Just Who Are These Christians For The Mountains?

We are people seeking to live our lives in accordance to the teachings and life of Jesus.  Along with this is a passion for life, to love what God loves, to seek harmony and peace on this earth.  “Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven…” (Matthew 6:10).

We are Christians whose love for God thus moves us to care for God’s creation, all of it, the people and their livelihoods and communities, the animals and plants, the air, water, soil, the memory of past generations and a promise for those yet to come, indeed the entire fabric of life. 

We rejoice in the beautiful mountainous region of the southern and central Appalachians, in the people and their communities, in the lush landscapes and beautiful scenery, and in the myriad manifestations of God’s creation. 

But we are troubled by decades of human exploitation and abuse to many of the people and much of the land, air, water, and living things.  Some of this abuse is almost irrevocable, such as certain mining processes like mountaintop removal, and the sludge ponds, and the mine acid leakage into streams.  Other abuses are slowly healing, such as the total clear cutting of the virgin forests of a past century.

Some of this abuse is due to ignorance. Much of it is due to greed.  Jesus said in very clear terms, “You cannot serve God and wealth (Mammon)” (Mathew 6:24). 

Christians For The Mountains wants to walk with our fellow citizens to learn together how better to take care of the Earth and one another.  None of us claims to know all or that we do everything right.  But we want to live better.  And that means we have to teach and be taught.  We also want to speak clearly and prophetically to those who are so driven by greed or power that they willingly destroy the mountains and communities, that such destruction is a violation of the will of God, that it is sin.  (Revelation 11:18). 

We are Christians from various denominations, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant.  In certain areas we differ from each other, yet we are united together in our advocacy for God’s creation.  

Labels such as conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, right wing or left wing, are not going to divide us.  We welcome diversity.  Some of us will differ on strategy.  We might not all walk together on some projects.  Sometimes several approaches are necessary anyway.  We unite in our common faith in Jesus Christ, from which derives our mandate to care for God’s creation. We do not impose a creedal statement or tenets of belief on those in our network, leaving those matters to each person and his or her own faith tradition and community.

Many people from various religious and non-religious beliefs understand the interconnectedness of all life and that humans need to live responsibly on this earth. In forming this network, Christians For The Mountains is not seeking to be exclusive or elitist. Rather, those in Christians For The Mountains want to live and act from the core of our very beings, and that involves our sincerely held religious faith.  Through the foundations of our deepest beliefs we can be most effective.  Furthermore, we are seeking to challenge and influence other Christian people and their churches and recognize that our being Christians may make our message more understandable.

However, we encourage the people of our network to work alongside people of other beliefs for taking care of creation.  Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Native American, or other spiritualities or non-spiritualities have adherents who have deep concern for taking care of the earth.  This is not syncretistic; this is responsible humanity.  Indeed, earthkeeping is a common thread among essentially all religions. To our understanding, this is a primary task given by God to humanity (Genesis 2:15). 

We warmly invite persons of non-Christian faith to attend our gatherings, offer insight into our work, and enjoy friendship one with another.

Please prayerfully consider walking with Christians For The Mountains for a time, and more intentionally joining us if you feel right.  We are a network, so everyone is important, and there are plenty of jobs to do.

As Christians For The Mountains starts out our primary efforts will involve ending the ruinous mining method of Mountaintop Removal.  But many other issues will surface and take hold as our network expands.  This group is new and still taking shape as people join in together.

Thank you for taking time to learn about Christians For The Mountains.  We hope we have helped you understand a bit about ourselves, and perhaps sparked your interest to pursue further involvement with us.  We do wish you the peace and presence of God in your life.