Flourishing Creation: Our Why for Environmental Impact through BAM
Every BAM company is an environmental company. They are having an impact on the environment and the environment is having an impact on them. – Mark Polet
This month we are delighted to share a series on BAM and Creation Care on The BAM Review. While COP28 is focused on the crucial issue of climate in UAE right now, we know that creation care is much broader and that it’s God’s idea! As Christians in business, with a missional intention, we have a unique opportunity to be leaders creating positive environmental impact through enterprise. In this first post, Mark and Anugraha share the WHY.
By Mark Polet, with Anugraha Gaikwad
He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. – Mark 16:15
In the busyness of business it is often easy to lose sight of how our salvation is intimately tied with the flourishing of creation. The integration of good environmental discipline into a thriving business is an act of worship.
“The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.” Psalm 19:1-4
Praise the Lord from the earth,
You sea monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds,
Stormy wind, fulfilling God’s word;
Mountains and all hills,
Fruit trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and winged fowl…
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For God’s name alone is exalted;
God’s glory is above earth and heaven.” Psalm 148: 7–10, 13
We worship. Creation worships. We are singing in the same choir!
Every raw material you use in your business comes from that creation. You share that fact with every living being.
“(God) give(s) water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax” Psalm 104:10-18
“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants stand in awe of Him.” Psalm 33:6, 8
To walk in the fear of the Lord is to walk in obedience and reverence of the One we worship, and this fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge for our BAM work, as king Solomon writes in the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 1:7). So, let us, along with all the other inhabitants of the earth, walk in fear and worship the awesome God who created us.
Richard Rohr writes:
“Jewish and Christian traditions of creation spirituality have their origins in Hebrew Scriptures such as Psalms 104 and 148. It is a spirituality that is rooted, first of all, in nature, in experience, and in the world as it is. This rich Hebrew spirituality formed the mind, heart, and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth… In all of the natural world, we see the vestigia Dei, which means the fingerprints or footprints of God.”
God was known and praised in the natural world long before the advent of the written Scriptures (Romans 1:20).
We have a sense of intimacy with God because we work with Him every day in BAM. Through this blog series, we want to show you how that your intimate co-working with God extends to his creation. As we worship God in his work, we can worship him in his creation as well. As you help people’s hearts flourish, we can also work to the flourishing of creation. We’ll get into more detail in the following blogs of this series, but for now, let us worship God and thank Him for all he has given us in creation.
Hear more from Mark: Listen to Podcast and Watch Video below.
>>Read more on Creation Care on The BAM Review blog here
Mark Polet is a professional biologist with over 40 years of experience. Working on four continents, Mark and his wife Terri bridge cultures and traditions with people of good will to serve those who are spiritually and materially impoverished. Mark is passionate about bringing engineers, scientists, and business together to develop solutions to challenging environmental issues. Mark has had the privilege of coordinating the BAM Global Creation Care Consultation. Prior to working in the impact business space, Mark & Terri owned a number of companies, including an environmental services company and an environmental consultancy.
Anugraha Gaikwad is a mechanical engineer by profession and an environmental consultant by passion. She found God calling her to use her technical skills and passion to serve in the field of creation care. This led her to work in a few Kingdom-minded businesses, with a focus on environmental management and research. She now works as an environmental researcher on various projects and assists the BAM Global Creation Care Consultation team. She hopes to, one day, work as a freelance consultant for BAM companies in need of an environmental management system while caring for all of God’s creation.
Listen to Mark share on the BAM Stories Podcast
Watch Mark challenge us on the intersection of creation care and BAM
The people we want to reach are facing the greatest environmental, even existential challenges. BAMers are on the ground already in the areas of greatest need. This presentation explores how to meet these challenges with the Hope we share and the technical capabilities we can access.
Photo by nate rayfield on Unsplash
