Resumo

MARUMO, Phemelo  e  VAN DER MERWE, Sarel. True disciples, nature and leiturgia: Preservation of the earth. Missionalia (Online) [online]. 2017, vol.45, n.2, pp.154-167. ISSN 2312-878X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7832/45-2-181.

God created humanity in his image (imago Dei) so that they become God's disciples. The core duties of being a disciple are to be responsible for, utilise and care for the earth as part of leiturgia³, which according to Deddens is, "service to the benefit of the people and an act of worship" (1993:15). Indeed, we must heed the call of creation in our worship services. From a Reformed perspective, the Fall, however, resulted in a disregard for worshipping God, living with him and taking care of the earth. Instead, the earth has been subject to exploitation ever since. This exploitation is in sharp contrast to Matthew 28:20 where Jesus instructed his disciples to go and teach the nations to observe all his commands, one of which was to "care for and subdue" the earth. This exploitation is seen in our time in the phenomenon called, global warming, which is gradually ravaging the environment. A lot has been proclaimed by religious bodies over time, governments as well as organisations, advocating the preservation of the environment, but to no avail. In this article, we argue that, for religious communities, leiturgia and discipleship should be considered as an alternative to merely holding conferences and seminars on the environment. The care for nature is at the centre of multifarious debates, but nothing ever comes of it because, so we argue, the value of true discipleship has been pushed aside as though it never existed. This article addresses the above by first highlighting the historical background of the notions of leiturgia and discipleship as a core of the mission to preserve the earth, then secondly, we present action taken at present to attend to the earth's destruction. The article then demonstrates concretely, as an alternative, how leiturgia and discipleship could serve to care for the earth and how as an essential part of true discipleship, glorifying God is in accordance with the missio Dei.

Palavras-chave : disciples; leiturgia; creation; missio Dei; earth.

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