Dear Fellow Christians, 

My ancestors have inhabited the land we call Papua New Guinea (PNG) for fifty thousand years. They have always lived in harmony with their natural environment. Everything that they needed was provided by nature. The Christian religion, which we have adopted and have made our own, views this world and the entire universe as God’s creation. This message is being lost and forgotten in today’s consumeristic society.

The modern world desperately needs to re-discover what the indigenous people hold true, that the Creator-God provides for the needs of all in such a way that there is interdependence – every creature depends on every other creature for its survival. This spirit of interdependence within the natural environment, which our ancestors have always experienced and which our Christian religion teaches to be God’s providence, is a reality which scientific study today has confirmed. 

But during this present time, God’s creation is being traded for “fast bucks for now.” When such is the norm, the issue of environmental stewardship is of greatest urgency. Many of the rich natural resources of tribal peoples are literally being traded for quick money.

We are tribal people. We know better. Our ancestors lived a truth that the modern world has forgotten - God created us to be dependent upon the rest of nature for our daily bread and our every breath. Together, our voice must be heard amidst the din and turmoil of the consumer society.

My land, Papua New Guinea, is incredibly rich in plant and animal life, in natural resources, as well as in cultural diversity. Like many other developing nations, PNG is blindly pushing for the kind of development that is high-profit oriented, environmentally unfriendly, socially destructive and morally unjustifiable. We are willing to clear-cut our forests, mine our hillsides and destroy our wild rivers, all for the love of money.

Sheer selfishness and greed are fast replacing our indigenous and Christian values such as concern for and love toward one’s neighbors in society.

Indigenous Christian Environmental Network is very committed to reminding others, Christians and all, that selfishness and greed are non-tribal and non-Christian. These sins must not be tolerated in our beautiful country because they are the root causes of many problems of today.

ICEN understands the environment to mean everything that exists, every single thing, be it living or non living, visible or invisible, that is interrelated and interdependent. We understand stewardship to mean wise and/or responsible use and management of the environment. What we are committed to doing is very much in line with PNG’s rich indigenous Melanesian culture and our adopted Christian heritage.

It is our task to remind each other and all other indigenous Christians about the obligation to be responsible stewards of the environment which is God’s creation - to see stewardship as a relationship not a resource conversation. The land that God gave us must be managed and used wisely as our ancestors did, so that our children and generations to come can also have land and resources to live on and benefit from.

As Christians, we believe that everything in the environment is God’s creation, and that it was created for a purpose which is far beyond merely serving the selfish needs of humanity. Therefore, before any action is done with respect to the environment, due consideration of God's original purpose for the earth must be taken.

In our human greed and selfish desire for more, we mistakenly equate development with making more money through selling off the natural resources. We, the indigenous Christians, MUST play our part in refocusing the trend of development that our country is pursuing, so it becomes more environmentally and socially friendly, and morally justifiable.

ICEN would like to begin a dialogue with other tribal Christians through-out the world to explore the connection between our ancestral lands, our culture that lived in harmony with the land, and our newly adopted Christian faith. God entrusted us with our land, to be faithful and wise stewards. We will work to protect the good of creation and fight the evil love of money and the desires for materialism.

Many people came to our land and taught us about money, but few warned us about greed. As tribal members and as Christians we know there is a better way. I invite all the indigenous Christians to join us today in this struggle for our land, our cultures and our faith.

In service to the Creator, in honor of the creation.

Yat Paol

Indigenous Christian Environmental Network; Mandang, PNG

Contact me at ICEN@restoringeden.org