Archbishop Malcolm McMahon and Bishop John Arnold, Lead Bishops for Vocations and the Environment respectively of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, have issued a joint statement highlighting how the call to responsible stewardship of God’s world is the “original” Christian vocation.

The two bishops stress that our personal vocation starts with discernment and prayer:

“Our vocation as stewards of God’s world is the original vocation and has been with us since the point of our creation where we were made in His image and likeness. In this image and likeness, God invites us to be like him in caring, creating, nurturing, and ordering our world.

Stewardship

“God’s Call to stewardship means we are invited to manage his creation on his behalf. If we consider the work we have done, can we say in all honesty that ‘it was good’? The answer is inevitably ‘no’. However, we can change, and the COP26 presents us with potentially the last opportunity for us to reclaim the title of responsible stewards of creation.

“Understanding our personal vocation starts with a period of discernment and prayer, so now we must reflect on God’s call to stewardship, and through prayerful contemplation consider how we as individuals, and as members of the global community respond to the ecological crisis.

Prayer

“What’s more, we must never forget the important role that prayer must play in our response to the environmental crisis. We must pray for governments and world leaders asking for the Holy Spirit to guide them in their discussions at the COP and the decisions they make.

“We must pray for the world’s poorest asking God to walk with them as they suffer disproportionally the effects of climate change. And we must pray for our children and for the planet they will inherit.”

Most Reverend Malcolm McMahon
Archbishop of Liverpool
Lead Bishop for Vocations

Right Reverend John Arnold
Bishop of Salford
Lead Bishop for the Environment