A Convenient Answer to An Inconvenient Truth
Or Reasons Why Holistic Cross Cultural Christian Mission May Help Reverse the Global Environmental Deforestation Crisis
Introduction: “An Inconvenient Truth and A Convenient Answer”
The title given to this paper calls for a quick explanation. First, the phrase, “An Inconvenient Truth” has its origin in the Al Gore documentary film released to cinema audiences in June 2006. The film was designed to warn viewers of the accelerating effects of global warming, and how we can best take measures that will correct related environmental problems. During the closing credits a number of action steps were presented to the viewers including, “Plant trees. Lots of trees.”
Shortly after the film’s release, Hal Conklin and Denny Wayman who author a social and spiritual commentary called Cinema in Focus wrote:
Global warming has become a political issue when it should be a human issue. The need to change our habits and “plant trees - lots of trees” is now what Gore calls a “moral imperative”.[1]
As Conklin and Wayman point out, the problem of global warming has become a divisive political and even spiritual issue. The debate between self described conservative and liberal Christians serves to reinforce the blame given to the Christian faith by many within the secular environmentalist community. However, with all the debate, Gore’s recommendation to “Plant trees – lots of trees” may be lost on some, which brings up the other half of the title, “A Convenient Answer”.
Among the most trusted segments of Christianity are cross-cultural servants[2] who have been historically called “missionaries.” These cross-cultural leaders are beginning to weigh in on the environmental crisis debate with insights and convictions borne more out of their experience than their traditions. Their opinions have been formed as they walk the paths and travel the pot-holed streets with the people from impoverished majority-world[3] villages, towns, and cities. So many of these servant-leaders know, beyond mere theoretical debate, that the regions where they serve are most assuredly in an environmental crisis. They also understand that so much of the crisis is directly associated with the cutting down of millions of square miles of tropical forest within the last forty to fifty years. While these cross-cultural ambassadors may not always understand the science associated with the eco-debates back home, they are nevertheless first-hand witnesses to increased environmental degradation. Out of a sense of deep concern, a growing number want to relate their observations to the theorist and doubters living in the comforts of the minority-world. They know that environmental destruction and climate change is already taking a heavy toll and their message is urgent. These trusted cross-cultural servants are increasingly ready to declare a warning message that cataclysmic environmental destruction is already a reality. They can see far enough into the future to predict with certainty that old destructive patterns must change if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences in the very near future. From their vantage point the ecological enemy is at the gate.
Dedicated cross-cultural workers just may be the prophetic ecological “Watchmen” in a fashion similar to the title given in Ezekiel 3:17. The question has yet to be answered: “Will the largely wealthy minority-world Christian community heed the warnings of their cross-cultural watchmen or, like Israel of old, will the testimonies be ignored?” One of the primary objectives of this work is to raise the volume of the prophetic warning, and contribute to a real world solution.
My Own Journey - The Philippines
As the son of cross-cultural servants, I lived for five years (1967–1972) in the Philippine Islands. In 1997 and 2001 I was able to revisit my childhood home, and was shocked by what used to be a tropical paradise. The beautiful rainforest that blanketed so much of the island nation I explored as a boy was all but eliminated by 1997. Numerous environmental surveys show that only between two and three percent of the original jungle coverage in the Philippines remains intact. The dramatic reduction of old growth hardwood forest by commercial lumber interests has had devastating and far-reaching consequences.
Deforestation is a primary reason the Philippines is ranked as having the most severely endangered mammal and bird faunas in the world. The degradation is also responsible for the increasing floods and droughts in the country, as well as massive erosion, coral reef siltation, and groundwater depletion.[4]
Tribal hunter/gatherer groups that historically lived in the forest throughout the 7,000 islands that make up the Philippine archipelago, have had little time to adjust to the radical and rapid changes caused by “rape and run” logging practices. With their forest gone, the hunter-gatherer way of life is also gone - forever. Weather patterns have changed with unprecedented cycles of drought. Many endemic species of both animals and plants are now either severely endangered or extinct. The days when the average Filipino was able to afford a protein-rich diet of seafood is largely gone because the majority of the fish that once inhabited the shallow coral reefs have been decimated by the impact of smothering topsoil runoff on the reefs, dynamite fishing practices, and commercial over-fishing. Future economic development has also been hampered by the mismanagement of the forest. The Philippines was once considered the mahogany and hardwood export capital of the world, but little attention was given to reforestation efforts. Now, with the native forest gone, Filipino builders are forced to import affordable but inferior pine for construction projects from the well managed forests of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Philippines is now an environmental catastrophe and it is taking a heavy toll on all life.
