The Prophetic Activist Scheme run by Christian Aid is now in its second year. The scheme, designed to inspire engage and equip young Christians, provides workshops, training, conferences and to put their faith into action.
The aim of the Prophetic Activist Scheme is to support young people to co-create a climate justice campaign. It’s a great opportunity to meet, learn from and campaign alongside inspiring young Christians working towards a common goal.
During 2020, the Prophetic Activists led an award-winning campaign which called on the government to stop funding fossil fuels and to end fossil fuel extraction.
With the arrival of COP26 to Glasgow this year, it is vital we all use our voices to strive for a more just world. As Christians, it is not just our responsibility to treat people well because that is the nice thing to do. But the commandments given to Moses and the rules Jesus laid out for his followers throughout the gospels inspire us to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.
The poorest 3.5 billion people are responsible for just ten percent of world emissions. But these people – predominantly located in the global south – are already facing the worst impacts of climate change. In 2016, world hunger increased for the first time in more than a decade. Now, in 2020, more than 41 million people are teetering on the brink of famine caused by conflict and climate change. Yet, as Christians we are called to look after the poorest people in our communities, and in the world.
As world leaders come together at COP26 in Glasgow to discuss and agree actions to be taken for climate justice, we see chaos all around. Global temperatures are soaring, unusual weather and droughts are affecting hundreds of thousands of people across the globe and compounding the devastation being felt by those hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Our world is at a crisis point.
We love our neighbour – and we demand change.
On 6 November, Prophetic Activists, Christian Aid supporters, faith leaders and campaigners will gather for a global Day of Action. Marches are planned for Glasgow and around the world as we raise our voices for climate justice.
We are also raising our voices in the Project Climate Finance campaign.
Project Climate Finance strives to make all climate finance pledges legally binding figures, with a clear actionable repercussion system if figures are not met. Climate Finance is money used to reduce emissions and to support communities and businesses as they adjust to the adverse effects of a changing climate. The money can be provided on a local, national, or transnational level and can come from public, private, or alternative sources of finance. We are calling on the UK government to provide a legal guarantee for their promised £100 billion, or larger sum should the funding increase, with actionable repercussions if not provided.
There are lots of ways you might be able to get involved in the campaign for Climate Justice, for example write to your elected representative or join Church of Scotland’s Prayer for the World. You can sign the Prophetic Activists Project Climate Finance petition, join Christian Aid’s campaign to make a prayer boat to send to COP26 at christianaid.org.uk/pray/prayer-chain, supporting Tearfund’sReboot campaign at https://www.tearfund.org/campaigns/reboot-campaign and continue to ask your community to do their bit (and help them out along the way!).
Rachel Walker