The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours;
Psalm 89:11
the world and all that is in it – you have founded them.
The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) is made up of the Baptist Union, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church working together for peace and justice. As Christians we are called to act justly and to work for God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Their aims are wide-ranging but include:
- Working towards a just economy that enables the flourishing of all life, striving for a world that can strive, not just survive
- A planet where our environment is renewed by seeking individual, community, national and international change in how we use the world’s resources. Our actions (and inaction) can be felt by our friends across the world as climate change has become a crisis
From Genesis, humans are shown to be part of God’s creation, shaped out of the same fabric as the earth itself. Our calling is to be stewards of this creation (Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:15). But humanity has fallen short of this calling, and we have misused the earth to our own gain (Isaiah 24:5). As Christians, we have real hope in the promise that God will reconcile all things in heaven and on earth to himself (Colossians 1:20). However, in our love for God we should be joining to pursue God’s desires for our world, working to bring this new kingdom ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.
The JPIT report and study guide “Hope in God’s Future” helps us understand the position of our Churches on climate change, and the vital connections between the environment and our Christian faith. It calls on Christians to transform their lifestyles through studying, praying and acting on environmental issues.
