Friends I am so glad to introduce you to one of the most innovative ministries I know in Canada, and worldwide. Because they’re coming to our church.
A Rocha is an evangelical ministry of creation care and conservation. It started in Portugal—the word is Portuguese for “the Rock,” after the place of its founding. Located on the southwestern coast of Portugal, it is a major migration point for birds flying between Europe and Africa, and was threatened with development.
At the time, John Stott might have been the most important evangelical voice alive. David Brooks once chided the New York Times’ readership for disdaining evangelicals while having never heard of Stott’s name. Stott was also an avid birder. He lent his enormous credibility to evangelical efforts to purchase and preserve that land for posterity. A Rocha was born. It takes care of watersheds in the name of Jesus, arguing that preserving land is as important to Jesus’ mission of healing creation as saving souls is. Now it exists in some 22 countries worldwide. If you’ve heard that evangelicals only care about Trumpism or denigrating whole swaths of people, A Rocha will make you think again.
I wrote about A Rocha during my time in Vancouver, where it has a particularly important presence. Its founders, Peter and Miranda Harris, regularly taught at Regent College, and its crown jewel is its property in Brooksdale, where it holds sentry over the watershed of the Little Campbell River. Jaylynn and I spent as much time at Brooksdale as we possibly could while we lived in the Lower Mainland. Some of our dearest friends live on that property.
A Rocha works Canada-wide as well, with an important presence outside of Hamilton. Reverend Lori has put together an event with A Rocha for our church on February 11 in the afternoon, and I so hope you can come. Don’t worry—we’ll get you home in time for the Super Bowl! You will learn about the way God cares for creation, what fellow Christians are doing to join in with God’s heartbeat, and how we might do some of the same work here at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. For Christ is healing all of creation—and he invites us to take part in his great work of repair.
A Rocha Presents – Churches Caring for Creation: Register here