Ken Keyte is the Senior Pastor of Te Puke Baptist Church. As part of his study leave, Ken completed a research paper with Carey Baptist College in 2008 under the supervision of Myk Habets. This is the final of four articles that is a practical response to his research.

Armed with our millennial view of choice – the one we believe best fits with the biblical evidence – then if we want to answer questions about the environment in a credible way, we need to be able to back up what we say with what we do.

It is much easier to talk about this topic than it is to do anything practical about it because we are so influenced by our consumer and convenience-driven society. More often than not, we don’t want to live more sustainably if it will be at a cost to us.

Yet according to the book of Revelation, 12:11 in particular, a lifestyle of self sacrifice is how people who follow Jesus are called to live.

My family decided it was time we took a few baby steps toward living more sustainably. Here’s what we decided to do:

• Improve the insulation in our 1950s house.
• Install a heat recovery system to use the hot air in our ceiling space for heating and drying the air in our home.
• Switch electricity providers to one that generates electricity solely from hydro power.
• Install a solar water heater.
• Maximise the use of our more economical Suzuki Swift and minimise the use of our less economical Toyota Estima (which we still need when transporting our family of six around).
• Cycle to work on days I don’t need the car to travel anywhere else (if it’s not raining!)
• Dispose our biodegradable waste in a compost bin instead of a waste disposer
• Recycle our paper, plastics and cans

We are grateful for the financial assistance the Government, our electricity provider and regional council has provided to offset some these costs. We know there is more we could do to live more sustainably and sacrificially for the generations to come, but at least we have made a start!

So what is the future of planet earth? The impact environmental issues has on New Zealand society is prompting many to ask questions about the future of planet Earth. Questions like this offer opportunities for Christians like us to explain the basis of our faith upon which our understanding of the world’s destiny rests.

Well prepared Christians, whatever millennial view they hold, can make the most of these opportunities by offering well-reasoned answers from what the book of Revelation, in particular, says about the Earth’s future. However for our answers to be credible, we need to also support them with actions we are taking to live in a more sustainable manner for the generations to come.

If anyone would like to share further questions about the Earth’s future that can be answered from the Bible and further practical examples of how to begin living more sustainably, why not send a letter to the editors of the NZ Baptist for us all to read?

• To read Ken’s complete research paper, email him on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text79823 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it