Fora

1990 Forum: Living Your Life as Vocation

News Release

Mancelona, Michigan-- July 17, 1990. "The major reason for Christians to take environmental action is that it is the right thing to do; it is the Biblically normative way of living." This was the conclusion of the 1990 Au Sable Forum on "Living Your Life as Vocation" held at Au Sable Institute, Mancelona, Michigan. Each year at this time, the forest country of Northern Michigan, a group gathers from around the country and around the world, to explore the relationships between religion and ecology. On field trips to wild rivers, bogs, and forests, people who have been working at living a Christian life respectful of the Creation, presented their own personal stories. Farmers and inner city sojourners, politicians and engineers, told of their joys and struggles in trying to live out their Christian faith while caring and keeping the Creation. Beginning with the challenge that the life of Jeremiah gives to the church and society-- a challenge put forth by Pete Diamond, Old Testament historian from Westmont College-- the 70 participants from across North America exchanged their own stories.

Among these stories was that of Au Sable Institute itself, this year celebrating its tenth anniversary. Au Sable is a service Institute built upon biblical teachings on caring and keeping the Creation. Bert Froysland, an early founder, related how from its early beginnings as a Christian youth camp in 1958, it was transformed into an Institute. Au Sable now is recognized worldwide as a key witness to the biblical message of stewardship and its application to current environmental problems, local and global. During annual Forums, held since 1980, those involved in integrating Christian teachings with ecological science have met at Au Sable to discuss the relationship between Christianity and ecology. The result includes the publication of many key books and papers on the topic, such as Tending the Garden (Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, ed., Eerdmans, 1987) as well as encouraging Christian institutions toward increased respect for the Creation and for God as Creator.

Among the topics to emerge from Au Sable Forum 1990 was that of making each church a Creation Awareness Center. This concept-- already being developed vigorously by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)-- was identified as one way that churches can respond to modern environmental concern. While some churches might be able to follow the example of Au Sable Institute with its earth-sheltered "Earth Hall," wood-chipped sidewalks, absence of lawns, and use of native plant life on its grounds, most churches will have to respond to their own environmental challenges and opportunities. But churches who stand, in physical appearance, programs, and hymnody, as clear witnesses to the goodness and integrity of God's Creation, are vitally necessary in this time of environmental degradation.

Among the outcomes of the Forum was a proposal to establish a "Plain Farmer Conservancy"-- an organization that would have as its mission the resettling of rural lands that have lost their vitality-- a resettling in the form of appropriate-scaled farms that practice ecological sustainability-- a resettling that re-establishes true community and community values.

Addressing the question, "Aren't there concerns that are more important than environment for Christians?" Forum participants pointed to the Biblical teaching of I Timothy 6:6-10, that the key to right living is the pursuit, not of money or material well-being, but the pursuit of contentment. "We shut out the 'still small voice of God' by plugging up our ears with the noise of radios, cassettes, CDs, and TVs. We encase ourselves in our air tight homes, offices, and vehicles. We busy our minds with fighting traffic, shopping, meaningless work, and trivial pursuits. But by cutting back and living more simply, we suddenly make room for God. We make time to serve Him, we make silence to hear Him, we quiet our minds to meditate on His word."

The Forum message concluded that "By living simply, we are also being good stewards of God's creation. The fewer things we use, the less there is to throw away, reducing the cluttering up and poisoning of the environment. This also shows a Christian respect for life, not only for human life but also for the life of the rest of creation... We are dependent on nature-- for clean water, clean air, healthy food, and a peaceful spirit. And nature is dependent on us-- for keeping it clean, healthy, and peaceful."

While emphasizing that the most important reason for caring for environment and Creation is that it is the right thing to do Biblically, the participants also warned that destruction of Creation is very serious business. "On the last day, when the 24 elders say that 'the time has come for judging the dead... and for destroying those who destroy the earth,' God will not ask you to account for your neighbor's actions but for your own. We must keep in mind Jameses exhortation: 'Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins' (James 4:19). By our faithful stewardship of God's creation we witness to the world that our faith is real, for 'faith without deeds is useless' (James 2:20)."

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For additional information on Au Sable Forum 1990 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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