Steve Worsley has been pastoring in NZ Baptist churches for 26 years and is currently on staff at the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle. Steve is particularly interested in how the climate crisis affects people, and its outworkings in the Pacific.
How will we lead our churches into a future affected by a global climate crisis?
What if New Zealand Baptist churches could lead the way toward sustainable change in our local communities? What resourcing, support or inspiration from our National Support Centre might help?
Justice, mercy and humility form the framework for a new initiative at National Hui (6–9 Nov) this year: Gospel Impact Labs. Delegates can participate in one of ten labs to develop a tool which local Baptist churches can use for gospel renewal. See all Gospel Impact Labs at the end of this article. In this one with Steve, we’re looking at how we will lead our churches into a future affected by a global climate crisis.
Church and the Climate Crisis: Moving from Talk to Action
What we’ll do
The globally influential pastor, scholar and author John Stott (1921-2011) once accused Christians of ‘selective discipleship’, saying followers of Jesus have no right to neglect ‘creation care’. In this session, we’ll discuss the obstacles in our day-to-day outworking of this key aspect of our discipleship in our churches. Given the increasing effects of the climate crisis on our world daily, we’ll look at how we can position our churches well on this for the future and what we might need from the National Support Centre. The emphasis in this session will be on finding solutions together – on how we can move from talk to action.
Why it matters
Authors on this subject talk about the ‘Triple Planetary Crisis’ – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. These three factors are interrelated and together present a massive challenge for our children and future generations. Looking the other way is not a solution. Passing the buck is also unhelpful. It’s a crisis that we all have to face. As Christians who believe the earth belongs to God, we can and should be at the forefront of bringing grassroots change in our communities at this vitally important time.
The facilitator
Steve Worsley has been pastoring in NZ Baptist churches for 26 years and is currently on staff at the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle. He wrote a widely read article about the climate crisis in The Baptist in 2006 and has been engaged with it ever since. Steve is particularly interested in how the climate crisis affects people and its outworkings in the Pacific. He wrote and will direct a Pacific-themed climate crisis musical called Three Forty One, which will be showing in late March/early April 2025 and will include performers from Kiribati and Tuvalu.
Image: Steve Worsley
Gospel Impact Labs
Political engagement
