Framework to guide churches in promoting environmental sustainability launched
A framework to guide and equip churches to respond biblically and practically to issues of environmental sustainability has been launched in Accra.
Christened the National Creation Care Framework, the guide was initiated by World Vision Ghana in collaboration with the Church of Pentecost, A Rocha Ghana, Challenge Enterprises, and the Akrofi-Christaller Institute. It seeks to empower churches to engage effectively with issues of climate change.
The launch also marked the training of the first cohort of faith leaders, who expanded their theological understanding to help provide practical solutions to environmental degradation and climate change—with a focus on how these challenges affect vulnerable children and communities.
In a speech read on his behalf during the launch on Wednesday in Accra, the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, said restoring God's creation to its original state formed part of the Church's missionary responsibility.
The event, which formed part of a three-day Creation Care Conference, trained church and faith-based leaders in the framework’s application. The conference aimed to deepen the Church’s theological, missional, and practical response to environmental degradation and climate change, with a specific emphasis on their impact on vulnerable populations.
Apostle Nyamekye noted that environmental degradation had reached unprecedented levels in human history, citing widespread deforestation, water pollution, and increasingly irresponsible human behaviour towards the environment.
This situation, he said, necessitated a renewed call to action for Christians to re-examine their mission mandate in relation to creation care.
"This places a responsibility on us as humans—and as the body of Christ—to adopt pragmatic approaches to maintain and sustain the environment. It is a clarion call for us to awaken to our role as stewards of God's creation," he stated.
Restoring creation
The National Director of World Vision Ghana, Jean-Claude Mukadi, described the launch of the framework as a historic moment for the Church to take bold leadership in restoring God's creation.
He explained that the framework is built on three interconnected pillars under World Vision’s Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action (ESCA) commitment. These include the Biblical Foundations of Environmental Stewardship, ESCA Missiology; focusing on partnering with God’s mission; and ESCA Action and Advocacy.
Mr Mukadi stressed that climate change and environmental degradation were not merely scientific or political challenges but “deeply spiritual and moral concerns.”
He therefore urged Christian leaders to embrace the framework as “a living instrument for action, shaped by prayer, grounded in Scripture, and carried forward by the Church across Ghana.”
