Comments on: Teaching Good Stewardship

By: Tim Magner

Tim Magner — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 22:55:09 +0000

As environmental educator David Sobels says "children must first learn to love the earth, before they are asked to save it."

There are a bunch of good resources for teaching good stewardship. Rather than scare kids with stories about rainforests being cut down and melting glaciers, introduce kids to nature nearby. The ditch at the end of the driveway may be their grand canyon. They empathize with baby animals. As they age their world expands and adults can help keep them engaged....

Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods is a good primer and Jennifer Ward's I love Dirt" is a call to action.

Cheers,
Tim (whose "An Environmental Guide from A to Z" will be available in a few weeks!)

By: DeAnna

DeAnna — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:58:39 +0000

I don’t have any personal resources or anything, just wanted to say that I appreciate this post and appreciate the resources that others have given. I was raised the same way, where we weren’t purposing to be “bad” to our earth, but assumed that anyone that did anything more than a little recycling was a radical, new age, or from my parents time some earth loving hippie. It seems that along with eating healthier, living more frugile we have also realized the need to be better stewards in caring for the earth God has created for us.

By: Tim Magner

Tim Magner — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:40:04 +0000

As environmental educator David Sobels says “children must first learn to love the earth, before they are asked to save it.”

There are a bunch of good resources for teaching good stewardship. Rather than scare kids with stories about rainforests being cut down and melting glaciers, introduce kids to nature nearby. The ditch at the end of the driveway may be their grand canyon. They empathize with baby animals. As they age their world expands and adults can help keep them engaged….

Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods is a good primer and Jennifer Ward’s I love Dirt” is a call to action.

Cheers,
Tim (whose “An Environmental Guide from A to Z” will be available in a few weeks!)

By: Misty

Misty — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:55:30 +0000

I heard a guest on Midday Connection last year, I don’t remember his name but he was a doctor and talked about the increase in cancer, etc. His book is “Serve God, Save the Planet” I thought it was very interesting because he was the first evangelical Christian I had heard talking about this. I want to get the book one of these days!

By: B. D. Buie

B. D. Buie — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:28:50 +0000

Oh, and you asked for good books.

What Are People For; Wendell Berry
Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community; Wendell Berry
What’s Wrong With the World; G. K. Chesterton

These last two, especially, you would enjoy:
For the Beauty of the Earth; Steven Bouma-Prediger
The Reenchantment of Nature; Alister McGrath

By: Delighted Mom

Delighted Mom — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:25:02 +0000

Lots of stuff for me to think about! Your blog is always such an encouragement for me to constantly be on the lookout for ways to grow as a wife, mother, and child of God. Thank you for such a great blog!

By: Shellie

Shellie — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:30:55 +0000

Thank you, Lindsay, for answering my question! We (my family and I) have been blessed by your blog and your ideas. Some of your ideas are things we already do, such as cloth diapering and re-using everything. Others are things I definitely want to try. I have taught them creation, but never with the premise of stewardship of the earth. What a good idea! Also, doing with them… always thought of, never put into practice. How hard it is to try to let them cook with you when there are 3 of them! LOL I will definitely have to try exercising with them, and maybe bring them to the recycling center with me (the older ones, anyway) and let them see the things being sorted into bins.

Also, thank you, all who responded. I will be checking out the resources you list within the next couple of days. My family thanks you (and our pocketbook, too!)

By: B. D. Buie

B. D. Buie — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:23:08 +0000

My wife and I continue to be greatly blessed by your blog. A friend of mine has a blog called Wonder of Creation that I think would be right up your ally.

http://wonderofcreation.org/

The man who runs the blog is named Dean, and he has a lot of good ideas on how to put what you wrote above into practice. Anyhow; I just thought it would be a blessing to you.

Oh! One more thing… my wife co-owns a website called Scarlet Stitch and they’re having a sale the first week of December. 20% off, I think… but don’t quote me on that.

http://www.scarletstitch.com/

Please let us know what you think of the clothing!

God bless,
Bryan & Jill

By: sara

sara — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:52:42 +0000

A great book (among many) from an environmental stewardship approach is “Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the church to care for Creation”. Ed Brown writes beautifully and shares a great message about both our role as Christian stewards and provides more practical ways to apply our role as stewards in our daily lives.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:09:52 +0000

Another good book on this topic is “Affluenza.” I forget who the author is, but we used it in a capstone course at the Christian college I attended. It’s not specifically from a Christian perspective either, but it definitely applies. It addresses that fact that the “American Dream” is unattainable and really just makes people more and more unhappy, not to mention unhealthy pursuing it. My husband and I are actually starting to lead a small group based around a discussion of this book. I hope it will inspire some people, as most of the other families in our small group are working father/stay at home mom types, but very few see that as the blessing that it can be and apply this concept of stewardship to raising their children.
Also, in teaching our children to be good stewards, I think it is important for children to have a concept of where their food comes from, including growing our own produce, and if feasible keeping a few chickens (or ducks in our case, come Easter!!) to produce eggs, and maybe even raising some livestocks, if your housing restrictions allow. Not to mention this is the best way to control what goes into your food!