by Buzz Maxey

My grandmother, who we called “Meemaw,” was always planting trees. She not only thought they were beautiful, but that they were also an investment for the future. Meemaw appreciated the earth very much and felt incredibly blessed to have 80 acres on her farm in northern Indiana. She was always expressing her gratitude to the Lord and worshiping Him while caring for the earth.  

Meemaw’s three daughters inherited that same passion. Each spring, they would get seedlings from the Indiana Forestry Department and have a sort of tree-planting fest. Her daughter Shirley, my mom, went to the mission field and carried that same enthusiasm for the environment with her. My mom had a love for the earth and everything green. She was saddened by any garbage she would see and would regularly pick it up to dispose of it. And if you were to ever visit any of the four locations where she served on the mission field, you would see little forests she has left behind around the homes she lived in.  

As you would imagine, all of us kids learned from my mom’s example, and we’re all still planting trees, picking up garbage, and promoting creation care wherever we go. And now, my own sons are following in our footsteps. My son Ben, who serves with CAMA, works hard to teach rural farmers how to avoid pesticide use and how to farm organically. My other son, Dani, works with a foundation that’s dedicated to protecting rainforest areas that are home to tribal communities who rely on those forests for their way of life. 

The Deeper Issues

So what is the issue that we’re talking about here? It’s that God’s creation needs help. Each year, the world’s population increases by approximately 70 million and generates over 2 billion tons of waste. Of that waste, about 22 million tons of plastic goes into our rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans each year. That’s equal to 2,000 dump truck loads every day. The truth is that a lot of that waste will be around for hundreds and maybe even thousands of years. Water that is essential for humanity’s survival is being polluted, and there is a net loss of 5 million hectares of forests annually. And sadly, it is often the poor and the marginalized that suffer the most from this destruction of the environment. 

As Christ followers, we cannot choose to ignore these statistics. As I contemplate those who’ve gone before me, like Meemaw, I’m reminded that service to people and concern for creation are both rooted in our love for the Lord. We can make a difference, but it involves change. By changing how we live, we can inevitably influence others to change as well.

Local Imact

In 2024, Silimo, a remote mountain village in Indonesia where my wife, Myrna, and I serve, suffered the worst floods in recent history. Village elders told us they had never heard of or seen such heavy rains and flooding. Bridges were washed away, landslides destroyed gardens, and the hydroelectric system we built many years ago was demolished.  

Since the invention of chainsaws, large-scale logging has devastated the high-elevation rainforest above the village, triggering severe flash floods that threaten life and livelihood. And this kind of flooding has not been isolated to just Silimo—Indonesia as a whole faced 1,200 floods that year. Right now, Alliance workers in Sumatra, Indonesia, are involved in relief operations where floods caused by deforestation have taken the lives of 1,200 people and displaced nearly a million villagers. I’m no environmental scientist, as my background is in relief and development, but I can see how environmental degradation has had a huge negative impact on our attempts to help people holistically. 

As we look at the condition of the environment, it is essential to see it all through the eyes of the marginalized, because it is the poor who tend to bear the scars of the world’s ecological sins. As Christians, since we know that God’s heart is for the least of these, we need to do all we can to alleviate their suffering. For instance, if I’m trying to improve a community’s health, but up the river there are gold miners who are dumping mercury into the rivers to process their gold, then no amount of preventative health training I do is going to make a long-term difference. The consequences of environmental degradation affect all aspects of human life. Recently, we’ve seen a rise in localized, torrential rains worldwide, and rampant deforestation is a global reality. Trees are needed for pumping oxygen into the air and storing harmful carbon in the ground. Forests are our natural protectors, and when we remove trees and their deep root systems, we expose the earth to the elements, hastening erosion and increasing flood risks. 

Why Creation Care Matters

The situation is dire, but there is hope—and it starts with us. If we change how we live, we can influence others, which could lead to a collective impact towards improved stewardship of God’s creation. And it is also a wonderful opportunity to be a witness to the world. You may ask, “Well, how do we do that?” As my former boss from CAMA, Phil Skelly, always used to say, “Just start somewhere and do something.”  

Much like in Silimo, a fellow international worker (IW) faced environmental challenges in an Indonesian village where mangroves had been destroyed, which threatened the local fish population. Alongside his Bible translation work, he began a mangrove restoration project. And after 20 years, the village saw literal life return to their shores. Fish that were drawn to the mangroves provided food and income, which in turn increased people’s health and financial independence, giving better educational opportunities for their communities. Today, the Ambai tribe not only has the New Testament in their native language but also a sustainable source of food and income from the increased fish population.  

Environmental issues are deeply human issues, and so if we care about people, then we must care about the environment that sustains them.  

The Lausanne Movement has greatly impacted the evangelical world in its attitude towards a more holistic ministry. At the 2010 Lausanne conference in Cape Town, over 4,000 Christian leaders from nearly 200 countries gathered and affirmed that creation care as integral to the gospel, stating that, “To proclaim the gospel that says ‘Jesus is Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel that includes the earth, since Christ’s Lordship is over all creation. Creation care is thus a gospel issue.”

God has a purpose for His creation, and we are meant to take care of it as His stewards. Genesis 1:31 tells us that “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” I love the Berkeley translation that says God saw what He had made, and it was “excellent indeed.” In Genesis 2:15, Scripture talks about God entrusting us humans to care for the earth. The Hebrew word for caretakers is shomer and is defined as a legal guardian or someone charged with protecting another’s property. God owns all of creation and has made us the shomers of His property—a sacred and a holy mandate. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Ps. 24:1). 

How Can We Respond?

So, what are some practical steps that we can take? I want to challenge you with a few ideas that you could easily implement. Leaders in organizations, churches, or even families could begin by developing a policy or statement on creation care, affirming their commitment to environmental stewardship as a form of obedience to God. In the Alliance Missions Indonesia field, our own statement reads, “Creation care is an act of obedience to God’s word. We honor God by honoring His creation. Stewardship of the earth is an act of worship and is essential to loving our neighbor.” We are committed to preventing ecological degradation in our areas of influence, and we can do so by leading by example.  

Several years ago, we did a distribution of 5,000 tree seedlings through our local Indonesian Alliance church. We invited the regency head, the head of the police, teachers, pastors, and village elders to all to come and learn. We planted together and grew together in our understanding of our roles in creation care. It was a wonderful day in which I was able to share Scripture and explain what it is that motivates us. Imagine if we asked each Alliance member worldwide to plant a tree. Think of the millions of trees that could be planted all around the world in a single day!  
 
As Christ followers, we need a holistic approach to ministry. True holistic care nurtures our bodies, souls, minds, and the earth around us. This is what our Lord mandates and is what the world desperately needs. When we as leaders respond, we send a valuable message to the communities where we serve that we take seriously our role as God’s stewards of His earth. Being responsible stewards of the earth in Jesus’ name is an important authenticator of the gospel that we preach.  
 
Meemaw went to her heavenly reward long ago, but I believe she would be very proud to see not only her great-grandchildren, but to also see millions of devoted Christ followers caring for the earth, cherishing the beauty of nature, worshiping God, and proclaiming Him as creator. May her legacy inspire us all to steward and care for the earth with that very same reverence and love. So, friends—let’s start somewhere and do something! 

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