Grains of sand

When we think of Peru, we often think of lush rainforests, ancient monuments and stunning beaches. And while that’s accurate, Peruvian towns and cities struggle with the same things we do here in the UK — litter. “There’s just rubbish everywhere you look in the city,” says Laura-Lee Lovering, BMS World Mission’s Creation Stewardship Co-ordinator, who moved to the city of Piura in northern Peru last year. Laura-Lee has a background in environmental science, so as well as helping BMS partners across the world embed creation stewardship initiatives into all their work, she’s keen to engage her church and community in Piura in championing creation stewardship too.

Initially, she expected some resistance. “Environmental issues are very much seen as something that’s imported from outside,” Laura-Lee explains. “It doesn’t seem crucial enough, considering the other concerns that are right in front of them.” Laura-Lee wants to encourage Peruvian Christians in understanding the biblical imperative for caring for our environment and God’s command to steward his creation. So she started small by asking the youth pastor at her church in Piura about possibly talking to the young people. And as is an ongoing theme in this story, she ended up with more than she asked for!

Laura-Lee began with running two sessions with the youth group on creation stewardship, and ended the second session by asking the young people what they thought they could do about it. After a bit of discussion, one person came up with the idea of litter picking in the neighbourhood. The suggestion perfectly met two needs, where the young people could improve their community and care for the environment at the same time. They decided to get matching t-shirts with the name of their church on them and head out once a month to pick up litter. “It’s important for me because I want the place to be clean,” says Nadia, one of the group members. “Even I can help with my ‘grain of sand’ so that everything looks better!” And the best part is, they’re doing it as proud ambassadors of their church and sharing the gospel as they go.

While they go out picking up rubbish, they also hand out gospel tracts and strike up conversations with passers-by about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. “We show the public that we belong to a church and that we have the responsibility to take care of the environment,” says Samuel, another member of the group. And after only a few months, they’ve already had some fruitful conversations. People have been really pleased with the impact the group are having on the community – they’ve been thanked with lots of cups of fizzy drinks from their neighbours! – and people have already shown interest in coming to church.

But Laura-Lee and the litter picking heroes aren’t stopping there. Not long after the group first formed, Laura-Lee was invited to a meeting of the Piura Baptist Youth Association. She hoped she’d be asked to do some more low scale talks with local churches, but instead they asked her to plan a whole conference at the association level! It’s a big undertaking, but on 18 June they’re holding the ‘Christian and Creation’ conference, open to young people from all the Baptist churches in the Piura region. Laura-Lee will be running sessions on the theological reasoning for creation stewardship, and they’ll be joined virtually by a representative from Christian environmental charity A Rocha to share about the work they’re doing in the area. And of course, the litter picking group will also be giving a presentation on everything they’ve been doing in their local community. Their hope is that people will be inspired by the biblical imperative for creation stewardship and will be encouraged to take small steps to care for creation in their churches and communities.

The environmental issues faced in Peru and across the world are bigger than all of us as individuals, but the litter picking heroes of Piura would love for you to join them in their endeavours. “I would recommend that you join us. Together, as brothers and sisters, we are going to save our world,” says Nadia. So why not join them and start up a litter picking group at your church? Or why not pray for the ‘Christian and Creation’ conference this weekend? You’ll find a whole list of prayer points below. Tackling creation stewardship individually can be daunting, but if we join together as a Global Church, we might just have enough grains of sand to make a difference.