Does Reconciliation ecology go beyond the missional project objectives to a transformed life, or does it become another tick box objective to mission?

Reconciliation ecology was first brought to the ecological scene by Michael Rosenzweig in his book Win Win Ecologyin 2003, he highlights that he feels there is not enough habitats left to be nature reserves that can restore the loss of biodiversity on earth and therefore we need to approach our effects in reconciling the non-humanand humankind in a different way from which had gone before. I would argue that this approach is paramount in the pursuit of living out a transformed resurrected life in Christ, so that we go beyond a project-based objective mission to a transformative life mission that includes all of creation.

Rosenzweig goes on to say that we shouldrestore some of the developed places back to a more natural space and giving space for humankind and the non-humanto grow together rather than a separation from each other, this is a truly transformative way of thinking and takes mission from that of measurable objectivise to that of transformed life.

Clearly reconciliation ecology shows us that humankind needs to be reconciled to the rest of creation, so that humanity sees itself in right relationship, as part of the biosphere rather than separated from the rest of creation as the ‘other’. The otherthatsums up creation, creation which is only here for the purpose of humankind rather than to bring glory to God in its own design. When we put this into the context of mission we must take reconciliation very seriously, firstly that it is integral to a mission and goesbeyond ameasurable objectiveand that once we have a right view of our relationship withinthecreation story,we can beginto live in a transformed way. Truly bringing Glory to God through living out our mandate to be Christ like on the earth, rather than a tick box objectivein our missionaljourney.

Bauckham draws this out in his book Living With Other Creatureshighlighting how the traditional creation story is anthropocentric,1and humanity is portrayed as the pinnacle of creation whereby all other created things are only given value in light of humanity.2Reconciliation of humankind to thenon-human therefore is a transforming of thinking, from a human centred gospel to a kingdom gospel, one that has a right view of humankinds relationship withincreation, not that humankind is to dominate as is the summing up of creation, but that all things bring Glory to God. This is anunmeasurable objective, who are we to say how creation brings glory to God, we can only aid in its living to its full function where it gives andspeaks of its creator. humanity as a part of a whole who is given a clear mandate to care for creation as God cares. Col 1:15-20 Mission that

‘moves us beyond the rather detached role of “steward”, to one that is ... in relationship with creation.’ 3,

A mission that is a transformation of all not just for humankind to be reconciled to God but that all of creation is reconciled to God, so again we see that our mission to reconcile must go beyond the boundary of objectives to that of a changed life, one that is repentant (a lifethat has turn around), againmakingthe reconciliation ecology go beyond the tick box mission but one of transformed living in Christ.

It is from this frame that I think we can apply reconciliation ecology to our mission, and it should play a central role in bringing Glory to God not as an add on but integral to.

‘Reconciliation ecology has been described as the science of restoring, creating and maintain new habitats, and conserving biodiversity in places where people live, work and play.’4

It is clear from this description that the focus is on how humanity relates to creation. We are called to look at human’s use of the land, how we relate to the biosphere as apart of creation transformed to bring glory to God. That we are to be Christ’s carers not “stewards” but being the very presence of Christ to all things on the created earth. We are called to be the meekPráos,5those that are powerful but chose to be careful with that power. (Matthew 5:5-9). This transformative reconciliation ecology is asking us to understand our God given place in creation, to be one that affirms and sustains it (Gen 1)6.To be one that brings glory to God and see all things considering what God has made them to be in their right function,this takes a stepping back, a seeing, a repenting and a turning around. It is calling us again to this transformed life, which can be very hard to measure within the framework of a mission objective as it can be different for everyone and for all of creation.

The Anglican communion set out the following objectives for mission in 1990, these objectives then frame the mission and ultimate its achievement through the fulfilling of the objectives or not, thus giving it a measurable box of success.

-To proclaim the good news of the kingdom

-To teach, baptise and nurture new believers

-To respond to human need by loving service

-To transform unjust structures of society to challenge violence of every kind to pursue peace and reconciliation

-To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

It is imperative that we see these steps for mission not as a tick box but a way in which we can bring transformative culture, so that mission becomesone that includes all of creation, allowing for a relationship to develop which reflects the Godhead in its divine dance, between the trinity7However it can so easily become the main focus of our lives missing our connection to the Godhead and our mandateto reflect Gods image on the earth.

Tony Rinaudo from world mission statesthat we need a practical way to outwork the calling we are given to be the hands of feet of Christ unto the world.82 Cor 5:18-20. Practical outlines of how we can express a life transformed through mission in of itself is a helpful tool ifit has its right place and does not take the place of Christ, whereby we seek our restoration to Christ through our works rather than the source that is Christ thatall of creationis restored. We begin our journey to restoration out of reconciliation with Christ, that after we have repented of our wrong thinking towards God,we begin the journey towards restoration, where the true transformed life is formulated, not through box tickingmissionbut out of a pouring out of ourselves in love to the creator and what the creator loves which includes all things.

