Hi everyone!
I got the inspiration to start this group after watching a session inside of "Becoming a Good Samaritan" that I've been watching/discussing/putting into action after small group. Tonight's talk was about us being stewards of the earth, and how God expects us to take care of His earth, to love it, serve it, protect it, and grow it to its full potential. Here's the mission statement (well, what I've got so far):
We are a group of Christians who believe that we are to protect, serve, love and help the earth flourish. We seek God everywhere we go, in people, in nature, in church, and in ourselves. We believe that God exists in all things, and that everything He created He found good. We also believe that God gave us dominion over the earth- not to abuse it, but to be stewards of it. We believe that the earth is ultimately God's, and that we are temporary caretakers of that earth. We believe that we have a very serious job to do, and we believe that the earth hasn't been well taken care of in the past. We seek to remedy that problem by reducing our carbon footprint, by not wasting, by recycling, by saving energy, by planting plants, supporting locally grown produce, and a whole host of other things.
If this is also something that you believe and want to be a part of, just let me know! I want to use this blogspot as a base for projects and things to do in local areas. Right now, I'm in Columbia, MD and that is where my base will be, but I definitely encourage you to begin where you can- there is definitely something that you can do right where you are, and later as the group gets bigger, we can begin to do projects in the communities around us.
Very Important Note:
Often, "treehuggers" and "Jesus freaks" are at opposite sides of the tracks. This really shouldn't be. It is my hope that those who do not yet believe in Christ (who was a carpenter before he began his public mission), will come to know Him by seeing the amazing earth He has created, and by understanding His sacrifice on the cross (made from a tree) to save us from our sins (including wasting the Earth's resources.) and by seeing the love poured out by Christ's followers. It is also my hope, that those who are Christians, will understand that Jesus intended us to sacrifice as He did for our Earth as well, and to protect it is the very FIRST commandment we ever received from God. It is important. There will be more upcoming in the future as to what the Bible has to say about how we are to treat God's earth.
Please please make a note about ideas you have. I welcome all ideas and all people.
Love, peace and blessings,
Stephanie
