Environmental Missions: Planting Churches and Trees

Environmental Missions defines an emerging category in missions, one that takes seriously both the mandate to evangelize the world and the responsibility of caring for God?s good earth.   Lowell Bliss was a traditional church planting missionary in India when his best Hindu friend there died of malaria. This was just one of the events that led him to reexamine the politically charged term ?environment,? understanding it now as simply ?that which surrounds those we love, those for whom Jesus died.? In other words, the church is called to reach not only vulnerable people but the space in which they live and breathe.   Pointing to the narrative of Scripture and the history of missions, Bliss shows us that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the whole creation, that we must unite two traditionally separate endeavors to fulfill the entirety of God?s commission, and that the challenge of the environmental crises of our day is also one of our greatest opportunities to reach the least reached with the love of Christ.ReviewIt is a privilege to accompany Lowell through the twists and turns of his reflection.... We can all pray that the profound and heartfelt experiences and longings that Lowell shares with us in these pages touch our hearts too. The creation is groaning, but the kingdom of God is coming-it is vital that our proclamation of Jesus should bring hope to all creation, and authentic missional callings should, whatever their nature, extend to the healing of our fractured relationship with the world around us that is God's handiwork, created for his glory and to witness to his character. The inspiration of those like Lowell and Robynn, his wife, who have poured themselves out in pursuit of such callings is a gift indeed. Peter Harrisfounder of A Rocha, in the Foreword