Stewarding Creation as a Sacred Trust
Jeff Myers’ Chapter 11 in Understanding the Culture affirms that creation matters because God called in good. [1] The call to be good stewards is neither passive preservation, nor exploitation, but active cultivation. Myers points out two important dynamics about the current state of the planet. One is that the consequences of poor stewardship are all around us [2] citing both human and cosmic effects in that “Sin affects creation, as well as our dominion and stewardship of it.” [3] But another dynamic, that ‘it’s all going to burn anyway,’ Myers rebukes as bad theology. He argues that “Creation groans, but it isn’t a groan of death. It’s a groan of birth. Christ doesn’t annihilate creation; he brings it to fruition.” [4] This aligns with the Lausanne Movement’s call to action, stating that “creation care is integral to the gospel.” [5] In Lausanne’s vision, Christ followers must challenge apathy from misguided eschatology, and affirm Jesus’ cosmic reconciliation of creation spoken of in Colossians 1:15-20. Christ’s redemption includes the earth, all creatures, and not just souls.
Rather than agreement, there is debate on whether to centre a theology of stewardship and invite Christians to integrate creation care to their understanding of the gospel. Part of the pushback is that the main voices to speak to environmental concern and climate action are secular humanist, anti-christian, and sometimes anti-human ones. On this point, Myers calls for Christians to reorient to God’s call to engage in creation care.
There are radicals who care about the environment for the wrong reasons, but that doesn’t mean Christians shouldn’t care about the environment for the right ones. So what are those right reasons? To find out, we need to travel all the way back through history to the very beginning of creation, as described in the book of Genesis. [6]
Tom Holland’s Dominion shows how Christian ethics shaped Western moral imagination, including care for the environment. Yet, Holland also indicates that Christian influence has been co-opted by empire and industry, requiring a re-alignment. [7] Myers agrees that we need to shift from dominion as domination, but offers a Christian alternative that keeps humans in a God-ordained role within creation: dominion as stewardship and care, managing creation on behalf of its Creator, not for selfish gain, as exemplified by this framing of care for animals: “One of our responsibilities as image bearers of God is to care for animals. Biblical teachings about this are reasonable, clear, sustainable, and humane.” [8] But beyond the pushback from secular humanists, there is an ideological battle over climate change itself that needs to be considered.
There are many in our world who are climate change deniers. And in the Christian community, this fuels a mistrust of the scientific and academic community, and adds to the apathy about the state of the planet. Dunlap and Jacques expose how the denial volumes grew from 1 in 1982, adding another 19 in the 1990s, and then, what Dunlap and Jacques refer to as a “vertical explosion” of 54 more from 2007 to 2009, and another 15 in 2010. This flood, they indicate, was largely funded by Conservative Think Tanks through private not peer-reviewed publishing channels, but it achieved what it had hoped; the “manufacturing of doubt to protect economic interests.” [9] Myers warns that Christians must not be duped or misinformed and ignore the needs of planet and people. Instead, he offers a connection point to the care for people’s freedoms, helping them to grow wealth and see them lift themselves out of poverty, and helping to reduce damage to the environment. [10] In essence we can do this hand in hand, to the glory of God. Climate Justice is a matter of levelling, how to care as much for people in contexts where climate affect is now exacerbating food insecurity and famine, along with other factors like war. Katherine Hayhoe and ecotheologians like Jorgenson and Deane-Drummond argue for resilient, science-informed theology. [11] Leaders must equip congregations to discern truth, engage policy, and resist misinformation.
In this spirit, Christians who care about climate action as a gospel issue will gather this week in Belém, Brazil for the UN COP30 Consultation, where the previous goals of containing global warming to a 1.5 degree Celsius increase are no longer seen as achievable, and the continued efforts to promote green energy, renewal energy sources, and other innovative solutions will be part of the ongoing journey. [12]
Certainly, there is a need for hopeful and courageous Christian leadership to represent the vision of a New Heaven and New Earth joined together, experiencing the state of all things being renewed (Revelation 21:5). Christian leaders must reject passive, escapist eschatology and embrace the call for the church to be engaged in active renewal, recognizing creation as a sacred trust and a part of God’s reconciling mission. And not because it’s simply about saving the planet, but because it’s part of living the good news of Jesus to the full.
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[1] Jeff Myers. Understanding the Culture: A Survey of Social Engagement, (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook), 2017, 417.
[2] Understanding, 415.
[3] Understanding, 425.
[4] Understanding, 428.
[5] ‘Lausanne Global Consultation on Creation Care and the Gospel: Call to Action’ (St Ann, Jamaica: Lausanne Movement, 2012), accessed 5 Nov 2025, http://www.lausanne.org/content/statement/creation-care-call-to-action.
[6] Understanding, 420.
[7] Tom Holland, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, (London: Little, Brown), 2019, .
[8] Understanding, 436.
[9] R.E. Dunlap and PJ. Jacques, Climate Change Denial Books and Conservative Think Tanks: Exploring the Connection, Am Behav Sci. 2013 Jun;57(6):699-731. doi: 10.1177/0002764213477096. PMID: 24098056; PMCID: PMC3787818.
[10] Understanding, 444.
