BWA General Council Resolution 2016.3
The Baptist World Alliance General Council, meeting in Vancouver, Canada, July 6-8, 2016: CONTINUES TO BELIEVE AND AFFIRM:
• God is the creator, sustainer, and Lord of all, delights in creation, and is committed to its care and renewal;
• The biblical teaching that the earth is God’s creation and we, also as God’s creation, are to nurture and care for it;
RENEWS its desire to follow-up the implications of the climate change resolutions made at the General Councils in Prague, the Czech Republic (2008); Ede, the Netherlands (2009); and Santiago, Chile (2012);
RECOGNIZES that leaders from 195 countries gathered in Paris in December 2015 for a United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which led to the signing of the Paris Agreement by 174 countries on Earth Day (April 22) in 2016;
NOTES that this is the most widely endorsed climate agreement to date and one that includes many legally binding provisions;
LAMENTS that climate change is a current reality, resulting in rising sea levels, droughts, the spread of diseases, more violent storms, disruptions to animal species, and greater food insecurity;
EXPRESSES special concern for nations with fewer resources to address the negative consequences, including the increasing number of climate refugees;
ACKNOWLEDGES that all of us have contributed to historic carbon levels, damaging God’s creation and harming our global neighbors, and that those of us in nations contributing more to climate change need to listen to the stories of those already impacted; and
URGES global Baptists to develop a vibrant theology of creation care, educating and advocating for practices based on love of neighbor over economic gain.
Citations
Original Source Bibliography: Callam, Neville, editor. Baptist World Alliance 2016 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory. Falls Church, VA: Baptist World Alliance, 2016.
Original Source Footnote/Endnote: Neville Callam, ed., Baptist World Alliance 2016 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory (Falls Church, VA: Baptist World Alliance, 2016), p. 142.
Online Document Full Citation: BWA General Council Resolution 2016.3 Resolution on the Paris Agreement and Climate Change; https://baptistworld.org/resolutions.
In-text Online Document Citation: (BWA General Council Resolution 2016.3).