There was a missional project in Michigan state, US called the Plaster Creek Watershed project. This project takes on the approach of reconciliation ecology putting together 5 key steps for their mission that included recognising the sin and neglect of theland that had gone before, repentance for personal and corporate complicity, repair and fixing the wrong that had been done, receiving forgiveness for the wrong done and then finally renewal of relationship. These 5 elements give us a practical plan for how we can apply our responsibility to all of creation through a traditional mission approach. They saw a great change in the land and the local people and brought with it a transformed thinking of the created world and how it brings Glory to God. They did this by engaging with the local people on the land they were there to renew. Seeinga healing and coming together of both human and non-human. They wanted to move from the mission as a project but as a restoration of shalom between the place and the people. They show us that from being a partof a community we can bring about a life transformed for all participants in the mission and allowing the objectives to not control but hold a value/measuring stick against the projector enabled and did not hinder the outcome of the mission.

Where one goes into a community to help and bring the kingdom of God, it is important to consider the onward effect of transformation through the framework of reconciliation. We have for example a group that has been harmed and a group that needs to be forgiven. When applying this to the earth as the one that has been hurt and humanity as the one that is the harmer, our seeing and then repenting ofwhat we have done is so important. We must turn around, repent of our sins so that we can begin the renewal process. For our mission to become truly transformative though we must move on from those roles to the renewed creation, setting aside our old wineskin for the new wine skin (Mark 7:22). The theologian Abraham Kuyper put this well when he said

‘“in everything that in nature lives before our eye, murmurs, throbs and moves itself, we feel the pulse-beat of God’s own life.” .....in order for reconciliation to happen, all parties must necessarily be present.’9

To be present we must move from our sin of dominance towards a solidarity with the earth. That we are present in and with and for in the same way creation is with and in and for.Wesee in Romans 8 creation is groaning and waiting for us the sons of God to be revealed so that all things can be summed up into Christ. This is a process of the longer vision that sometimes cannot be measured in traditional mission framework such as numbers and cannot be a tick box but one that takes a rebuilding and engagement of trust. It is in the solidarity, truly being a part of the community that our mission goes from an objective to that of a transformative life livedout as part of God’screation for the ultimate glory of God.

Our transformative mission must then come from a heart poured out in love towards all of creation. Francis Schaeffer stated four alienations in 1969 His alienations are (1969 P76) •Man is separated from God

•Man is separated from himself –psychological problems of life

•Man is separated from other men –sociological problem of life

•Man is separated from Nature –ecological problem10

All these need to be reconciled to bring sustainable healing, or shalom as in Exodus 12-22 that is to make full restitution or to restore. taking our mission from that of an objective to that of a transformation of the mind, the body, the place, the human and the created to bring glory to God. That our mission moves from the objects to that of a life lived in serves to Jesus as N.T Wright says

‘We must live luminate visible lives, that appear odds to others because of our allegiance to Jesus and adopting a life partner after Jesus,’

What reconciliation ecology brings to mission is really approaching it as a kingdom of God mindset, seeing the kingdom of God revealed here on earth.

‘We must do God, we must be involved, active and activists.... In matters for which our kingdom calling requires us.’ 12

Reconciliation doestake us from project objectivemissionto that of a transformationaway from the tickboxes and self-relianceto that of restoration of all things under the one head that extends beyond individual salvation, to alife embedded reflectingthe father. We do not want to go in and change the people, land, animals to just forfill a missionbut that we bring areflect of Gods image in all things.

‘We are called to bring real and effective signs of Gods renewed creation to birth even in the midst of this present day.’13

Therefore, in conclusion we can see that it is a fine line between transformation and box tickingwhen we apply our theology to that of mission. Our heart is to bring about the kingdom of God for all things and in doing that we bring practical steps for our path forward.It is then in thoughtful pray, reflection on our patterns, our spirit (are we being inclusive of the whole or ticking boxes for a personal salvation?) so that we can always be challenging our objectives to keep them in line with what the spirit is doing, thus taking our mission objectives beyond that of a measurable box to that of life renewed, transformed and including all in all. What is clear from mission is that we as humans love a measurable box something we can work towards and attend however when youlook at the world through heavens eyes those boxes that we set out often don’t measure up to God’sgrace and love and therefore we must constantly reflect on our human desire to achieve next to or mandate to sustain and uphold creation, giving creation a space to be and glorify God through being what God has made it to be and as we partner together in mission we bring glory to God together.

As we reflecton Reconciliation ecology and its integralrole inmission,we can conclude that it is not anotherobjective but that it is living a life transformed,for the purposeof bring glory to God and all under one head that is Christ Jesus.

Bibliography

1.Bauckham, R . (2010) Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation. Darton, longman and Todd ltd

2.Bauckham R 2012 Living with Other Creatures Green Exegesis and Theology. Paternoster, Milton Keynes UK

3.Bookless, D ( 2008) Planetwise. Nottingham: IVP

4.Lausanne Movement (2011) The Cape Town Commitment Https://www.lausanne.org/content/ctc/ctcommitment

5.Rorh, R (3 Nov. 2016)The Divine Dance:The Trinityand your transformationSPCKPublishing; First Edition

6.Warnes. D, Ryskamp.M, Van Dragt. Randall Reconciliation Ecology: A New Paradigm for advancing creation care. Perspectives on science and christian faith Volume 66, Number 4 December 2014

7.Wright N.T and Bird M. F Jesus and the Powers Christian political witness in an age of totalitarian terror and dysfunctional democracies –audiobook 3h.58mins 12thJuly 202