by Karla Friesen, MDS creation care committee
The severity, frequency and scope of disasters continue to increase in the U.S. For Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), this is a daily reality as volunteers serve people affected by floods, tornados, hurricanes and wildfires.
As MDS responds to disasters across the U.S., creation care is an important part of our work. Ensuring homeowners get back into a home is a priority with MDS, but at the same time, it is important that we are responsible stewards in light of the changing environment. Evaluating the life of the project sites and choosing building materials that will strengthen homes through future storms are two examples. Because climate change and natural disasters disproportionately affect the poor and marginalized, it is important for MDS practices to have long-term economic benefits for the homeowners we serve.
“Creation care” refers to a concern for the created world that rises from God’s own love for creation, and for the human responsibility to “care for the world because we care about it.” (Every Creature Singing, Mennonite Creation Care Network, 2017)
MDS practices creation care because God invites us to care for and steward the earth. We want to follow Scripture’s greatest commandments to love God and our neighbors. We invite you to join us in the mission of responding to those affected by disaster and giving them new hope.
See ways MDS is caring for creation in a recent addition of Behind the Hammer.