Crown of Thorns: photos

Important Lessons from the Bible

Why Jesus came:
"that the world might be saved through him"
John 3:17

Who Jesus is going to use to save the world:
"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God."
Romans 8:19

Our role on earth:
"The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it."
Genesis 2:15

The Five Pillars of A Christian Theology of Sustainability

1. God is the creator, sustainer and redeemer of creation.

2. Covenantal Stewardship (we have a covenant with God as stewards of the earth).

3. The creation-fall-redemption paradigm (God made a good world; human failure broke the relationships between god, man and creation; Christ provides hope for all creation).

4.Bodily resurrection(we will rise with bodies, not as spirits)

5.New Creation (a new Heaven and new Earth refers to a renewal and an earthing of heaven, not starting over).

Adapted from When Enough is Enough: A Christian Framework for Environmental Sustainability, Edited by R.J. Berry, Published by Inter-Varsity Press, 2007, Nottingham p43+

The Five Leaf Eco-Awards

Some information about the program I run:

The Five Leaf Eco-Awards are an ecumenical awards program for Australian churches and religious bodies that provides recognition for their environmental achievements.

Currently the program has pilots running in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra and we are seeking more churches to participate.

The Five Leaf Eco-Awards encourage faith communities to be more efficient in helping the environment and to play a more effective role in social change towards sustainability. It provides examples of what is possible, and a framework of steps to work towards and to allow comparison with other communities to enable exchange of knowledge and experiences.

The program aims to:
- Make ecologically friendly churches the norm
- Provide support to evolving eco- churches
- Provide a system that is flexible enough to allow and encourage creative approaches and extensions of the basic program.
- Encourage fellowship by providing a common goal with reachable targets and recognisable achievement.

After the Basic Certificate, the program has five levels or 'leaves' of awards. The first four leaves can be achieved by completing the requirements of any of the first four categories: Sustainable Church buildings/property, Green Worship and
Mission, Ecological Congregation, and Ecological Outreach. The final level, Five Leaf, extends and challenges the church
community to become a 'Green Church' in the sense of being environmentally friendly over these categories, demonstrating positive influence in the wider community for sustainability, and showing constant improvement of environmental practices.

Our mission:

“To bring people closer to God by bringing them into a right and faithful relationship with creation as its appointed stewards.”

For more information on how one church earnt the Five Leaf Eco-Awards Basic Certificate see:
http://fiveleaf-crownofthorns.blogspot.com/2009/02/example-of-five-leaf-eco-awards-basic.html
or
http://victas.uca.org.au/green-church/awards

Take the Green Bible Challenge

Join me in completing the Green Bible Challenge! Grab your study Bible and a second hand Bible from your local op-shop. Then follow me as I read through the Bible, highlighting (in both Bibles using green) any passages relevant to creation and its relationship to God and man.

When we finish you will have two Eco-Study Bibles. One for you, and one for your church. Stun your congregation with over a thousand verses about the earth - almost double the verses that relate to heaven or love.

The purpose of this blog is to help equip you as Christian Environmentalists so you can green your church, life and local community. Time is short for creation, so start today!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Friday, December 9, 2011

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Monday, December 5, 2011

Sunday, December 4, 2011

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Important Lessons from the Bible

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