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I am probably one of the least likely candidates for writing a curriculum on taking care of the environment. My husband periodically retrieves diet coke cans I nonchalantly toss into the garbage can. Not long ago, a friend chided me for losing our recycling bin in a windstorm and not replacing it. He begged me to let him secure a new one for me. Shamed, I called the city and had one delivered. If not for him, recycling probably would have gone by the way side. That is until God put iGo Green Kid’s Camp on my heart.
Quite simply, writing iGo Green changed my heart.
I still wouldn’t call myself an environmentalist, however, my lifestyle is changing. Not because it is the hip thing to do, but rather, because my view has turned from one of it being the “right” thing to do to a deep concern for the impact my selfishness could be having on those overlooked in the world. A concern for living a life of gratitude and not excess. A concern for living a life that centers on loving God and loving others which plays out in me thinking about my care of the environment. I have become passionate about kids understanding the biblical reasons for what the world is calling them to do. I am passionate about them being grateful for all God has made for them. I am passionate about them understanding how their actions affect those in need.
In order to truly understand the scriptural foundation for Creation Care, we need a relationship with God. We need to understand that He made us in His image and that fact sets us apart from the rest of creation. We are the crowning glory of His creation.
Through our relationship with God, made possible through the blood of Jesus Christ, we learn to love Him and love others. These two Greatest Commandments, played out in obedience, gratitude, respect and justice, are at the root of why Christians should be concerned with the environment. They are the reasons why dedicating a week of kid’s time to learning creation care is important.
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Everywhere kids look today they find ways to Go Green. They learn about it in school, they see it on kid’s television shows, they read about it in kid’s magazine articles and they might even practice it at home. Every kid can give you ways that we are destroying the environment. Every kid can give you ways that we can save the environment. But can every kid tell you what God says about this? Do kids understand why this might be important to God?
After one week with iGo Green Kid’s Camp, kids will know with certainty what scripture says about the environment. They will be challenged to look at their world in a different way. They will be challenged to love God and to love others.
What iGo Green will not do is tackle political or controversial areas. For instance, the curriculum will not make a case for or against global warming. It will not tell kids how to take care of the environment. It will teach them why we do it. How far the kids and their families choose to go with it becomes a matter of personal conviction and should be a family decision.
God has given us a beautiful, creative, life-filled world. Let’s teach kids to obey Him by taking care of it, show our gratitude to Him for it, show respect for others by not destroying it and provide justice by not allowing misuse to hurt those less fortunate.
Dienna Goscha |
