Background

With the advent of modern science, disruptive science-religion debates, and a materialistic growth economy, Christendom has been stepping back from its closeness to the creation and the Creator, shifting its attention toward the individual self and the
personal Redeemer. The growing environmental awareness in modern society is making the church realize that its long-standing confession of God as Creator has often become so muted that it allows for its confessors to stand by or even assist in the dismantling of the Creator's works.

Christians are now recognizing how God's creation is being degraded and what the scriptures and a renewed spirituality teach us about God's care for the earth. Belief in God as Redeemer presupposes belief in God as Creator. All of this leads to a Christian worldview that includes caring for the earth. It is necessary for Christians, and people generally, to be concerned about the land (God's created order) in which we live, which
surrounds us, and which is entrusted to our care, and to speak out for the Creator's works.

Statements of Faith and Fact:

1. The earth is an orderly, interdependent system in which plants and animals live, adapted to their environment.
2. The earth is characterized by diversity, richness and a variety of plants, animals, and environs, all of which were declared by God as being good (Gen. 1:31).
3. Humans are part of the earth but do not own it since it is a gift from God entrusted to their care (Gen. 1:26; 2:15).
4. The original innocence of the garden has long vanished; human lives and the land are marred by decay, selfishness and strife.

Ethical Statements:

5. Humans cannot assume that they have an absolute right to the land.
6. The land, belonging to the created order, is finite and has a limited capacity for improvement and carrying burdens; therefore, just limits must be placed on expansion.
7. In most places we cannot live on the land without modifying it so that it provides shelter and nourishment. These necessary cultural interferences with the land should be weighed in several respects: Do the changes enhance or impair our general well-being? Do they unnecessarily inflict harm on the created order? How do they affect the well- being of future generations?
8. Since our life time is shorter than that of the land and since successive generations are always depending on the preceding ones, the land should be kept in trust for future generations.
9. All life, including our own, is sustained by the land. Therefore, human life cannot have an absolute priority at the expense of everything else.

Call to Prophetic Response:

10. Belonging to the new redeemed order, Christians are called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to shine forth as the light of the world and to become the salt of the earth. They are enabled to anticipate the hoped-for new creation in the present and to become prophetic witnesses in a fallen world.
11. Knowing that God's kingdom includes heaven and earth, we value the whole of God's created order without predominant concern for its utility.
12. As Christians, we have a prophetic task to remind the church and others that God intends that all people should enjoy the bounty of God's land; moreover, all creatures should be seen as having a rightful place in God's creation (Luke 1:51ff; Matt. 12:6).
13. Since humans have been entrusted with the care of creation, they will be held accountable for what they have done and left undone when the Master returns.
14. As Christians, we hope for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
15. The creation, including humanity, waits eagerly for the fulfillment of the kingdom and to be set free from brokenness and death and the sin of self-centeredness and egotism (Rom. 8:19).

Ultimately, all life belongs to God, who sustains us in and through the land. Consequently, the destiny of the land and humanity are inextricably intertwined and must be recognized in thought and action. The creation is no commodity to be bought and sold, used and abused. It is a gift to be enjoyed and to be handled wisely. And wisdom itself is a gift of God.

Plea for Christian Stewardship:

Christian stewardship is rooted in the scriptures, is informed by instruction gleaned from the cosmic order, and flows from a communion with the Creator and a caring love for the creation. Christian stewardship is doing the Creator's will in caring for the earth and striving to preserve and restore the integrity, stability, and beauty of the created order, responding to creation's eager expectation of redemption. Christian stewardship is so living on earth that the Creator and creation are respected, the creation is preserved, brokenness is repaired, and harmony is restored. Christian stewardship seeks for the Creator's kingdom--a kingdom devoid of human arrogance, ignorance, and greed. Christian stewardship is so living on Earth that heaven will not be a shock to us.

Prepared as a joint statement by the presenters of papers at Au Sable Forum 1987: Susan Power Bratton (University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia), Herman E. Daly (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana), Calvin B. DeWitt (Au Sable Institute, Mancelona, Michigan), Ruth L. Hine (Bethel Horizons, Madison, Wisconsin), Karen A. Longman (Christian College Coalition, Washington, D.C.), Ghillean T. Prance (New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York), Mutombo Mpanya (University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana), Hans Schwarz (University of Regensburg, Regensburg, West Germany), David Wise (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin).

For additional information on Au Sable Forum 1987 contact:
Peter Bakken, Coordinator of Outreach
Au Sable Institute
PO Box 260170
Madison, WI 53726
(608) 663-4610 Phone
(608) 663-4614 FAX
e-mail: outreach@ausable.org

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