Environmental Awareness -A New Church Dogma

 *THINK ALOUD*

By Sydney Barson

How many Churches have an environmental policy?

As much as there is no legal mandate that regulate Church activities, there has to be some policy frameworks that are put in place.

Church bodies like the ZCC, EFZ, ZCBC and UDACIZA should be mandated with monitoring compliance of salient policy frameworks in every Church.

Local authorities must come up with plans that ensure that any new construction of buildings do not damage the environment.

Besides paying an environmental tax for the ecological damages during construction there has to be plans not to damage or destroy anything at all, even if it means leaving trees inside buildings but yet protruding outside.

All of us know some Church somewhere where there is no dust bin and there is a heap of  junk at some corner and flies are seen partying there.

I hear the digging of dump pits is now a thing of the past as the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) decommissioned dump pits because plastics will not decompose for years and animals tend to eat poisoned stuff from these pits hence the ban.

So Churches should lead by example in waste management.

If you happen to enter most Churches on a Monday morning you are highly likely to see empty freezit plastics, empty plastic water bottles strewn everywhere on the floors.

To begin with there can three dot bins, one for plastics, one for ordinary papers and another one for makoko esadza, because there's always some waste which is mixed with water ndiwo masadza acho.

It is time to rethink our theology and theology students must leave college with an appreciation of eco - theology.

To this end I suggest:

👉🏻A compulsory environmental policy for every church

👉🏻Environmental Stewardship Sundays where focus is put on sensitizing each other environmental matters.

👉🏻An Eco - Theological course in all theological training institutes.

👉🏻Tree planting days at church on all special occasions as a culture of the Church.

Theological rigidity will affect future generations should the Church chooses to ignore climate change education.

Environmental awareness must be a new Church dogma for now and the next century and beyond.