My Own Journey - Ethiopia
In 1998 I began to travel extensively throughout the nation of Ethiopia as the supervisor of a new ministry field entrusted to the care of the Free Methodist Church in Southern California. Due to selective coverage by the media, most within the minority world have come to believe that Ethiopia is primarily a desert nation. It is not! Ethiopia is known throughout the continent as “The Roof of Africa” because so much of the country is made up of high mountain plateaus, once lushly forested. The abundant rainfall from Ethiopia’s high plateaus still supplies much of the river water flow for other Horn of Africa and East African nations. Tragically, the problem with Ethiopia’s environment is similar to that of the Philippines. Over the course of the last five decades, the overwhelming majority of the once abundant and beautiful highland and Rift Valley forests have been cut down. According to recent surveys, less than three percent of the forest remains intact.[5] To compound the problem, an additional sixty square kilometers of forest are being eliminated each year. Unlike the Philippines, the Ethiopian forests are being reduced almost exclusively to make way for small farm plots and to satisfy the insatiable demand by ninety percent of the population for charcoal used for cooking food and warming huts. Whatever the causes, the effects of deforestation are devastating. Due to the dramatic effects of watershed[6] loss, nearly two billion metric tons of topsoil is washed away each year from Ethiopian hillsides and mountainsides. Water quality and water tables are in rapid states of depletion throughout most of the nation. Agricultural productivity reached its peak in the 1990’s and is now in decline, even as the population continues to grow. The well-televised cycles of drought have increased in frequency and duration. The human tragedies associated with Ethiopia’s environmental destruction are profound. If anyone cares to watch, soon there will almost certainly be more documentaries showing starving people in Ethiopia. However, it remains to be seen whether the cause of this human suffering will be traced back, as it should be, to the destruction of Ethiopia’s forest.
These two personal cross-cultural experiences have driven me to find an appropriate theological orthodoxy on creation care, and what orthopraxy might be effectively implemented in order to bring about a real-world solution to the growing global environmental deforestation crisis. The question, both theologically and pragmatically, comes down to this: Is God only interested in human redemption or does He also want to redeem His creation through the efforts of His church? I have committed the majority of my life and ministry to the redemption of lost and damaged souls through the good news of Jesus Christ, and will continue to do so. But I now know that God is not only calling the church to spread the good news of Christ, but the God of creation is also including concerted efforts that specifically target the redemption of created order.
Christian Mission as a Reforestation Solution
“You are the Salt of the Earth.” … “You are Light of the World.” (Matthew 5:13,14)
The thesis of this paper is straightforward. Christian cross-cultural servants planting hundreds of millions of trees annually in majority-world nations is the highly ironic but convenient response to at least part of the inconvenient truth. This paper acknowledges that cross-cultural mission is not the only answer to the world’s ecological problems, but there is no question in the minds of a growing number of concerned individuals that the Christian Church is certainly positioned to make a significant contribution if we will only respond to God’s orthopraxy call to serve as faithful stewards of creation. Therefore, the balance of this paper will provide rationale for why cross-cultural Christian servant leaders are uniquely positioned to help solve one of the world’s most damaging eco-problems: deforestation. The final rationale is not presented as a theory point. The Eden Projects has already initiated a working model.
Rationale #1 – Global Physical Prominence
Cross-cultural Christian servants are a convenient answer because first and foremost they are the most globally prominent and physically present group on the planet. In short, there are significant numbers of these cross-cultural workers in just about every nation on the planet.
According to Gordon Conwell University’s researchers, there are 4,480 Christian service agencies with 453,000 alien (foreign missionaries) currently working in all six of the United Nations global regions. There are also approximately 11,751,000 national Christian leaders serving alongside the foreign missionaries. The 2007 annual operational budget for these workers was approximated at 22 billion dollars.[7] When Jesus first declared, “you are the salt of the earth” … “you are the light of the world”, it was virtually impossible to imagine that the miniscule group of disciples originally given the identity of salt and light would become the most pervasive work force on planet earth.
In contrast to the global Christian workforce there are reportedly 63,450 non-military United Nations workers of all nationalities spread out globally.[8] These are operating on a 2007 budget of $1,924,840.25.[9] The actual availability of those funds depends on whether or not all participating nations pay their United Nations pledge, which, in fact, has rarely happened. It is compelling to note that the largest non-religious organization in the world holds a distant second place in the effort to maintain a global presence.
The physical presence phenomenon of Christian mission was demonstrated in a powerful way when the world’s relief efforts had to first turn to faith-based agencies to deliver and distribute supplies for Indonesian victims of the 2005 tsunami disaster. Even the U.S. military had to play catch up to these humble agencies. Missionaries and mission groups such as World Vision and Mercy Corp did not need to be first on the scene because they were already on the scene in Moslem Indonesia and Hindu India which were the nations most affected. Further, after the U.S. military dropped off the donated relief supplies loads – they quickly departed the scene. The Christian groups are still present and do not base their commitment on disaster relief.
As a result of their pervasive presence and increased awareness, cross-cultural Christian workers are well positioned to embrace a holistic philosophy of ministry that meets both spiritual and physical needs. They are poised to significantly contribute to the majority-world environmental crisis. We can be “salt and light” in a holistic manner that includes creation stewardship. Christians can be agents that heal both lives and lands.
Rationale #2 – A Growing Conviction Towards Eco-Stewardship
There is a growing sense of concern amongst cross-cultural mission agencies that the environmental crisis is destroying the majority-world nations they serve. They see first hand that the world Christ called them to “go into” is physically in trouble in an increasing measure as the result of deforestation and disturbing climate changes. Christian missionaries have historically failed to add creation care to their repertoire of ministry tools. But, they are sensing that the message of Christ’s Good News will have fewer and fewer places to effectively “go into” if environmental works like reforestation and agroforestation are not added to the list of holistic ministry efforts. With increased need comes increased awareness. When there are tragic effects, people begin to look for the cause – and for solutions. Now, God’s Spirit is speaking through the written Word at a heightened level and God’s Spirit is speaking through prophetic urgings at a heightened volume. Believers are sensing it is time to take up creation care. A new eco-friendly missions spirituality is ready to be birthed. Presenting Christ as Savior and Lord can be partnered with the salvation of the planet.