5.
FACING THE FUTURE
Questions for the Church
The future has
always been uncertain. Perhaps there have been times when people
could carry on with life assuming things would continue much as
they have been before. Certainly people have done that, whether
it was justified or not. But we cannot do that. The ecological
crisis presents us with a difficult and uncertain future. It
raises serious questions for us as a church. It also presents us
with opportunities.
1.
Engaging and Working with Others
1. Do we have a
particular Christian contribution to make in working with other
people in our communities and in wider organisations which are
concerned to care for the life of this planet?
2. What are the
implications of the Church's responsibility to the parish and
not just to its congregations? (i.e. residents, incomers,
animals, the land, etc.)
3. How do we help
people realise that acting in environmentally friendly ways is a
Christian responsibility? How do we have the courage to act in
that way even when it is counter-cultural?
4. What is needed in
order to communicate the gospel of hope in God in ways that are
neither simplistic nor blindly optimistic?
5. Are we able to
contribute as a church to the major local and national debates
about issues such as electricity generation, transport,
immigration, food production and world development?
2. Worship
and Prayer
1. How do we help
people deal with corporate grief for a lost future and develop
new attitudes and relationships?
2. How do we develop liturgies for adults, children
and young people which adequately reflect what we believe about
creation, sin, salvation and hope?
3. Are we prepared to
deal with a general increase in religiosity stimulated by
crisis? And to do so in ways which have ecological and
theological integrity?
4. To what extent are
our churches places where simplicity and respect for the
integrity of creation are encouraged? Is there more that can be
done?
5. At a time when there
is an increase in spirituality often stimulated by a concern for
the life of the planet can we respond in ways that help people
to appreciate the world as God's creation and to grow in faith?
3.
Discipleship
1. How do we encourage
greater interdisciplinary discussion within the local church?
(Science, art, theology, etc.)
2. How can we help church members be informed about
and work with Christian and secular environmental networks?
3. What is needed in
order to strengthen the church's capability in responding to
local crises?
4. What do we need to
do to prepare to respond to national crises which are likely to
be characterised by scapegoating, boundary protection, and
political extremism? How can we help shape the political
response to these prospective crises?
5. Our School of
Formation is developing a theology and training network. What
more does it need to do to help local churches respond to these
issues?
4.
Resources
1.
How do our churches, our cathedral and the
diocesan organisation need to adjust their ways of operating in
order to become more environmentally friendly?
2. Is there more that
we can do to present visitors to our churches with a theology
that is relevant to the ecological crisis we face?
3. How does the church
in this diocese need to be organised differently in order to
carry out its mission in this rapidly changing world? (If the
price of fuel quadrupled would we do things differently?)
4. In the light of what
is happening in our world and the kind of future we face do we
have the right priorities in our handling of money and our use
of church buildings and other resources.
5 How can we use our
church buildings, churchyards, halls and schools in local
efforts to live in a more environmentally friendly way?
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We are
concerned with changing lives, changing churches and changing
communities for a changing world. Our response to the
significant changes that are happening in our world needs to be
in our individual lives, our churches and our communities. It is
not simply one or another but all of them together. |
These are some
of the questions the Environment Working Party has tried to
address in its consultations. They are not questions that can be
answered once and for all. They lie behind some of the thinking
and writing in this policy document but they need to be
considered further in our parishes, Local Ministry Groups,
synods and diocesan committees. Changing lives… in a changing
world is a process, not a solution.
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