The Microsoft Encarta defines Christians as believer in Jesus Christ as savior: somebody whose religion is Christianity.

It further described them as being kind and unselfish: showing qualities such as kindness, helpfulness, and concern for others.[1] Thus Christian is one who lives according to the teachings of Jesus, one who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

Christian and the Environment In her book, "Caring for Creation", Rowthorn decries the state of our planet and reproaches us as Christians for our "lack of appreciation for the connectedness of all life." Nothing in God's world is secular, she asserts; everything created is holy and to be revered. Christians, says Rowthorn, have for too long failed to realize this, and have acted as if the holy and sacred are to be found only in places of worship or within cloistered walls. The Church's most urgent need in today's world, argues Rowthorn, is to embrace a theology of creation that will ignite in all Christians a fervent love and sense of responsibility for all God's creation.[2] It is obvious that Christian have formed into different groups called denominations and each denomination further structured her believes in the teaching of Christ and other rules that could help their day to day living which is called doctrine. Denominational Declarations on Environment For the purpose of this paper, the researcher will review only five (5) denominational declarations on environment and are as follows:

Baptist Excerpted from The American Baptist Policy Statement on Ecology, in Our Only Home: Planet Earth. The study of ecology has become a religious, social, and political concern because every area of life is affected by careless use of our environment. The creation is in crisis. We believe that ecology and justice, stewardship of creation, and redemption are interdependent. Our task is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ until the coming of the Kingdom on Earth. All Gods people must be guided by the balance of reverence, the acknowledgment of our interdependence, the integrity of divine wholeness and the need for empowerment by the Holy Spirit to image God by our dominion over creation (Mark 10:43-45). If we image God we will reflect in our dominion the love and the care that God has for the whole creation, for God so loved the world... (John 3:16, Romans 8:21-22, Matthew 5:43-48).[3] Church of the Brethren Excerpted from Creation: Called to Care, Statement of the Church of the Brethren 1991 Annual Conference. Why should Christians care about the environment? Simply because we learn in Genesis that God has promised to fulfill all of creation, not just humanity, and has made humans the stewards of it. More importantly, God sent Christ into the very midst of creation to be God with us and to fulfill the promise to save humankind and nature. Gods redemption makes the creation whole; the place where Gods will is being done on earth as it is in heaven. "Gods promises are not mere pledges. They are covenants. And covenants are agreements between people and between people and God. The covenants with Noah and Abraham and the

New Covenant mean that people of faith are responsible for their part in renewing and sustaining the creation. This statement helps us to see the degradation of the earth as sin, our sin. We, the people who have accepted the redeeming love of God, have broken the covenant to care for creation. The challenge in [this] paper is to confess our sin, to take seriously our role as stewards of the earth, and to work for the renewal of creation. Episcopal Excerpted from 70th General Conventions Resolution entitled: Affirm Environmental Responsibility and Establish an Environmental Stewardship Team, 1991-a195. Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, that the 70th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, affirming our responsibility for the earth in trust for this and future generations: Declares that Christian Stewardship of Gods created environment, in harmony with our respect for human dignity, requires response from the Church of the highest urgency; Calls on all citizens of the world, and Episcopalians in particular, to live their lives as good stewards with responsible concern for the sustainability of the environment and with appreciation for the global interdependence of human life and the natural worlds; and Urges all Episcopalians to reflect on their personal and corporate habits in the use of Gods creation; to share with one another ideas for new responses; and to act as individuals, congregations, dioceses, and provinces of the Episcopal Church in ways that protect and heal all interdependent parts of creation. Such action should include prayerful theological discernment and factual knowledge. It should also consider global and local links and the balance of environmental integrity with economic sufficiency for human living; and be it further Resolved, That the Episcopal Church, acknowledging the sovereignty of God and Gods call to us in the servanthood of Christ, continue to engage environmental issues, passionately caring for the earth and striving to live into the promises and mandates which are ours as stewards of creation; and be it further Resolved, That this Convention calls upon the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies to appoint an interdisciplinary, multicultural Environmental Stewardship Team, 14 members, representing each Province and a broad spectrum of Church membership, whose gifts and expertise are suitable to the task. The mission of the Environmental Stewardship Team is to educate, motivate and facilitate congregations, dioceses and provinces toward local and regional plans, advocacy and action. The Team will work with other environmental groups of common interest Evangelical Because the term Evangelical covers a wide variety of Christian denominations and non-denominational churches, there is not one Evangelical statement, per se, on creation. Below, you will find an exemplary statement, excerpted from the EENs publication: An Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation. As followers of Jesus Christ, committed to the full authority of the Scriptures, and aware of the ways we have degraded creation, we believe that biblical faith is essential to the solution of our ecological problems. ...We and our children face a growing crisis in the health of the creation in which we are embedded, and through which, by Gods grace, we are sustained. Yet we continue to degrade that creation. ...Thus we call on all those who are committed to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to affirm the following principles of biblical faith [e.g., a transcendent, yet immanent, loving Creator God created and cares for creation; humans, created in the image of God, are called to

care for creation], and to seek ways of living out these principles in our personal lives, our churches, and society. ...We believe that in Christ there is hope, not only for men, women and children, but also for the rest of creation which is suffering from the consequences of human sin.

[1] Microsoft Encarta 2009. 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. [2] www.careforcreation.org [3] http://www.abc-usa.org/resources/resol/ecology.htm