By Rev. The Hon. Dr. Gordon Moyes, A.C., M.L.C.

The influential evangelical leader in the USA, Chuck Colson, recently broadcast on the subject (http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=11425).

Christians don’t have to let concern for the environment—that is, concern for God’s creation—be hijacked by those who are hostile to our beliefs.

Nancy Sleeth’s approach is a perfect example. Sleeth and her family started learning about how to care for the environment around the same time they came to faith in Christ. Of every religion she and her family investigated, she says that Christianity was the only one that placed a high value on caring for the earth. So she offers an unusual perspective on environmentalism through the eyes of faith.

No matter how you feel about environmentalism, it’s hard to argue with two points that Sleeth makes quite well. First, God made the earth, and we are stewards of His creation. Second, consuming less saves time and money. And that is time and money we can better spend in God’s service and building up our family life and serving our neighbors.

The Sleeths' years of simplifying and conserving resources have paved the way for an authentic ministry. By sharing their own experiences, they make the learning process easier for all of us—in the home, in the yard, at work, at the dinner table.

That is why I have included over the years articles here on gardening, growing your own vegetables, ways to conserve water and power, practical methods of improving your gardens and lawns, caring for your own chickens and eating your own eggs, and a whole series of articles on keeping healthy, improving your marriages and family life. It is all part of our theology of the stewardship of all God has given us.

Christians who avoid these issues, and even fight against them, are only partial Christians, neglecting the full truth of the scriptures and disobeying many of God’s commands.

Many of our family and friends have children and I have recently been telling them that all the efforts, worries and concerns about their teenagers are occurring during the most blessed time of their lives. At the same time, I do wonder if we can’t be involved with our children in a smarter way.

For example, must every child be driven to school every day? Each day I walk past our nearby schools I see buses arrive with hardly a child on them but six or seven hundreds cars pulling in to drop children off, only to return after six hours. That is tens of thousands of dollars every day, plus pollution, wear and tear on vehicles, crowded roads, and lost time that could be spent in more productive pursuits. All this because parents do not organize themselves into rosters and form car pools to collect and deliver all of the children from a local area instead of all of the families using all of the cars. Car-pooling could save each family over $2000 each year. Multiply that by driving a child for ten years and you will see the savings.

All of the good parents near me have enrolled their kids in summer and winter sports, music lessons, swimming and tennis lessons and one or more parents are making four or five trips every week to and from these. Undertaking one less activity would save $400 for each child per year. Plus over $1,000 on car costs.

I have written before on the benefits of going to garage sales. Buy second hand. Recycle, reuse, and refuse to take more plastic bags. Give away anything you are not using to charity shops. Caring for the environment is not a radical political agenda. It can be about improving your own health, the state of our community, improving your own behavior, expanding your mind by being informed by values like good stewardship, protecting family time, self-restraint, and helping others. That’s not radical. It is common sense and, most importantly, thoroughly Christian. All Christians should be green!

Written by Rev. The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, A.C., M.L.C.  Find out more about Dr. Moyes at GordonMoyes.com.