Rev Dr Lima Jamir, Associate Pastor of DABA and President of CBCNEI.
Dimapur, June 6 (MExN): The Dimapur Ao Baptist Church Youth Ministry (DABAYM) brought together young people for a one-day awareness seminar on the theme ‘Faith x Climate Action’ marking World Environment Day with a call to link Christian stewardship with urgent ecological responsibility.
The seminar, held at Liren Fellowship Church, DABA on June 5, heard inputs from Rev Dr Lima Jamir, Associate Pastor of DABA and President of Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI), and Renemsongla Ozukum on the pressing need for communities of faith to take concrete climate action.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Jamir underscored the indispensable ecological role of trees and laid out a set of practical, community-level interventions for sustainable living. He called on individuals and congregations to adopt rooftop solar panels to decentralise energy systems, harvest rainwater and actively plant species that yield maximum environmental benefit.
Drawing from his own practice, Dr Jamir said he has been planting trees since childhood, a discipline he has carried into the church premises for over 20 years. “Sometimes I buy, sometimes I help procure from the State Forest Department,” he said.
The pastor did not confine his appeal to planting alone. He was emphatic that saving existing trees from destruction must become policy for churches, communities and individuals alike. Dr Jamir noted that while the DABA church campus is already lined with tall, mature trees, he and others like him continue to feel the weight of responsibility. He said “Green Pastors” are not satisfied merely counting trees they are actively calculating the carbon footprint of their congregations and pressing for systemic change.
He urged a return to moderation in consumption and invoked the doctrine of Christian stewardship as the theological foundation for environmental advocacy, arguing that care for creation is inseparable from faithful discipleship.
From passive awareness to eco-ambassador
Renemsongla Ozukum, a member of DABA, called the accelerating destruction of the natural environment a “human-made catastrophe” and urged Christian youth to own the climate crisis as both a “biblical duty” and a call to active community leadership.
Addressing the seminar, Ozukum drew attention to a dimension often absent from mainstream climate discourse, the “disproportionate affects borne by frontline and Indigenous communities as a result of environmental degradation.” She described current ecological trends not as distant projections but as an “escalating reality” for the most vulnerable.
Ozukum challenged the youth gathered at the seminar to move beyond passive awareness and become “Eco-Ambassadors” within their own fellowships and churches. She stressed that care for the environment is not merely a United Nations mandate but a Christian duty rooted in Scripture, framing stewardship of creation as inseparable from faithful, biblical living.
“Be it water, air, biodiversity, organic seeds preservation and lifestyle value system. Environmental care is also about judicious use of chemicals at domestic fronts which affects the soil and underground water system,” she emphasised.
Ozukum broadened the frame of environmental responsibility to include the household level, pointing to the injudicious use of chemicals in domestic settings as a significant but overlooked threat to soil health and underground water systems.
She also raised the issue of screen time, urging a “conscious fast” from digital consumption arguing that excessive screen use affects not only individual health but also drives energy expenditure, making it a matter of both personal and ecological conscience.
Ozukum urged the youth to slow down and develop a conscious, attentive relationship with the natural world. She encouraged them to” spend time together observing small creatures citing fireflies at night” as an example and to “revere natural resources as God’s provision rather than commodities for exploitation.” She called on attendees to revisit and recommit to “core eco-principles.”
Moabenla, Youth Coordinator of DABA YM Signal Fellowship, admitted that although she has enough space in her courtyard, she has never planted a single tree. Her confession challenged the DABA youth to carry on the legacy of the “Green Pastors” by caring for the environment in Dimapur.
The DABA Youth Ministry observed the day across its four fellowships including Merali, Signal, Yongkum and Lungmen. Youth members conducted cleanliness drives in church premises and surrounding areas, including collecting waste, nurturing plants and planting new trees. The event saw participation from fellowship pastors, youth advisors, deacons and church members.
