Creation Care - Internal Audit Report

Matthew 7:3  "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" In order for Northland to be an example to others in Creation Care, and to earn any credibility in this area of obedience, it is crucial that we take a thorough and comprehensive look at how we as a church conduct ourselves.  How efficient are we in tending his garden?  How resourceful are we in practicing good stewardship with our earthly resources?  What opportunities exist for us as a church to operate more efficiently?

So the first task of Northland's Creation Care Task Force was to conduct an internal audit of church operations.  The audit covers the following topics:

• Energy
• Solid Waste
• Water
• Landscaping
• Purchasing
• General Operations

Each topic addresses three basic questions...

1. Why is this area important in creation care?
2. What did we find in our audit?
3. What are the recommendations to consider?

The audit, analysis and report were conducted and written by a core group on the Creation Care Task Force, with the assistance of various church staff members and outside consultants who graciously volunteered their expertise.  It should be considered a work in progress as we will continually be learning new ways for the church to operate in a more obedient manner regarding creation care.  We welcome ideas from others, and pray that this document benefits not only Northland, but congregations and His children around the world.

Blessings,

Raymond

Click here to download the complete audit in pdf format.

Comments

[Mark House]

This is total nonsense for a church to be doing. With the prospects of Christ returning for his church any day; making the world a better place for people to go to hell is pointless. The church should be focusing on sharing the good news with the lost. I'm sorry, but this is the exact reason why I left Northland this year after being a member for 13 years.
Mark House

[Hudson]

Mark, If we belive that Christ wants to make Heaven here on Earth why would we not want to take care of the gift he has given us. Also if you know somethng all of us are missing about the date that Christ is coming back please let us know. I missed the e-mail from Christ that said he was coming back next week and told us to not worry or the one where he said go ahead and destroy my creation.

[w burns]

The present condition of the physical environment on earth is essentially a product of technology and economic forces rooted in free market capitalism, which has had both positive and negative economic and social consequences - depending upon which side of the fence one has been born into.

Greed has served the United States as a whole very well, economically speaking, since the industrial revolution and especially since the victory in WWII. Greed is the fuel of capitalism. United States foreign policy has been rooted in self-interest and greed, at the expense of other nations - although globalization is forcing a rethinking of this policy - which I don't know to be necessarily good for the United States.

However, greed unrestrained, circles back on itself and consumes itself horribly - it must be tempered. The church as an institution has provided much of this necessary tempering in society through its direct and indirect (policy influence) means. However today, this duty is much more challenging as the number of complications/issues in contemporary society has multiplied.

The physical environment is one of those items. I applaud Dr. Hunter and the leadership of Northland for tackling this. I always like it when Dr. Hunter references a secular book in his discussions as it demonstrates to me that he is open minded and unwilling to be confined to a box of unquestioned orthodoxy. He's a learner. He strikes me as a Christian rock, but also a pilgrim plodding along at times without answers and rather imperfect knowledge - who of us doesn't? But I above all I see one who keeps on moving and asking...and being relevant…spiritually…and environmentally.

[Edward]

I wonder - since according to Mark House - Christ is returning any day now, shouldn't we also stop wasting our time flossing our teeth?