Christian Stewardship and Environmental Threats

Why environmental care matters to Christians

For Christians, the natural world is creation: it exists because of God and has value as his work. Its beauty and complexity can inspire awe and reveal God’s creative power. Environmental damage therefore raises religious and moral questions, not just practical ones. How should people treat something that belongs to God? How should they respond when damage to the environment harms their neighbours?

Three important threats are pollution, global warming and the overuse of natural resources. They are connected, but each presents a distinct problem.

Pollution: harming land, water and air

Pollution means contaminating the environment with harmful substances. Vehicle and factory emissions can damage air quality and human health. Industrial waste and agricultural chemicals entering rivers can harm fish and other wildlife. Rubbish and harmful chemicals can also contaminate land.

Christians may respond by recycling, disposing of waste responsibly, avoiding litter and choosing less-polluting transport. These actions protect creation, but they also protect people. Jesus’ teaching to ‘Love your neighbour’ in Mark 12:31 gives Christians a reason to reduce pollution that harms others, especially vulnerable people who may have fewer ways to escape its effects.

Global warming: a threat that crosses borders

Global warming is the long-term rise in Earth’s average temperature. Burning coal, oil and natural gas releases carbon dioxide. Increased greenhouse gases trap more heat in the atmosphere, contributing to warming.

Consequences include rising sea levels, changes in extreme weather, habitat loss and threats to food and water supplies. People with limited resources may struggle most to cope with flooding, drought or failed harvests. This connects environmental responsibility with Christian concern for the poor.

Christians may reduce their use of fossil fuels by conserving electricity and heating, using renewable energy where possible and reducing unnecessary car journeys. A church might cut its energy use as a shared expression of responsibility. The purpose is not simply to save money: it is to reduce harm to God’s creation and to other people.

Natural resources: using without exhausting

Natural resources include water, timber, minerals and fuels. Non-renewable resources, such as coal, oil and natural gas, take so long to form that they cannot be replaced on a human timescale. Using them uses up a finite supply.

Resources that can renew can also be overused. For example, forests can be cleared faster than they regrow, destroying habitats as well as reducing future supplies of timber. Fewer trees also means less carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere.

A sustainable response involves reducing unnecessary consumption, reusing products, recycling materials and choosing sustainably produced timber. Christians can see this as fairness towards future generations: people living now should not use resources as though nobody will need them later.

Stewardship: caretakers rather than absolute owners

Stewardship is the responsibility God gives humanity to care for creation. Psalm 24:1 teaches that the Earth and everything in it belong to the Lord. This challenges the idea that humans can treat the world however they wish. In Genesis 2:15, God places Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it and care for it. Christians understand this as a model of humanity’s responsibility.

Genesis 1:28 gives humans authority to rule over other living creatures. This is often called dominion. Some Christians emphasise the permission this gives people to use natural resources for human benefit. Many understand that authority through stewardship: being powerful makes humans responsible for protecting creation, not entitled to destroy it.

Stewardship does not require leaving every resource untouched. People need food, shelter and energy. It requires using what creation provides responsibly, avoiding waste and safeguarding its future. Christians may also believe they are accountable to God for how they fulfil this responsibility.

The Christian Declaration on Nature, Assisi, 1986

In 1986, WWF organised an inter-religious meeting on nature conservation in Assisi, Italy. Representatives of five religions issued declarations linking faith with environmental responsibility. The prescribed Christian statement is The Christian Declaration on Nature.

It affirms that nature is God’s creation and describes a divine harmony within it. Humanity has been entrusted with authority over other beings and responsibility for their protection. However, humans have often dominated and exploited nature instead of living in harmony with creation.

The declaration therefore challenges destructive behaviour. Its message is that human authority must be exercised as responsible care. Greed and excessive consumption undermine that responsibility. Applied to environmental threats, this means Christians should question wasteful lifestyles and protect creation rather than treating it merely as a supply of goods for human use.

Putting belief into practice—and weighing priorities

Environmental care can be both individual and collective. A Rocha is a Christian conservation charity. Through its Eco Church programme, churches can work to reduce energy use and support biodiversity, putting stewardship into practice together.

Christians differ over how much priority environmental action should receive. Many see it as central because it honours God, protects creation and expresses love for neighbours. Others place greater emphasis on evangelism—sharing the Christian faith—or spiritual preparation for God’s promised restoration of creation. They may argue that governments and environmental organisations already address pollution.

A response to that argument is that other organisations’ work does not remove a Christian’s personal responsibility. Likewise, hope that God will restore creation need not excuse present damage. A justified judgement should weigh these priorities while recognising that spiritual commitment and responsible environmental care can support one another.