Finland, ‘the land of a thousand lakes’, welcomed the delegates of the 11th Assembly of the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) who gathered in the Sofia Cultural Centre in Helsinki from 11th - 15th June. The ECEN Assembly meets every second year, offering an ecumenical platform for sharing and strengthening cooperation among representatives from different Churches in Europe. Fitting to the land of thousand lakes, this year’s Assembly discussed the topic ‘Water in a sustainable future’, and especially our Christian responsibility in addressing the issues of water shortage, pollution and its destructive power as a result of climate change.

An international initiative related to COP21 (Paris, December 2015) states that ‘climate change manifests itself most powerfully within the water cycle'. Referring to this statement, several conference speakers emphasised that, in our contemporary world where water is not equally shared and access to clean drinking water is in many parts of the world an ever-growing challenge, it is an issue of justice. Yet, the issue of justice is deeply part of Christian identity. Bishop Irja Askola stressed that working for justice cannot be seen as a trivial appendix to important church programmes but it must be considered as one of the core values. It needs to be made part of churches’ everyday life and ministry. ‘Let justice roll down like waters’ (Amos 5:24) is the prophet’s call to God’s people to open their eyes and hearts to the world around them and get involved in situations where people and the rest of creation are suffering because of unjust structures and powers.

‘The way we treat the environment, we treat other people,’ claimed Fr Heikki Huttunen, the CEC General Secretary, challenging the Assembly delegates. ‘We as Christians need to repent and change. And if the churches are not the agents of change, what are they?’ Fr Heikki Huttunen emphasised that the environmental questions are very closely related to the questions of economy, refugee situation, social justice and other critical areas in our societies, to which the churches are called to respond.

Although the impacts of projected climate change are quite threatening, conference speakers and participants shared their hope in God’s future that reaches beyond the ‘closed’ world defined by scientific figures. The Archbishop of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, Kari Mäkinen stressed that prayer and the resurrection hope shared and lived out by Christians can make a difference, because ‘in the middle of everything, and in spite of everything, God is’.

ECEN Assembly brought together 80 participants from more than 20 countries. The Assembly programme and list of speakers are available here. The Assembly statement affirming the theological and biblical imperative to work for water justice, and a call to action for individuals and churches is available here.

Photos:
1. Finnish landscape near the Sofia Centre.
2. ECEN theology working group.