For many in the Third World, concern for the long-term future of the earth is a luxury they cannot afford. People don’t worry about consequences that are 20 years down the road when the immediate problem is surviving next week.
But most would agree that environmental consciousness lately has become more of a focus of relief-and-development efforts, both Christian and secular. Joseph Sheldon, a leading evangelical environmentalist and professor at Messiah College, observes, for example, that the World Bank is increasingly linking its loans to environmentally sound projects.
He attributes this in part to the influence of Herman Daly, an evangelical who is a top World Bank economist. Says Sheldon, “Daly’s views are rooted in sustainable economics. He understands that the earth’s resources are at some point limited.”
While the church as a whole often has been criticized for being slow to add the issue of the environment to its agenda, many missionaries and Christian relief-and-development organizations have been friends of the environment for a long time. Says World Vision president Robert Seiple, “Organizations that have stressed sustainable development are environmentally conscious virtually by definition, because a big part of sustainable development is taking care of the earth.”
Beyond this, according to Seiple, Christian organizations lately have started addressing environmental issues “with more intentionality.”
Blazing An Ecology-Minded Trail
Sarah Corson and her husband, Ken, spent several years ministering among the poor in five different Central American nations.
“When we returned to the U.S. in 1979, we were devastated by the affluence and waste in this country,” Sarah says. Failing to find a missions organization that taught ...
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