Synod 2010 created a two-year task force to identify “a biblical and Reformed perspective on our position on creation stewardship, including climate change.”
The task force was created because delegates saw a need to pull together scientific and theological information to inform the ongoing discussion of climate change.
In February, the denomination’s Board of Trustees signed on to the Micah Declaration on Creation Care and Climate Change, a multidenominational statement on the environment that confesses human responsibility for climate change.
Synod did not endorse that declaration, but did say that the intent of the Micah Declaration is consistent with the denomination’s contemporary testimony “Our World Belongs to God.”
Delegates spoke of the need to address creation stewardship and climate change as a church, though they expressed differing opinions on whether science has proven a connection between climate change and human activity.
“This is not to suggest that the scientific arguments both ways don’t have validity,” said elder Henry Eygenraam, Classis Toronto. “We’re trying to encourage the church to address the issue with a biblical perspective for our care of the globe. We don’t want to fiddle while creation burns.”
About the Author
Roxanne VanFarowe is a freelance writer who claims both Canadian and American citizenship and grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. She is a member of Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham, North Carolina.
