Christian Stewardship of the Environment Stewardship on the other hand, according to The Complete Dictionary for Home, School

and Offices (1997: 674), is: the act of fulfilling the duties of stewardship. Therefore, environmental stewardship could be described as living responsibly, obediently and faithfully according to the instruction of God on the care of the environment, or managing the environment well for the good of all creatures, the happiness of God and the welfare of the environment itself and all the resources therein, Christian ethic demands that we live to obey Gods instructions and do His will.[1] This is the model that is preferred within evangelical and fundamentalist circles, to the extent that this wing of Christianity chooses to address the environmental issues.

Christian should be stir up and come to the full realization of their call for full realization of Gods agenda on care of the environment and all its endowments. Christian leaders, ministers, missionaries should imbibe the culture of care for the creation. The way and manner we destroy the environment in the name of religion should stop, our church environment should reflect our profession, been the custodian of Gods mandate in the care for creation. There should be more campaign in our churches for more participation in environmental sanitation program, tree planting and eco-green programs. This is very necessary as it is the part of fulfilling our call and process of bringing the environment and its people most especially to the full knowledge of God. The Bible clearly teaches that Gods creation is good (Gen. 1), that God is the Owner of the earth (Ps. 24:1-2), and that nature itself praises and glorifies God (Ps. 19 and 96); Christians have been directed by many Scriptures to care for the natural creation as Gods stewards (Gen. 1:2628; Exod. 20:8-11; Lev. 25 and 26; and Luke 4:16-22, among others); As Christians, we look forward to the time when all of creation, including humankind, will be fully restored and redeemed (Rom. 8:18-25; Col. 1:15-23; and John 1:1-5, among others); and many Christian who have understood their role as good earth stewards and accepted the scriptural teaching have today neglected or forgotten an environmental ethic and have not been fully aware of the impact of our lifestyle on the global environment and on our sisters and brothers worldwide who share Gods earth with us. We should therefore resolved in our individual, work, and family life we seek to become more caring about our impact on the environment, and seek to educate ourselves and act upon our best knowledge of ways to conserve the resources we use. In order to do this, we should support our denominations in achieving a global restoration; this will entail our understanding that: Gods works in creation are too wonderful, too ancient, too beautiful, too good to be desecrated. Restoring creation is Gods own work in our time, in which God comes both to judge and to restore. The Creator-Redeemer calls faithful people to become engaged with God in keeping and healing the creation, human and non-human. Human life and well-being depend upon the flourishing of other life and the integrity of the life-supporting processes that God has ordained. The love of neighbor, particularly the least of Christs brothers and sisters, requires action to stop the poisoning, the erosion, the wastefulness that are causing suffering and death. Earth-keeping today means insisting on sustainability the ongoing capacity of natural and social systems to thrive together which requires human beings to practice wise, humble, responsible stewardship, after the model of servant hood that we have in Jesus. We can begin caring for the Earth, then, only from a posture of repentance. The restoration of Gods shalom for all of creation requires changes in our attitudes, in our values, and in our lives. If Christs work of redemption extends not only to us, but to all creation, then both we and the Christian fellowships to which we belong should begin to demonstrate redeemed relationships to

the Earths resources, and a commitment that they be shared justly with all people.[2] It should therefore be resolved within our self, congregation and various group to: 1. Protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats; 2. Advocate for clean air, both indoors and outdoors, and clean water; 3. Promote the protection of public lands and water resources, and the responsible stewardship of private lands; 4. Support and practice energy and water conservation and the use of renewable sources of energy; 5. Use and advocate the use of public transportation and other environmentally sound alternatives; 6. Reduce the waste of resources in our homes, congregations, and communities by recycling, using recycled products, and reducing consumption; 7. Educate ourselves and our congregations on the need for these efforts and how best to undertake them; and Increase government support for environmental protection and energy conservation programs.[3] The call above is for all and sundry and it must be taken seriously if only we want the future generation to sustain on the platform of good environment. We must embrace our primary assignment from creation. We should cultivate attitudes of sacred covenanting among peoples and between humanity and the non-human creation. I therefore urge all members of Christ body and practicing Christian to display courageous leadership in: modeling ecologically responsible life-styles; developing a communal spirituality able to connect persons creatively to the one, good creation of God; and Advocating for economic and technological change so that our earth has a green and sustainable future of just peace for all. All creation is the Lords, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and conserved because they are Gods creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. Therefore, we repent of our devastation of the physical and non-human world. Further, we recognize the responsibility of the Church toward lifestyle and systemic changes in society that will promote a more ecologically just world and a better quality of life for all creation.[4] Let me conclude this paper work by encouraging the various theological schools and our Christian Education Departments in various denominations and schools to help the word by including in their curriculum a study on the environment, this will go a long way in creating awareness of selfless stewardship on the care for our environment and creation at large. I hope that not quite from now, we shall be having what we can refer to as Environmental Theology in ECWA Theological Seminary Igbaja curriculum. I believed that God so love the world and believers (Christian) should also care for it.

[1] Adetoye faniran & Eniola Nihinola The Church and the Environment Proceeding 5th Sacred Earth Workshop, pent house publication, Ibadan 2012), 37.

[2] Excerpted from Care for the Earth: Theology and Practice, Minutes of General Synod, 1982. [3] www.uua.org/socialjustice/statement [4] www.earthministry.org/resources