Living Water
As a country we face something of a dilemma – agriculture, and in particular dairy farming, is critical to our economy, but these activities also have significant impact on the health and wellbeing of our land, waterways and human communities. During the recent New Zealand Parliamentary General Election, the declining quality of New Zealand’s freshwater was a hot topic. How should we respond?
The recently released, second booklet in A Rocha’s Rich Living series, reflects on this theme of water. Engaging with Biblical narratives and contemporary science, the resource – composed of four studies designed for small groups – explores how care for water should be integral to our faith and daily living.
We’ve been interested in the range of ways our Rich Living resources are being used, the scope of their reach, and delighted too, at the response of users. The booklets have been picked up by individuals and faith communities from around Aotearoa New Zealand and also further afield – including the US, UK, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore and Albania!
Some feedback on our Rich Living series:
Three of us co-led a Climate Change sermon at St. Thomas’ church a couple of Sundays back. I found A Rocha’s “Climate Change” resource booklet to be quite helpful in my preparation for the talk – very well done!
We’re currently using the “Climate Change” booklet for our cell group. We’ve read and discussed our way through the first couple of sessions and the conversation has been really good. The group is quite a broad mix of backgrounds, denominations, and exposure to such ideas, but the uptake and engagement has been pretty encouraging!
In a word: Brilliant. So nice to see a clear explanation of climate change put into a Christian context in a meaningful way – the challenge that you pose to climate change sceptics is particularly powerful without being judgmental.
I’ve just read your “Climate Change”. Exceptional! Thought provoking in a beautifully presented form. I’m ordering extra copies for friends and family. I’m particularly interested in the upcoming booklet on stuff and waste. Thanks so much!
We’ve used the “Climate Change” booklet as a resource for an article for our church magazine during our month’s focus on the Environment. We also intend to use it at the start of vestry meetings for reflection…. We think the booklets are so well prepared and richly informative. They would make wonderful Easter study guides.