Statement of Environmental Stewardship

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1
“And God blessed the people and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”  Genesis 1:28
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…”  Psalm 14:1

As Christian people, we acknowledge and affirm God’s creative power which is visible to us in all creation.  We acknowledge and affirm that we borrow life from God, we borrow the small space on earth in which we live from God, and that individually we share all of God’s creation with every other living creature and plant.  We acknowledge that God has installed people as caretakers of God’s creation and that this responsibility includes the way we, as a community and as individuals, choose to live our lives from day to day.

Because of this understanding of our role in God’s creation, we the people of First Mennonite Church, both individually and corporately, do hereby resolve:
1.  To model conscientious consumption, reducing the consumption of natural resources whenever possible and striving to follow sound environmental practices when consumption is necessary.
2.  To heighten our church community’s awareness of the Christian’s responsibility to creation through worship, education, witness and social ministry.
3.  To encourage environmental advocacy through expressions of our individual convictions to government and industry in behalf of responsible environmental policies and practices.

FMC is a member of the Mennonite Creation
Care Network www.mennocreationcare.org