Becoming An Eco Christian: Looking After God’s Earth

Regardless of our religion all those who have faith, attend church or are part of a congregation, should be thinking about their personal impact on the environment. Furthermore, we should be looking at how green our churches are.

Part of our role is to ensure that God’s earth is kept in much the same way as he created it, of course that doesn’t mean we should stop developing, building or helping to create a better earth. It just means that whilst we are doing it, we need to respect the fragile nature of his creation.

Green issues are something that has been raised by the church many times and there are now lots of groups who are working to ensure our churches become more eco friendly. However there is a lot more we can do as individuals to help preserve the planet for our children and our grandchildren.

Whilst it is important to work on improving the efficiency of your church and spread the word about green issues, it is important that you start in your own home. As we know, from little acorns great oaks grow. Should the congregation see you making changes and seeing them through, they are likely to follow suit.

We all need to use energy in our homes, to heat them, cool them down and to run the appliances we need to feed ourselves in this modern world. However a large percentage of the energy we use is wasted. Through our roof, windows and floor. A great place to start living a greener life is to talk to energy efficiency experts who can help you become more efficient in your own home. You could also invite them to your church to see what changes could be made there. Whilst some changes may be costly, perhaps you could see if a window or roof company would give you a discount if 5 or 6 people in the congregation were to take on their services? Or better still, instead of a discount you pay it back to the church.

You could also look at creating your own living wall. A space on your home which is essentially a virtual garden. These beautiful installations are fantastic for the home and can reduce the pollutants in urban areas. If you worked with your congregation and all put a living wall on the outside of your homes, then you would see a great improvement in the air quality. They also help during storms, to slow the flow of water which can prevent flooding.

Growing our own food is something many of us stopped doing in favour of convenience. However taking the time to produce your own vegetables and fruit, nurturing the soil and loving the plants, is both therapeutic and a good time to think and learn.

If serving God shows us anything, it is that small changes made by one person can create massive changes in the world. So be the change you want to see in the world and then rest will follow. Together we can insure the future of God’s Earth.