I felt called to leave my work as an emergency-room doctor to focus on the most pressing health issue of all time: Earth care.

We Evangelicals are beginning to acknowledge the plight of the planet. The earth is ill. There are no elm trees left on Elm Street, no chestnut trees on Chestnut Lane. The clouds of birds that migrated in my youth are gone. Hourly, farmlands are being planted with malls and subdivisions and fertilized by suburban sprawl. Our industrial way of life is giving the earth a fever.

The Bible tells us that God loves his creation, enjoys it, and claims ownership of it. We cannot claim to love God and not love what he loves. It is true that God gave us dominion over the earth, but we must face the meaning of this mandate. We give teachers “dominion” over our sons and daughters, but we expect to find them better than we left them when we pick them up at the end of the day–not find them harmed.

Both Evangelicals and environmentalists act out of a desire to protect those plants and creatures that cannot speak for themselves. Both fight for elements of life over which mankind exercises “dominion”. These include the most mute and vulnerable of all creatures–the generations yet to be born.

In a century a child in Africa or a penguin in Antarctica will not know the identity of anyone who worked or sacrificed to make their world habitable. They can never repay those who helped. This goes to the very heart of Jesus’ teachings. The Good Samaritan is not the first man who walks by, nor the second who crosses over to the victim and says; “That’s too bad. They ought to do something about highway safety.” It is the Samaritan traveling on his donkey that Jesus declares the ideal neighbor. Why? Because the Samaritan gets off his ass to help.

Should Evangelical Christians celebrate Earth Day?

Yes!

The twenty-fourth Psalm declares that the Earth is the Lord’s and that everything belongs to him. Jesus said that we are to be a light on a hill giving hope to the world. I have “preached” in churches and “lectured” in front of environmental groups. I find it an honor to be with non-Christian groups and to serve as an ambassador for my faith. The call to action is one of love, hope, and personal responsibility. It transcends pink state/blue state labels. It is a new way to evangelize.

As Earth Day approaches, a more important question is: Why aren’t we celebrating the Sabbath? The fourth commandment is a mental health prescription followed by Christians for millennia. If Americans did no work, no shopping, and no driving on Sundays we would instantly produce fewer greenhouse gasses, use less fuel, and be closer to sanity—and to God. The Sabbath is God’s gift to man, fifty-two times a year.

Among the most pressing dilemmas facing earth is over-crowding. If we place all 10,000 years of human history (8000 BC-2000 AD) on a single calendar year, mankind goes from January through all twelve months of the year before reaching a census of one billion late on December 24. One billion more people are added to the planet on the December 29, and then again on the 30th. We then add an astounding 3 billion to the population on December 31st. Start the next year’s calendar, and we pick up our seventh billion at 11 am New Year’s Day. When we accepted the life prolonging fruits of science, we unbalanced the natural human population equation.

America is the third most populated country on the planet. According to our government, we will surge from our current 296 million to 600 million in only 70 years. The Bible says that the wise man perceives danger and takes steps to avoid it, while the fool rushes on toward peril without thought. Will Evangelicals lead, or will we find ourselves mired in materialism and finger pointing? I believe that we will lead, primarily because we can evoke the four-letter word “Love,” which is taboo in other arenas.

To the extent that Evangelical environmentalists act on our beliefs and preserve the gifts that God has entrusted us, we will become moral leaders. Jesus describes the road to heaven as narrow. The path may not accommodate a Hummer, but it surely has room for many a sister and brother.

Matthew Sleeth serves as Blessed Earth's Executive Director and resides with his wife, Nancy, in Wilmore, KY.