Church calls on all to repent of climate change sin
12/09
07/07/2009
The Methodist Church is to reduce carbon emissions by 80%; the same targets also agreed by the Church of England which is campaigning for a 20% Church. (see full press release from the Methodist Church below)
Church to reduce carbon emissions by 80%
The Methodist Church is urging Christians to repent of the sins that contribute to climate change. A report received by the annual Methodist Conference in Wolverhampton today encourages people to acknowledge their complicity in systems that exploit creation and prey on the powerless.
But the Church also wants to empower Christians to make positive lifestyle changes, in line with the report's title, Hope in God's Future.
Revd David Gamble, the President of the Conference, said, "The first step in making a difference is the recognition of what we've done wrong so far. But we can't just stop there. We must not be beholden to economic growth at the expense of our world and the lives of those who are most vulnerable.
"In the face of climate change, do we give up and treat it as a lost cause? No. We are people of faith. We can turn the tide if we commit ourselves to acting together to make our planet a safer space. So the report challenges the Church to tackle the issue head on, committing itself to significant action over the coming years."
The report outlines plans to reduce the Church's carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2050, in line with the target set by the UK Government. The Government is criticised in the report for its failure to outline how these tough targets can be achieved.
"But we are also challenging ourselves," added David. "We cannot expect the Government to take the issue seriously if we fail to do so ourselves, and this report outlines some big changes for the Church."
Bishop Michael Baroi of the Church of Bangladesh urged the British Church to prioritise this work. He said, "By 2050, two thirds of my country will go under water and about 30 million people will be displaced and have no place of their own to live on this planet Earth, if we do not deal with this issue of global warming and climate change urgently and seriously".
Ends
Notes
1. The full text of the report can be found online here: http://methodistconference.org.uk/downloads/10-hope-in-gods-future-210509.pdf.
2. A hi-res image of David is available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/methodistconference09/3686813722/.
3. For more information about The Methodist Conference, visit http://www.methodistconference.org.uk/.
4. Follow the official Methodist Conference Twitter stream at http://twitter.com/MethConference.
5. Listen live to the debates at http://www.premier.org.uk/streaming/mc09.asx or listen again to debates you've missed here: http://methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.webradio.
About the Methodist Conference
The Methodist Conference meets annually in June or July and is hosted by a different district or group of districts each year. It is the body that agrees policy for the Methodist Church.
It first met in 1744 under John Wesley, who gathered together his assistants (both ordained ministers and itinerant lay preachers) to confer together about "what to teach, how to teach, and what to do, ie how to regulate our doctrine, discipline and practice".
The contemporary Conference is a gathering of representatives from each Methodist district, along with some who have been elected by the Conference and some ex offi cio members and representatives of the Youth Conference. There is a mixture of lay people, ordained presbyters and deacons.
About the Methodist Church
The Methodist Church is the third-largest Christian church in Great Britain, with nearly 265,000 members and regular contact with over 800,000 people. It has around 5,800 churches in Great Britain, and also maintains links with other Methodist churches totalling a worldwide membership of 70 million. Its activities, both alone and with ecumenical and secular partners, are based on four aims known as Our Calling:
- To increase awareness of God's presence and to celebrate God's love
- To help people to grow and learn as Christians through mutual support and care
- To be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice
- To make more followers of Jesus Christ.
For more information contact Anna Drew.
Tel: 020 7467 5191
Mob: 07881 783 812
Fax: 020 7467 5229
Email: drewa@methodistchurch.org.uk
Karen Burke, Media Officer
Tel: 020 7467 5208
Mob: 07969 985 376
Fax: 020 7467 5229
