This Wednesday, April 22, is Earth Day. Every year, Earth Day invites the world to pause and reconsider its relationship with the planet. For many, it’s about conservation, climate, and sustainability. For the Church, it should go deeper. Earth Day is not just an environmental moment—it’s a theological one.
In Mark 16:15, Jesus commissions His disciples: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” That phrase—all creation—is striking. The gospel is not confined to human souls alone; it carries implications for the entire created order. The good news of the Kingdom restores, redeems, and reorders everything that sin has fractured—including how we live, work, build, and steward the earth.
Too often, environmental stewardship is treated as a side issue—something for activists, policymakers, or nonprofits. But Scripture places stewardship at the center of humanity’s original mandate (Genesis 1:28, 2:15). Work itself was designed as an act of cultivating and caring for creation.
That means the marketplace—business, agriculture, industry, finance, technology—is one of the primary arenas where “preaching to all creation” is lived out. Every supply chain decision, hiring practice, product design, and investment strategy reflects a theology, whether explicit or not. The question is not whether the marketplace is shaping creation—it is how.
From Extraction to Stewardship
In many parts of the world, economic activity has been driven by extraction—taking as much as possible, as quickly as possible, often with little regard for long-term impact. This has led to environmental degradation, but also to broken communities and unsustainable economies.
The Kingdom offers a different model: stewardship.
A discipled marketplace leader understands that:
- The earth is the Lord’s (Psalm 24:1)
- Resources are entrusted, not owned
- Profit is a means, not the ultimate end
- Long-term flourishing outweighs short-term gain
When believers embrace this mindset, businesses begin to shift:
- Agriculture becomes regenerative, not depleting
- Manufacturing becomes responsible, not wasteful
- Finance becomes catalytic, not exploitative
- Innovation becomes restorative, not destructive
This is “preaching to all creation” in practice—not through words alone, but through systems that reflect the character of God.
To re-emphasize an oft-repeated (in this blog) critical reality: 99% of believers are in the marketplace. If the Church limits its understanding of mission to church buildings and programs, it misses the primary context where creation is being shaped daily.
Earth Day highlights what is at stake—but the response cannot be outsourced.
Imagine:
- Business leaders designing products that reduce environmental harm
- Farmers implementing practices that restore soil and ecosystems
- Entrepreneurs building companies that prioritize both people and planet
- Investors funding ventures that create sustainable, Kingdom-aligned impact
This is not theoretical. Around the world, DML is seeing marketplace leaders step into this calling—bringing transformation not only to economies, but to the land itself.
The Gospel is big enough for creation. It is often presented in narrowly individual terms: personal salvation, private faith, spiritual disciplines. These are essential—but incomplete. A biblical gospel is cosmic in scope. Romans 8 reminds us that creation itself is groaning for redemption. Earth Day echoes that groaning, even if it doesn’t always name the source.
The Church has the answer but it must be embodied. When marketplace leaders are discipled to integrate faith and work, they become agents of that redemption:
- In how they lead
- In how they produce
- In how they steward
- In how they influence systems
This is not environmentalism for its own sake. It is Kingdom participation.
Earth Day is an opportunity—not for symbolic gestures, but for deeper alignment. The goal is not simply better businesses or cleaner environments, though those matter. The goal is faithful obedience to the call of Christ—to bring the gospel to all creation. Because when the marketplace is discipled, the impact extends far beyond individuals. It reaches into systems, communities, and the very fabric of the earth itself.
And that begins to look a lot like the restoration God has always intended.
For some ideas on what to do relating to creation care at home, in your workplace, in your church, or in your community, check out this link.