[11] Katharine Hayhoe and Anne M. K. Stoner, Looking Ahead: The Utility and Application of Climate Projections for Resiliency Planning. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32811-5_111-1, 2021. and Celia E. Deane-Drummond, Sigurd Bergmann, and Markus Vogt, eds., Religion in the Anthropocene. (Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers), 2017.
[12] “UN Climate Change Conference – Belém, November 2025 | UNFCCC.” n.d. Accessed November 7, 2025. https://unfccc.int/cop30.
About the Author
Joel Zantingh
Joel Zantingh is a catalyst for peacemaking and intercultural teams, speaker, theologian and consultant. He is the Canadian Coordinator of the World Evangelical Alliance's Peace and Reconciliation Network, and the Director of Engagement with Lausanne Movement Canada. He has served in local and national roles within the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, and led their global mission arm. He has experience teaching in formal and informal settings with Bible college students and leaders from various cultures and generations. Joel and Christie are parents to adult children, as well as grandparents. They reside in Guelph, Ont., situated on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and home to many past, present and future First Nations peoples, including the Anishinnabe and Hodinöhsö:ni'.10 responses to “Stewarding Creation as a Sacred Trust”
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Hi Joel, after reading your post, I thought we didn’t need to read beyond the first chapter of Genesis to hear God’s message that we are to care for His creation. Most of the churches I have been part of seem to keep Earth Care at arm’s length. Once a year, on Arbor Day or something of the like, everyone turns their attention to the environment and is supposed to remember to be good stewards of planet Earth. As we look at creation as a sacred trust and part of living the Gospel fully, what do you think it might it look like practically?
Diane, the challenge to incorporate creation care into our witness varies. There are amazing organizations that help individual Christians and churches to make ecologically sustainable practices part of their lives, including paying attention to consumption, reducing our carbon footprint (take the https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en) and the like.
A Rocha is one such global organization, started in Portugal, with chapters around the world. They are key players in the Chirstian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) occurring this week at the global Climate consultation.
https://www.ccopclimate.org/
As churches, A Rocha can assist in thinking through watershed management and land stewardship, making changes to unused land for pollinator gardens or community gardens. These changes are already occurring across Canada.
I’d love to talk more about this with you, and hear what you might be thinking of.
Hey Joel! Thoughful insights in this. How can Christian leaders reclaim moral authority in environmental discourse fusing integrating sound science with sound theology?
Daren.
Moral authority seems like a down the road achievement. I wonder about some humble learning as a place to start, and willing to simply acknowledge the basics, and begin engaging there.
The infusing of sound science and sound theology is an important reconnection.
The Scriptures tell us that the world is groaning, but that is, as Myers has affirmed, not a groaning of death but of birth (Myers, 428). In the Christian story, we are living in a Kingdom reality that is both “now, and not yet” in which there is still work to do.
Hi, Joel, thank for the insightful information on Climate Change. I like how you ended by saying, “And not because its simply about saving the planet, but because it’s part of living the good news of Jesus to the full.” Could you give an example of how Christian leadership leads through this issue? Thank you so much, Dr. Zanting.
See my response to Diane’s question, Dr. Liemam.
Thank you for bringing attention to this incredibly critical issue Joel. You emphasize moving from “dominion as domination” to “dominion as stewardship and care.” Beyond the care for animals, how does this redefined, Christ-centered stewardship offer a practical, distinct contribution to the environmental movement that secular humanism currently lacks? How can Christians stand out as well as stand up?
Debbie, that’s an incredible question. When Christians enter the space, they can offer a spiritual dimension: the sacredness of the earth. The humanists know that it the world is special, but the Christian message affirms that they as stewards of the earth are fulfilling their God-given role to tend and care for it as a precious gift. What comes to mind for you?
Thank you, Joel. I enjoy learning about the Lausanne Movement and often think of it as I mature in my faith. You address stewardship of all that God has created, which mirrors the broad themes that Billy Graham and John Stott – whole gospel for the whole world. You also mention the risks of apathy as well as dominion as domination.
How might Graham and Stott respond to the general lack of concern for the entire world (all living things) that is prevalent today?
Interest thought experiment, Jennifer.
I think they would be aware that just as they encountered a narrowing of the gospel call to an important aspect of proclamation or verbal witness, they would advocate to widen the sense of God’s redemptive work to include creation.
Often, in the creation care conversations, there is a desire to include our actions of environmental stewardship as part of a lived witness. It adds a “4th” message to the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world together – through our whole lives.”
I will mention that the spirit of Lausanne that started with the founders is one of the”friendship, prayer, study, partnership, hope and humility.” (Billy Graham)
From the birth of the Lausanne Movement in 1974, the exposure to global leaders has had a growing effect in thinking about creation care as a matter of “loving our global neighbours”, as we learn about the climate affect felt more in parts of Central America, African Continent, and across SE Asia.
In 2016-2018, the World Evangelical Alliance and Lausanne Movement collaborated in a series of regional consultations in different parts of the world, inspiring learning and collective action building on earlier efforts. The volume they produced for this has a helpful overview to the theology and practice of this topic.
White, Colin and, and Bell, Robert S. Creation Care and the Gospel: Reconsidering the Mission of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2016. Kindle edition.