Blog

Dave is Director of Theology for A Rocha International, where he works to embed creation care into international Christian organizations, theological institutions, and mission movements. His past roles with A Rocha include being an International Trustee and the co-founder of A Rocha UK (with his wife Anne). He has a PhD from Cambridge University on biblical theology and biodiversity conservation, and has contributed to many books and articles, including Planetwise, available in six languages. Born and raised in India, Dave has a love for Indian food, Indian culture and Indian Christianity. Dave is also a qualified bird-ringer and loves birding, islands, running and mountains.

28th February 2019 | Dave Bookless | 3 comments

Mangrove theology: Get stuck in and put down deep roots

When I was a young lad, Church Mission Society (CMS) had a young adults’ newsletter which I read avidly. The title of one article has stuck with me ever since: ‘Has God called you to stay where you are?’

At the time my family lived in a quiet Midlands village with a somewhat sleepy church, so the idea that mission meant travelling the world and seeing exciting, exotic places appealed greatly. By the time I reached my 30s I’d lived in over 20 different places, visited lots of countries, and God was saying something rather different to me.

Categories: Reflections
15th January 2016 | Peter Harris | 20 comments

Loving where we are

I hope to begin a discussion about how we talk about… for now let’s call it ‘caring for creation’. ‘Stewardship’ isn’t a biblical word, and although ‘creation care’ is now generally accepted, like all terms, it has its limitations. Could we start a debate about how we can best describe our task and be intentional about our language?

Categories: Reflections
15th September 2014 | Panu Pihkala | 0 comments

Places of knowing God and nature

We live in a world where places are less valued than in earlier times. Technology and urbanization lead us away from being connected to places. As bodily creatures, we need bodily connections to places. And nature needs humans who are place-oriented, because such humans take an effort to care for places.

Categories: Reflections
20th November 2013 | Leah Kostamo | 1 comments

Holy Ground

When Moses stood at the burning bush God told him to take off his shoes because the place where he was standing was holy ground. What made it holy was the presence of God. But what if God, being everywhere, makes every place holy?

Categories: Reflections
31st October 2012 | Dave Bookless | 4 comments

Where is my home?

Where do you feel most at home? Is it a place filled with childhood memories, or is it where you live now? Is it in a beautiful landscape, or amongst people you love and trust? Is it safely locked behind the door of your house? Or are you longing for eternity – to be ‘at home’ with Christ?

Categories: Questions
21st March 2012 | Miranda Harris | 4 comments

Yours virtually

I have just returned from Provence and four days of meetings with the A Rocha International Team. So good to be face to face again – or should I say screen to screen?

Categories: Reflections
Tags: busyness place
19th January 2012 | Dave Bookless | 12 comments

Whose world is it anyway?

When I was a child growing up in India, there was a song we often sang at school: “This land is your land, this land is my land, / From the Himalayas down to Cape Comorin, / From Bombay city to old Calcutta, / This land was made for you and me.” Connection to place is important and good. Yet there’s a big difference between belonging to a place, and the place belonging to us.

Categories: Questions
Tags: India place