42 mins
Climate change is a ‘moral issue’
NEWS
“YOUR freedom to swing your arm ends where another person’s nose begins.”
The Rev Dr Lackson Chibuye, minister in the United Church of Zambia, visited Scotland in November with a stark message for the developed world: our emissions are already wreaking havoc on his country’s climate, and we must take steps to reduce the harm our lifestyles cause.
“It’s a moral issue”, he said. “If you are going to do whatever you are going to do regardless of whether it aff ects another person, then morally that is wrong.
“So (rich countries) have a moral obligation to listen to the poor countries. Poor countries like Zambia are most aff ected by climate change, and are the least able to cope with its impacts.
“They have the least capacity to adapt and yet have the world’s smallest greenhouse gas emissions. In 2014, Africa as a whole was only known to contribute 0.3% of the world’s total emissions.”
Dr Chibuye, a Presbytery Bishop (Moderator) with a 900-member church in the Zambian capital Lusaka, has a doctorate in eco-theology and is passionate about encouraging his church – and others around the world – to help in the fight against climate change.
During his visit, he travelled to Aviemore, Cromarty and Selkirk, met representatives of the Scottish Parliament’s climate change committee, spoke to the Scottish International Development Alliance about the relationship between religion and science and saw the work of Eco- Congregation Scotland.
He said that Zambians first became aware of changes in their regular weather patterns in the early 1990s, and that it escalated in the early 2000s. They have increasingly seen extreme temperatures during the hot dry season, and either extraordinary heavy rain or unexpected droughts during what is meant to be the rainy season.
“The majority (of the Zambian population) are peasant farmers who depend on rain water for farming. Our staple food is maize, which doesn’t want too much rain or it will be spoiled, so food security is compromised.
“The increased risk of extreme weather events is also causing problems such as flooding in low-lying areas and displacement of communities; and ecosystems are disrupted, resulting in a loss of species both on land and in water.”
In response, the country has come up with a vision that by 2030 it will have taken action to adapt to the eff ects of climate change, investing in low emission development, education and training and improving gender justice, particularly in rural areas.
In that, he says, the United Church in Zambia is in a strong position to contribute.
“We are the largest Protestant church in the country: we are found in almost every corner of the country. This is a strength and an opportunity, which needs to be utilised in our quest for climate change adaptation.
“And we also participate with other churches in ecumenical initiatives on climate change. We have an organisation called ACT – Action of Churches Together – which is purely aimed at looking at how we mitigate the eff ects of climate change.
“We cannot tell people to slow development, but we need to tell them to develop in a sustainable way, without depriving future generations of the means to look after themselves.”
However, while he is keen to ensure that Zambia is doing its bit, Dr Chibuye is well aware that none of his country’s actions will make any noticeable diff erence unless Europe, the US and China bring their emissions down.
His message to the Church of Scotland is: “You are in a privileged position in a developed country. Could you use your voice to speak to the British Government, and other governments, to behave morally when it comes to the way they look at carbon emissions?”
The Rev Dr Lackson Chibuye in Scotland
REVIEWS
MINISTER OF MONEY
Henry Duncan
Founder of the Savings Bank Movement
Written by: Charles W Munn
Published by: Birlinn
Price: £25.00
The name of the Rev Henry Duncan, a Church of Scotland minister in the late 18th and early 19th century, became familiar to a popular 21st century audience in 2010 as celebrations marked the 200th anniversary of the founding of the savings bank movement.
Serving in Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire, he saw the possibilities of opening doors to savings and loans for the least well off in his parish. Having studied at St Andrews University, there appeared to be no inkling of a call to the ministry of the Church of Scotland and he took a job at Heywood’s Bank in Liverpool, through a family friend.
It was those early years of working in finance which undoubtedly sowed the seeds for the future enterprise, which, married with his Christian commitment, led to the birth of the global savings bank movement. From the humble beginnings of a cottage in south west Scotland off ering a parish bank for the ‘industrious poor’ to save for hard times, he sowed the seeds for a community savings bank movement which remains today in the form (in Scotland) of the TSB.
Charles Munn, the architect of a key Church of Scotland report on Christian relationships with money and finance, was involved in the celebrations to mark this significant global anniversary and found that there was no single source of reference for Duncan’s life and work. This discovery sowed the seeds for this publication: a definitive account of the life of one of the relatively unknown heroes of the banking world.
Meticulously researched, via church records, local history archives and the TSB archive itself, the volume provides a vibrant and fluid account of not only Duncan’s work in the field of finance (and the influences which shaped the business movement he ultimately created), but also off ers an insight into the man and the changes and challenges of the time in which he ministered to his flock.
Fascinatingly, the names of other well-known figures from the time feature: Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, was a family friend; the Rev Robert Murray McCheyne was a personal friend and delivered his first sermons at Ruthwell and Alexander Duff, the Church’s first missionary to India was also a visitor. These names demonstrate a mind engaged with wider world interests.
Duncan himself was called to serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1839/40.
His contribution to banking was just one of the areas in which he excelled: he also founded a local newspaper, was a vocal anti-slavery campaigner and called for a university in Dumfries. Munn, a former chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, also chairs the Budget and Finance Committee of the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council.
His book provides a colourful and lively account of the Church of Scotland minister who ultimately gave birth to a global savings movement and whose name is still remembered with aff ection and reverence more than 200 years on.
THE HEART IS A NOISY ROOM
Written by: Dr Ronald Boyd-MacMillan
Published by: Hodder & Stoughton
Price: £14.99
Written by the Scots-born director of strategic research for the charity Open Doors International, which assists persecuted Christians, this work seeks to show the power of the inner voices from the heart.
The author argues that every person carries stories about themselves – focussing on the negative or positive. He demonstrates that these ‘inner voices’ have the power to ruin lives if the voice of God is ignored amid the babble of the voices.
In a frank introduction, Boyd-MacMillan writes: ‘I’m just not one of these Christians who ‘count it all joy’. I have found the Christian life a struggle, but a worthwhile one. The face of God comes and goes, and most of the time I have to push myself to see his face in the rain at sunset, or the wind rustling through the trees. In fact, maybe God is so everywhere, it looks like he is nowhere, if you can keep track with that.’
The aim of the book is to ensure that the inner voices and stories do not prevail in the heart over a relationship with God.
The author seeks to show how seeking the voice of God through the voices can change perceptions and return those inner thoughts – particularly those that are negative – into a force for good and strengthen and reinforce relationships with God.
Boyd-Macmillan draws on his wide range of experience to show how life can be enriched by simply identifying both positive and negative inner voices and harnessing them using five diff erent tools to enjoy a richer life of deeper freedom, fullness and joy.
Lynne McNeil
This article appears in the March 2018 Issue of Life and Work
If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive
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